Moving to the US? Advice and support on US family based visas and green cards
US Family & Marriage Visa Categories
US family and marriage-based immigrant visa categories are divided two ways: family-based visas that are “immediately” available for those who are the spouses, children, and parents of US citizens and preference categories for those who are related to Lawful Permanent Residents (a.k.a. “green card” holders) and adult children or siblings of US citizens must wait for a visa number to become available to them which results in a backlog requiring sometimes many years of a wait to get a visa. The immediate visa categories give the impression that it could be a quick process to obtain a visa but this is far from the case. Depending on how and where the US citizen lives, it could take more than a year to sponsor an “immediate” family member but in the US visa world, this is quick compared to many years’ wait for preference family member categories.