Immigration Lawyer Pompano Beach

Your parents can petition for you but you cannot stay in the US while you wait as the process will take about 5 years and during that time you need to maintain valid lawful status at all times in order to be eligible for the green card when the time comes. You can look for employment-based options to stay in the US while your parents petition for you. That will allow you to remain in the US lawfully while you wait and be able to work during that time as well. If you are not eligible for employment visa, you can also look at student visa opportunities.

They can petition you with an I-130 but since you are over 21, they will have to wait until your visa becomes available in order to file your I-485 Green Card application. By that time your authorized stay or I-94 (don't lose it!) will have expired. However, if you are somehow still in the US when your visa becomes available, your unauthorized stay will be forgiven or waived. Good luck!

Are your parents permanent residents or U.S. citizens? Are you married or unmarried? When did they become citizens if they are? Any immigrant petition they file for you will put you in a queue only and not provide a basis for you to remain in the U.S. while you wait. There may be a nonimmigrant option which you can pursue that would allow you to stay.

Yes, they can petition you, but it will not permit you to stay. You must wait in some lawful non-immigrant status or return to your home country when the visa is available.

You are an FB-1, an adult unmarried child of a US citizen. The worldwide visa date backlog is September 2004. Prior to your birth date, you were an immediate relative with no backlog at all. Did your parents file for you earlier? If so, you should consult with an immigration attorney to see if you have CSPA relief.

Your USC parent can petition for you but because you are over 21 you will be in the Family First Preference (F1) category if you are unmarried or in the Family Third Preference (F3) category if you are married. There is a visa quota for both F1 and F3 and therefore a long wait. It is currently about 7 years for F1 and about 10 years for F3. So no, you will not be able to remain in the U.S. When your time as a tourist expires, you will have to leave.

They can petition for you, but you probably cannot stay here because the priority date for adult unmarried children is not current and will not become current during your stay here on a tourist visa. If you overstay and become illegal, then you will not be able to apply for permanent residence here in the U.S. You will need to depart to pick up the immigrant visa at the Embassy. Once you leave, you will face either the 3 or 10 year bar based on how much illegal time you have accrued.

They can petition for you but it will take a few years. You cannot stay here, although it may be tempting in the long run it will be the worst thing you can do. Speak to an immigration attorney and decide what the fastest path to a green card is for you.

Your parents can file an immigrant visa petition on your behalf, but you will not be able to remain in the United States beyond your authorized stay. As you are over 21 years of age, the petition would be considered a preference petition. To adjust your status in the United States based upon a preference petition, you must remain in lawful immigration status until a visa becomes available. An immigrant visa will not likely be available for several years.

