Green Cards for Distant Family Members of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents

The United States welcomes family unity for relatives of its citizens (USC’s) and legal permanent residents (LPR’s).  It will provide green cards to these family members allowing them to live and work permanently in the country upon meeting the government’s legal requirements.

Expedited treatment is given to “Immediate Relatives”:

• husband or wife.
• mother and/or father.
• children under 21.

Immigration for ‘Immediate Relatives” is discussed under our practice area for FIANCES on this website.  In this section, we describe how we can help out more distant relatives of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents.

More distant relatives of USC’s and LPR’s are welcomed, as well, but face a longer processing period due to the limitation the government places on the total number of green cards issued in any given year.

Distant relatives who are potentially eligible for green cards are:

• unmarried sons and daughters of citizens.
• spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent resident aliens.
• married sons and daughters of citizens.
• brothers and sisters of citizens.

As mentioned above, these family members do not fall under the Immediate Family classification, and, as a result, face a much longer processing time.  The U.S. limits the number of green cards given out in any given year for Non Immediate Family members.  Processing times for applicants can be several years.

Almost all of these applicants will not be able to avail themselves of the ONE Step Adjustment approach to visa processing discussed above because they are not legally present in the United States. The alien family member must remain in their home country during the visa processing period.

For distant relatives, it is possible that we may be able to find other visas, such as employment visas or student visa, which would allow the family member to be in the United States while awaiting the availability of an immigrant visa.  But, each of these visas has its own requirements which must be met and this entails an entirely different approach beyond the family green card processes discussed here.