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Immediate Relative Non-Spouse Processing
Return to main Family Based Immigration pageNon-spouse immediate relatives of United States citizens include the citizen's parents and unmarried children under the age of 21. These types of beneficiaries are not subject to any quota restrictions and may immigrate as soon as their immediate relative petitions (I-130) are approved.
If in the United States, and immediate relative may file an application for adjustment of status (I-485. concurrently with the US citizen's filing of the I-130 immediate relative petition.
If outside the United States, the beneficiary will apply for an immigrant visa though an overseas US consular post after the petition has been approved and initial processing of the immigrant visa has been done by the Department of State's National Visa Center.
In both instances, the process involves the United States citizen petitioner filing an immediate relative petition (I-130). The petitioner must establish that he or she is a United States citizen and that he or she is related to the beneficiary of the petition. This is usually done through birth and marriage certificates.
Before this process starts, the beneficiary needs to determine whether he or she will apply for immigrant status through adjustment of status or consular processing.
An important fact to remember is that unlike the case with immigrant preference petitions, there are no derivative immediate relatives. That is, each immediate relative must have his or her own petition and no one may qualify as an accompanying or following to join immediate relative. This often presents a problem where the petition if filed on behalf of the parent of a US citizen and the parent has minor children at home. The minor children do not qualify to immigrant through the approved immediate relative petition for the parent.