Practice Area - Family Reunification

The Child Status Protection Act is a complex statute affecting several different groups of immigrant children in different ways. For children of U.S. Citizen petitioning parents, their age is “frozen” for immigration purposes at the time of filing of a petition. For children of Legal Permanent Resident (Green Card) petitioning parents their age is “reduced” by the number of days, months or years that their immigrant visa petition is pending before approval. CSPA is applied to several other groups of visa petitioners including: I-130 (family based) I-140 (employment based) I-360 (Vawa or Religious Worker) I-516 or diversity visa petition. A one year deadline from the date of approval of a visa petition must be observed.

K-1 Fiancé’ visas can be a convenient way to bring in a fiancé prior to marriage. The K-1 beneficiary however must marry within 90 days and be petitioned by that spouse. Similar restrictions apply to a K-3 applicant who was married overseas and has an I-130 immigrant visa petition pending.

Marriage based petitions can be filed by a United States Citizen spouse for immediate processing or by a legal permanent resident spouse (green card holder) and subject to a waiting period for the visa to become current. Petitions filed for persons residing in the United States typically process within a 6 to 8 month period and rely heavily at the time of interview upon proof of a bona fide (real) marriage. Documentation of the marriage and preparation for the interview are the key to success.

Family petitions are filed through a U.S. Citizen child who has reached age 21, through U.S. Citizen parents at any time and U.S. Citizen brothers or sisters who have reached age 21. Significant waiting periods exist for many family based visa petition categories and the applicant should be familiar with the “Visa Bulletin” maintained by the Department of State to determine when they will be eligible to apply for a green card based on an approved family based petition.