Family-based Green Card: One Path to Citizenship for Immigrants

The family-based green card is a way for immigrants to gain permanent residency. If you are an immigrant who has been living in the United States for more than 5 years, married your U.S. citizen spouse, and have children who are under 21 years old, you may be eligible for family-based green card sponsorship by your U.S. citizen relative. In order for this green card sponsorship to go through though, you will need to comply with the following requirements:

1) You must be 18 or older;

2) You successfully passed a background check;

3) Your sponsor is at least 18 or over 60 years old;

4) Your sponsor has been physically present in the United States since December 31st of the year before the application was filed;

5) You’ve lived in the United States continuously since December 31st of the year before your application was filed;

6) You have not been outside of the country for more than 180 days in any 12 month period except

What is a family-based green card?

A family-based green card is an immigration visa that allows the holder to live in the United States permanently and apply for U.S. citizenship after five years of continuous residency.

Who can get a family-based green card?

The family-based green card is an application for permanent residency. If you meet the qualifications for a family-based green card, you and your family will be able to live in the United States permanently without worrying about becoming undocumented.

How do immigrants gain permanent residency?

The family-based green card is just one of many ways immigrants can gain permanent residency. To become a permanent resident, you must meet certain requirements and pass a background check. If you have family members who are U.S. citizens, they may help sponsor your application for permanent residency if you are married to a U.S. citizen or have at least one child under the age of 21 years old and meet other requirements listed in the immigration process.

Who can sponsor an immigrant for a family-based green card?

In order for a family-based green card to be approved, the sponsor must be at least 18 years old. The sponsor’s spouse can also apply as a sponsored immigrant, but they must be married to the sponsor and they cannot have another marriage before or after the one in which they are applying.

The sponsor must also meet specific requirements, including:

– They must have lived in the United States continuously since December 31st of the year before the application was filed;

– They cannot have been out of the country for more than 180 days in any 12 month period except for travel abroad for employment purposes;

– They cannot have had another marriage before or after their one marriage that is being sponsored; and

– Their sponsor is at least 18 years old or over 60 years old.

What are the requirements for sponsoring an immigrant for a family-based green card?

In order to sponsor a family-based green card, your relative will need to be 18 or older and have been in the United States since December 31st of the year before the application was filed. In addition, your relative must have lived in the United States continuously since December 31st of the year before the application was filed. Lastly, your relative has not been outside of the country for more than 180 days in any 12 month period except when they are traveling on a temporary visit to their home country.

If you sponsor someone who qualifies for a family-based green card, they will be able to become a permanent resident by living with you and going through an interview process similar to applying for citizenship.

What are some of the benefits of becoming a citizen?

If you become a citizen, there are many benefits. As a U.S. citizen, you will have the ability to vote, serve on juries, and receive public benefits that non-citizens cannot access. Additionally, you will be able to travel outside of the United States with no visa restrictions and will be able to live anywhere in the United States without needing a visa or student visa. If your spouse is a U.S. citizen, your children will also be able to obtain citizenship automatically if they are under 18 years of age at the time of your application for citizenship.

Types of family-based green cards

There are three main types of family-based green cards:

a) Fiancé(e) family-based green card; b) Spouse family-based green card; c) Immediate relative family-based green card.

Fiancé(e) Family-Based Green Card

If your U.S. citizen spouse is willing to sponsor you, the process for this type of family-based green card starts with filing a Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative and submitting it to an appropriate USCIS office. After this petition is filed, the U.S. Citizen will be issued an immigrant visa number (I-485). Then, the couple must marry. After the marriage takes place, they can apply for adjustment of status to permanent resident status as a married couple in order to obtain their fiancé(e) green card with thisimmigrant visa number (I-485).

Spouse Family-Based Green Card

If your U.S. citizen spouse is not willing or able to sponsor you for a family based green card, you can still file an application for such a visa through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “family preference categories”. To be eligible for this type of spousal green card, you must have been married at least two years before applying and must have been living together in wedlock at least four years before applying; you cannot have previously been married nor can you be related by blood closer than second

Getting the right type of sponsorship for your family–based green card

Many immigrants make the mistake of entering the country on a visa and not thinking of what they need to do in order to get a family-based green card. So, it is important to know what type of sponsorship you need before your come into the country. While there are many different types of family-based green cards, the type that you will be applying for will depend on which relative is sponsoring your application.

For example, if you were sponsored by your mother, you would be able to apply for an immediate relative green card. If you were sponsored by your father-in-law instead, then that would be an employment-based green card. If you were sponsored by your brother or sister, then this could be either employment or family-based green card. This can all depend on the sponsor and their relationship with you.

Costs and benefits of a family-based green card

A family-based green card sponsorship comes with a host of benefits. For example, you will be able to stay in the United States permanently and will not have to worry about being deported. Additionally, your children who are under 21 years old will automatically gain permanent residency status.

In terms of costs and benefits, this green card sponsorship is not free though. In fact, the USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) fee is $1,140 for submitting the application and $1440 for processing it. This may seem like a lot of money but when you consider how long it would take you to qualify through other means like employer-sponsored immigration or family reunification, it makes sense that this green card has its own price tag attached to it.

Conclusion

If you are an immigrant and have been living in the United States for more than 5 years, married your U.S. citizen spouse, and have children under 21 years old, you may be eligible for family-based green card sponsorship by your U.S. citizen relative. This is a long process that needs to be thoroughly thought out before moving forward with the application, but if it does go through and it’s successfully approved, you will gain permanent residency and be able to apply for citizenship as well.