QUESTION: I have been waiting for many years to come to the United States from a petition from my sister. It has been 14 years. Must I still wait?
Answer: Actually, it takes even more years to do this. The visa number must be current and there is no way to speed this process up. However, there are different petitions where they do not have to wait for the visa number as they are not required to be on the visa waiting list to be able to come into the United States.
Question: What types of petitions are these?
Answer: Battered spouses/children; Returning resident aliens; Certain former US Citizens; Qualifying ministers of religion and religious workers; and Certain widows and widowers of US citizens.
Question: Can I have more than 1 petition go through at a time, or must I wait for my petition from my sister to become current.
Answer: You can have as many petitions as you like. It is like two horses going around the track. The first one to the finish line wins. Thus, for example, if you have a church that will petition you for the special immigrant religious petition, by all means try to get it.
Question: So which petition are on the visa waiting chart?
Answer: The basic category includes Family-based preference immigrants; Employment-based preference immigrants; Diversity immigrants; and Family unity immigrants.
Question: What about temporary visas? Can I come in temporarily while waiting?
Answer: Most of the time, the answer would be no. However, there is what is known as the H-1B work visa which allows both immigrant processing and the H-1B to go forward at exactly the same time. You will need to have an employer agree to sponsor you for a job. It does not need to be a full-time position, but it should be related to your degree. Once filed, this petition only takes about 6 months to process.
Another type of petition for a non-immigrant visa would be the L-1. An L-1 Visa is one of the nicest working visas as it allows you to run your own business or a business owned by the foreign company. If you have your own business outside the US and have been working there for at least one year, you can come to the US on the L-1 Visa.
Additionally, your spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old can come as beneficiaries to your approved L-2. Your children will be able to go to school in the US without having to get a separate student visa (as long as they are not in college.). A great deal of the success of the L-1 Petition is how it is prepared. Unlike other investment related visas, the investment in the US business could be as low as $10,000US.
Thus, there are several ways to avoid the multiple years of waiting outside the US.
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Brian D. Lerner is an Immigration and Naturalization Attorney. He is a Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law as Certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Lerner is married to a Filipina and has been helping Filipinos immigrate to the United States for nearly 20 years. His firm represents clients in Deportation/Removal proceedings, does Waivers, Appeals, Naturalization, Adjustments, Criminal Relief, Citizenship, Consulate Processing, Work Permits, Investment Visas and all other areas of Immigration and Naturalization Law. You can go online to http://www.californiaimmigration.us/ and get a free consultation or call us at (562) 495-0554 for an in-person office consultation.