Without disclosure of certain facts in your inquiry, my response can only be "maybe". You are over 21 (marital status was not disclosed), so any petition filed by your parents would be under either the family-based first or third preference (depending on marital status), and both of those categories are severely backlogged (refer to the attached December 2011 Visa Bulletin, attached above). The general rule is that, if you are not classifiable as an "immediate relative" (unmarried child under 21, spouse, or parent of an over 21 year old U.S. citizen), you must be in a valid nonimmigrant status, and not have engaged in unauthorized employment or otherwise gone out of status or become inadmissible in order to be eligible to file for adjustment of status within the United States. If you are covered under Section 245 (i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (see information on Section 245 (i) posted below) by virtue of a previous immigrant petition filed on your behalf, you may be eligible for adjustment of status in the U.S. even if that Section of law does not grant any formal authority to remain in the U.S. while you wait for your priority date to be reached. The mere filing of an immigrant visa petition on your behalf does not create any right to remain in the U.S. while the remaining procedures of acquiring immigrant status play out. Section 245(i) Frequently Asked Questions Q1. I've heard that a new law was recently passed by Congress which would reauthorize section 245(i). What is section 245(i)? ( = Section) A. 245 of the immigration law allows persons to become permanent residents without leaving the U.S. through a process called "adjustment of status". Generally, persons who entered the U.S. without being inspected by an INS officer, who have ever been unlawfully employed in the U.S. or who failed to always maintain lawful status in the U.S. are barred from adjusting their status in the U.S. (There are certain exceptions to the last two bars for "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens and for certain EB applicants.) 245(i) was first added to the law in 1994 to allow persons who qualify for green cards, but not for adjustment of status, to be able to adjust their status in the U.S. upon payment of a fine (currently $1,000). Congress phased 245(i) out of the law on January 14, 1998. However, persons who had already qualified under the law as of that date were "grandfathered" into the benefits of 245(i) for the rest of their lives. The problem was that hundreds of thousands of otherwise qualified persons who missed the January 14, 1998 deadline cannot adjust status in the U.S., and cannot return to their countries to obtain green cards without being subject to either a three or a ten-year bar from returning to the U.S. These persons (You may be one of them!) have been in a state of legal limbo since 1998. Congress gave a holiday present to hundreds of thousands of potential immigrants on December 15, 2000 when they extended the grandfathering date of 245(i) to April 30, 2001. Not only does this extend the benefits of 245(i) to persons who had labor certifications or visa petitions (I-130, I-140 or I-360) filed on their behalf between 1998 and 2000, but it gives persons over four months AFTER the passage of the law to qualify for the benefits of 245(i). Q2. What must I do to qualify for 245(i)? A. A person with a labor certification or a visa petition filed on their behalf on or before January 14, 1998 is qualified for the benefits of 245(i). Under the new law, a person who has a labor certification or visa petition filed on their behalf after January 14, 1998, but on or before April 30, 2001, is also qualified for the benefits of 245(i) but only if they were physically present in the U.S. on the date of enactment of the new law (December 21, 2000). Q3. Does this mean that I must have been lawfully in the U.S. on December 21, 2000? A. No, merely that you were present, legally or illegally, in the U.S. on that date. Q4. What exactly do I have to do to qualify for the benefits of 245(i) A. You must have either an employer or a relative submit a labor certification or a visa petition on your behalf by April 30, 2001. It is not necessary that the Labor Department or the INS approve your application or petition by this date, only that it be filed. For example, there is a tremendous labor shortage in the U.S. in a wide variety of occupations. Whether you work as a nanny or a rocket scientist, a nurse or a professor, a mechanic or an engineer, if your employer (or prospective employer) is unable to find a U.S. worker to fill your job, you may be eligible for labor certification. Also, if your brother, sister, father, mother, adult son or daughter, or your spouse is a citizen, or perhaps even a permanent resident, they should immediately submit a petition on your behalf, no matter what the waiting time is in that particular category. The purpose of filing such a petition is to qualify you for the benefits of 245(i). U.S. citizens may petition for their spouses, married or unmarried sons and daughters of any age, parents, and brothers and sisters. Permanent residents may petition for their spouses and their unmarried sons and daughters of any age (This includes sons and daughters who are divorced or widowed). Q5. Do I have to adjust status in the same category that I was petitioned for? A. No. Let's assume that your brother (or your spouse's brother) has recently naturalized. The published waiting time for a sibling petition varies from 12 to over 20 years on paper, and the actual waiting time is even longer. Still, you should have him petition for you and your spouse and children immediately. The filing of a simple petition will make your whole family eligible for the benefits of 245(i). You are not obligated to wait 12 to 20 years to obtain a green card. If you qualify for a green card through employment, through another relative, or even through the green card lottery, because you are qualified under 245(i), you will be able adjust for status for permanent residence much more quickly. However, if you adjust your status based on a visa petition which was not the original basis for your being eligible to adjust status under 245(i), you must use your new priorecruitinginternationaltalenty date. Q6. If my wife's relative files a petition for her on or before April 30, 2001, can we both qualify for permanent residence based upon a labor certification and visa petition filed after that date? How about my children? Once they turn 21 years of age, they won't be entitled to any benefits based on this petition, will they? A. You and your children are considered to be "derivative beneficiaries" of the petition filed by your wife's relative on her behalf. This entitles not only your wife, but you and your children to the benefits of 245(i). If later on, you qualify for a green card based upon your job, a future job, a petition filed by one of your relatives after April 30, 2001, or if you win the green card lottery no matter how far in the future, you and your family can still adjust status under 245(i). Even your children who "age-out" by turning 21, or by marrying, will still be entitled to the benefits of 245(i) if they were "derivative beneficiaries" of a visa petition filed by your wife's relative on or before April 30, 2001. Conversely, if you and your wife divorce, not only will you and your children be eligible for the benefits of 245(i), but so will each of your new spouses and children, as long as the new relationships are in place prior to the time you or your ex-wife adjust status. An INS Memorandum , dated June 10, 1999, provides excellent

Your parents may immediately petition for you. However; that will not entitle you to stay in the USA. You will have to wait for a visa to become available for you. The wait is significant. USCIS is currently working on cases filed in 2004.

Yes they can. But you must return to your country before the date stamped on your I-94 entry card. If you are ever illegal, even for just one day, you will risk not being approved.