If you’re an immigrant in the United States, you may be worried about how your status can affect your family members. Maybe you have a parent who is undocumented or a sibling who is a permanent resident. Maybe you are a Permanent Resident with pending applications for your spouse and children. Don’t wait – consult with an experienced attorney at Puntier Law to evaluate your unique case, but there are some insights that may help you gauge possible outcomes in the meantime. Here’s what you need to know about how your immigration status can affect your relatives.
If you are a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, you can sponsor certain relatives to come live with you in the country.
If you are a permanent resident or citizen of the United States, there is a possibility that you can bring family into the country. Through a process known as family-based immigration, relatives such as spouses, children, parents and certain family members can be sponsored to come live with you in the US. There is a lot of paperwork and documentation required in this process, but it can be immensely rewarding to have family by your side in your new home country. Sponsoring family members brings love and support through difficult transitions and helps families stay connected across international borders.
If you have applications pending for your spouse or your children when you become a citizen, the process can change for them
If there are family applications that are already pending when you go from being a Permanent Resident to a citizen, the outstanding application can be adversely affected. There is a common misconception that if you become a United States Citizen faster, then the processing times for your family petitions as a permanent resident will be even faster for your relatives. But that is not always the case because the category of the visa you will be applying for as a U.S. Citizen is completely different. Depending on your country of origin, this can cause delays in processing times. For instance, at Puntier Law, we have seen situations where a spousal application is unaffected while the application for minor children is significantly delayed because it can no longer be lumped into the same visa category it was under before. So if you apply for a visa for your spouse and minor children as a permanent resident and have a chance to become a United States Citizen in the interim, you should seek advice from an experienced attorney before taking that step to make sure you will not have any surprise consequences to your family members’ immigration processes.
What happens if your citizenship application is denied or you lose your permanent residence status?
If your citizenship application is denied or you lose your permanent residence status, it can have a severe effect on your family members who rely on you for support. If a previously pending family-based immigration application is no longer valid, the process must start all over again from the beginning. Your spouse and minor children will be in a different visa category. If you or a loved one are in this situation, you should explore other immigration benefits with an experienced attorney, by your side, before you give up. At Puntier Law we take pride in getting creative with our solutions. It’s not uncommon for us to find an out-of-the-box way to apply for immigration benefits that may not even be on your radar. For example, we had a client who was about to give up on his visa application when we learned that he qualified for a little-known military benefit called Parole in Place. He was able to obtain a green card with an immigration solution he had never even considered.
Your income and employment status will also affect your ability to sponsor a relative.
If you wish to be a sponsor on the immigration application for a family member, it is important to take into account your current income and employment status. This is because immigration departments will assess an individual’s ability to financially support their relative and provide them with a stable home. If you have sufficient income, then chances are that your sponsorship application will go through without too many hiccups. However, if you are unemployed or earning only a limited amount of money, it is likely that the immigration department will reject your application as they deem it too risky to approve the immigration of your relative in such circumstances. Therefore, it is prudent to consider your employment status before submitting an immigration petition for family members.
The best way to find out if you can sponsor a relative is to consult with an immigration attorney
Puntier Law is well-versed in immigration law and can help you determine if you can sponsor a relative. A Puntier Law attorney will assist with initial screening, can provide valuable information on the laws that apply to your case, and help to prepare all necessary paperwork for filing. Puntier Law takes pride in providing personalized attention to every client’s case by thoroughly examining the complexities of each situation in order to ensure an accurate assessment of eligibility. Puntier Law attorneys are available for consultations and legal representation so make sure you consult a Puntier Law professional if you’re hoping to sponsor a relative.
