There are currently more
people who want to immigrate to the United States than there are available
Immigrant Visas under the quota system. Therefore, waiting lists have been
established to assure that those who applied first will receive visas first.
The waiting list is divided
into three major sections: permanent residence based on Employment, Family
Sponsorship, and Investment. Only "immediate relatives" of U.S. citizens are not subject to the
numerical quota limitations on their immigration.
A system of Priority
Dates has been established by the U.S. State Department. The Monthly
Visa Bulletin indicates the priority dates which are current for visa
issuance or adjustment of status. A priority date is established by the filing
date of a Immigrant or Visa Petition (in most cases Forms I-130 or I-140), or
Labor Certification, now commonly known as PERM. A priority date is
"current" if the Visa Petition filing date is earlier than the date
on the visa waiting list; or the Labor Certification filing date is earlier
than the date on the visa waiting list. If an individual has an approved Visa
Petition, and his or her priority date is earlier than the date on the State
Department visa waiting list, then he or she is eligible to adjust status (if
inside the U.S.) or go through visa processing at a U.S. Consulate (if outside
the U.S.)
To refresh your memory,
there are four Family Based (F-1 to F-4) preference categories. There are 5
Employment Based (EB-1 to EB-5) preference categories. Click here to check your priority date.
In inspecting the
priority date chart, you may have noticed that persons from China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines may be subject to longer waiting
times. In order to prevent any one country from hogging all available visas,
the quota system is fine-tuned to prevent the citizens of any one country or a
small set of countries from using more than a set percentage of the total visa
quota during any single year. Please note that the law provides that an
applicant's country of birth, rather than his or her current citizenship, is
the country of chargeability for immigrant visa purposes. An applicant is
normally able to utilize his spouse’s country of birth as the country of
chargeability. For example, an applicant from, say, China, whose priority date
is not current, will be able to adjust status along with his spouse if the
priority date of his spouse (who is from, say, Monaco) is current based on her
country of chargeability (Monaco), even if she is the derivative beneficiary
who is “following to join” her husband who has been sponsored by his employer.
Please contact our law firm to evaluate your case without any
obligation if you have any questions.