Family-Based avenues

• Immediate relatives are spouses, parents, and unmarried children (under 21 and not married) of U.S. Citizens. 
• Immediate Relatives avoid quotas and preference categories. 
• An immediate relative does not have to wait under a preference category for a visa to become available. 
• It includes a Widow / Widower under special circumstances.
• Immediate Relatives may, if inside the U.S., immediately apply for adjustment of status to legal permanent residency simultaneously with the submission of a relative petition.   
• Immediate Relatives who are outside the United States can consular process for issuance of legal permanent residency status once the relative petition is approved. 

• Certain relatives as well as fiancés are not considered immediate relatives but petitions can be filed for them.
• Those who are not considered immediate relatives are subject to the numerical limits for visa availability according to the applicable preference category.
• Any son or daughter either over 21 or married as well as brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens are not considered immediate relatives. 

Fiancé(e)s

• Fiancé(e)s are not immediate relatives but a U.S. citizen can petition for his or her fiancé(e) under the K1 process.   With the resumption of consular visa services, K1 cases are being given high priority.  The petition is typically valid for 4 months.  However, consular officers can revalidate petitions for additional 4-month increments.  In most cases, it will not be necessary to submit a new petition. See more about K-1 below. 

 Speed of K1 Fiancé Visas compared to a family petition and consular processing in times of COVID-19:  

• Neither the K1 nor consular processing  on an I-130 family petition is subject to the proclamation suspending visas.  That said, K1  cases are taking much longer than they did previously. Thus, the K1 fiancé route is not necessarily the "fast process" that has made it so attractive previously. 
• K1 still remains the faster than consular processing and allows the applicant to enter the U.S. sooner to join his or der fiancé(e).  
• However, the fiancé filing fees are higher and the fiancé(e) does not enter with a legal permanent residency green card in hand. A K1 fiancé(e) cannot travel, work or live here without a looming 90-day deadline, etc.
• It ultimately depends whether people want to take care of the school, work, and life in their own country while the I-130 petition is processing or enter the U.S. as quickly as possible even though it will raise more hoops to later jump through. 

• Legal Permanent Residents do not have immediate relatives as defined for immigration purposes.
• A Legal Permanent Resident can petition for his or her spouse, children under 21 (F2A category), unmarried sons or daughters over 21 (F2B), and married sons and daughters (F3).
• LPRs cannot petition for siblings.
• Beneficiaries of these petitions must wait, even after the petition is approved, for a visa to become available. 
• Visas for relatives of LPRs are limited and allocated according to the 2A and 2B preferences described on this page.