SUBSCRIPTIONS
ABOUT INDZINE

GETTING GREEN CARD THROUGH RELATIVES
By K.S. Rai

You qualify for a Green Card if you have a close family members who are U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holders. You may qualify for a Green Card through a relative if you fall into one of the following three categories:

• Immediate Relative of U.S. Citizens
• Preference Relatives of U.S. Citizens or Green Card Holders
• Accompanying Relatives of the Preference Groups

IMMEDIATE RELATIVES

Following is a list of those who qualify as Immediate Relatives:

• Spouses of U.S. Citizens.
• Unmarried sons and daughters under the age of 21 who have a U.S. Citizens Parent.
• Parents of U.S. Citizens, if the U.S. Citizen child is over the age of 21.

Immediate Relatives may immigrate to the U.S. in unlimited numbers. They are not controlled by quota.

Step Parents and Step Children are considered Immediate Relatives and the same rule apply to them as apply to natural parents and children, provided the marriage creating the Parent/Child relationship took place before the Child’s eighteenth birthday.

Parents and Children related through adoption also qualify as Immediate Relatives provided the adoption took place before the child reached the age of sixteen.

PREFERENCE RELATIVES

Following is a list of those who qualify as Preference Relatives:

• First Preference: Unmarried sons and daughters, any age, who have U.S. Citizen Parent.
• Second Preference (2A): Spouses of Green Card Holders.
• Second Preference (2B): Unmarried sons and daughters, any age, of Green Card Holder.
• Third Preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizen Parent.
• Fourth Preference: Married brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizen.

ACCOMPANYING RELATIVES

If you acquired a Green Card as a Preference Relative and you are the married or have unmarried children below the age of 21, your spouse and children can automatically get Green Cards as Accompanying Relatives simply by providing proof of their family relationship to you.

If you qualify as an Immediate Relative, your spouse and children qualify for Green Card as accompanying relatives. This difference may create some real problems in cases involving parents and adult children or stepparents and stepchildren who wish to immigrate as a family. For example, suppose you are the parent of a son or daughter over the age of 21 who is a U. S. Citizen. You are applying for a Green Card as an Immediate Relative with your U.S. Citizen child acting as Petitioner. If you are married, your spouse cannot get a Green Card automatically as an Accompanying Relative because Accompanying Relatives are included only with Preference Relatives, not Immediate Relatives. Any other children you may have, even if they are minors, cannot be Accompanying Relatives either, for the same reason.

May 1999 Visa Availability for India Born

The bulletin issued by the Visa Office of the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the U.S. Department of States gives the following availability position for the issuance of immigrant visa during the month of May 1999.