Best way in bringing Family Member

[joonieh 0]

Hi everyone, just got my citizenship and I'll be filing to bring my dad here in US under I-130 form. If everything works out well I believe it'll take at least 13 to 14 months of him being here as permanent resident. We just want to make preparations of what will be your advice how to go about bringing my other family member:

 

• Unmarried brother above 21 years old
• Married brother, with wife and 2 kids

 

Family from the Philippines.

[OldUser 6,095]

Your father should sponsor them.

 

- Unmarried brother as soon as father is LPR and brother remains unmarried

- Married brother when your father becomes a US citizen

 

You as US citizen can sponsor siblings too, but it's probably going to be quicker if your father files, especially for unmarried brother.

 

 

[joonieh 0]

1 minute ago, OldUser said:

Your father should sponsor them.

 

- Unmarried brother as soon as father is LPR and brother remains unmarried

- Married brother when your father becomes a US citizen

 

You as US citizen can sponsor siblings too, but it's probably going to be quicker if your father files, especially for unmarried brother.

Thank you so much! My dad can apply citizenship after 5 years?

 

Do you happen to know an estimate how long will be the wait for them if my dad then petition them? What LPR stands for? 

- Unmarried brother as soon as father is LPR and brother remains unmarried

- Married brother when your father becomes a US citizen

[OldUser 6,095]

LPR = Lawful Permanent Resident. E.g. green card holder.

 

When your dad gets GC, he can file for unmarried son. You need to double check visa bulletin to find out how long it would take for F2B category. It looks like currently it's taking about 13 years, if I read correctly. Cases filed before 22 OCT 2011 are processed now.

 

Either way there's not going to be quick immigration for your brothers, no matter who sponsors them. It just may be several years shorter if dad sponsors.

 

Alternatively, your brothers may want to try obtaining work visas with potential green card sponsorship in the future by employer.

Edited February 5, 2023 by OldUser

[joonieh 0]

@OldUser understood, what category will it be if my dad as a US citizen will file for them - will that be F4? As a sibling if I file for my brothers will that also be F4? But processing time is different?

 

Yeah I am looking at the work visa route as well, my older brother is actually a lead software engineer - I am not sure if that will give him more chance in finding a future employer and my other brother's career have been more of the standard administrative work. Do you so happen to have any resources that can help us looking into work visas?

Edited February 5, 2023 by joonieh

[SalishSea 17,496]

8 minutes ago, joonieh said:

@OldUser understood, what category will it be if my dad as a US citizen will file for them - will that be F4? As a sibling if I file for my brothers will that also be F4? But processing time is different?

 

Yeah I am looking at the work visa route as well, my older brother is actually a lead software engineer - I am not sure if that will give him more chance in finding a future employer and my other brother's career have been more of the standard administrative work. Do you so happen to have any resources that can help us looking into work visas?

For Philippines, the wait time for those categories is very long.

 

Your brother can try to find an employer who wants to petition him for a work visa, however:  with the recent spate of widespread layoffs in the tech sector (at Microsoft and other companies), it is less likely than it was a year or two ago.

[OldUser 6,095]

@joonieh The IT market is not as it's best shape now, but things may change in the future. Also, a good engineer is still valuable to many companies.

 

He can try researching common job boards (LinkedIn, Dice, Indeed). He may find some recruiters he can work with by poking around and sending resume to jobs.

 

If he's good at interviewing and solving coding problems he can try applying directly with big companies (ByteDance, Facebook, Microsoft etc.). They sponsor H1Bs, though not sure how easy it is in current market.

 

[EatBulaga 307]

@joonieh If your brothers, both married and unmarried, gets accepted to some academic program, they can enter on the student F visa, which also allows the married student to bring spouse and unmarried children.

 

Some graduate programs offer students financial assistantship like research or teaching in computer science, which makes it financially affordable for the foreign students to complete the program. And after graduation, the foreign student can look for employment and get hired by a US company to adjust status.

 

If the foreign student does not get school financial assistance but gets acceptance, it is still possible but the tuition for international students are usually very high.

 

This is the reason most foreign students study degrees with high rates of employment after graduation.

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by EatBulaga

[Boiler 44,929]

You should sponsor the married brother now, the unmarried one would need to stay unmarried for the father route to be quicker

[joonieh 0]

Thank you everyone for the advice, really appreciate it! 

[SteveInBostonI130 3,357]

14 hours ago, joonieh said:

Hi everyone, just got my citizenship and I'll be filing to bring my dad here in US under I-130 form. If everything works out well I believe it'll take at least 13 to 14 months of him being here as permanent resident. We just want to make preparations of what will be your advice how to go about bringing my other family member:

 

• Unmarried brother above 21 years old
• Married brother, with wife and 2 kids

 

Family from the Philippines.

Sponsor married brother now.  Category F4 (sibling) is not much longer than category F3 (married son/daughter).

 

If you wait for your father to petition him (married brother), you are adding 8+ years to the current wait time (2 yrs for father to be USC, 6 years for him to get citizenship).  Remember, filing eligibility/date is different from final approval/oath ceremony date.

[Cathi 5,715]

Unless you brother has a highly specialized degree and position to be hired for, the chances of his getting a work visa is about zero. A computer engineer is not a specialized degree and US employers cannot hire or sponsor foreign workers if there are equally qualified US citizens and green card holders. They are required by law to hire US workers. Both my husband and my son are computer engineers (my son works in software and holds a dual degree in computer engineering and also electrical engineering) and I can tell you for a fact that there are an abundance of computer engineers and computer science people here in the US. Others mentioned that with layoffs that it may be difficult to find a job in IT right now, but where we live (Boston) that is not the case, there are plenty of jobs in this area. But that doesn't help your brother as he does not have any special degree or job experience that would qualify for a work visa.

[TBoneTX 44,786]

A hijack post and reply have been split from this thread into their own topic in this forum.