appleblossom

You need to look at the Visa Bulletin, as you can see from that those who applied almost 4 years ago now have a visa available to them - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2024/visa-bulletin-for-march-2024.html Their ages are important, any danger of them aging out in to F2B category in the next few years? As you can see, that has a much longer wait. As @Boiler said, if you have a spouse that could petition them instead that would be much quicker.

End of the year as a rough guide, it’s about 8 months from DQ to IL it seems.

It’s valid for a year from entry, as said above. The date is on the stamp. Look again at the wording on the visa - "UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR"

The response on your thread last week says you need to schedule it yourself.

You need to select 'non citizen' to be given the list for him. https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm

$13k?!? Blimey, that's ridiculous, I hope it's a proper immigration lawyer for that price and not a dodgy 'visa agency'. And as Boiler said, why are you paying? The employer should be. If you are eligible for EB3 then it would mean you'd get a visa much sooner, so may be worth going through it all again. Your employer should be able to sort it for you if so - they'll presumably be much happier with you being able to start work sooner anyway. The woman from Thailand is just expecting too much too soon, even the quickest consulates are 2-3 months from DQ to interview date. And it depends on her visa category of course, it may not be current yet. The only bad thing that I can think of if you did have your H2B refused is that you may struggle to visit the US as a tourist in the future. Often a visa refusal can impact a VWP or B visa application. It shouldn't impact your IV app at all.

Well, let us know what the lawyer says. Good luck.

Likely to be much longer than 2 years IMO. They've already said there will be 'very little to no forward movement' in the coming months for employment categories. Is there any way you could qualify for EB3 instead? Which category is the woman you know in? If her PD is current then it must be a country with a long interview wait (Pakistan, Canada, Nigeria etc). All you can do is apply for the non-immigrant visa, it's worth a try. Good luck.

EB1A or EB2 NIW are the self sponsored employment based categories, or EB5 for investment, but that's a huge amount of money ($1.8M IRRC).

Nope. If she's resident elsewhere, the consulate will usually accept the case.Too soon to worry about details like that anyway - if she has no other route other than through you, who knows where she'll be living in a few decades anyway. Where is she from?

Yes, just chucking out suggestions for her to look at, they'll need to work out themselves what she may be eligible for (if anything) and then perhaps speak to a lawyer to confirm.

OK, so kids won't be getting visas through you/your Mom then, they'll have aged out either way. If she has her own business then L1, or E2 maybe? Depends on if she could invest in a business in the US and how many staff she has though, but worth looking at. You don't need to do fingerprints or biometrics at all, you're the petitioner.

If the check has been cashed, it's definitely been accepted and received.

It will say on it on the visa. "UPON ENDORSEMENT SERVES AS TEMPORARY I-551 EVIDENCING PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR 1 YEAR". Her stamp is the endorsement, so that's her temp green card, good for a year.

I think your maths is off because you're using the current processing time and assume it will be the same going forward, but it's likely to be much longer. For example, F4 category is currently at June 2007. Two years ago (March 2022), it was at March 2007. So it's only moved 3 months in 2 years and therefore the wait times are likely to be MUCH longer than those who applied back in 2007. Yes, your sister cannot be sponsored by your mother now if she's married. The only way for your mother to sponsor her is for her to become a citizen first. Yes, your sister could qualify under F2B if she is divorced (genuinely divorced - she couldn't then remarry and try to sponsor her spouse!), whether her children would get a visa or not will depend on if they age out of the category. How old are they now? So realistically, you're looking at 8 years or so for your mother to become a citizen if she's not even got her GC yet , then current wait time for F1 category is current 9 years - but again, assuming it isn't going to be linear (that category has only moved 2 months in 2 years), I'd guess at maybe 25 years in total. For you to sponsor her, I'd guess much longer than 18 years unfortunately. But the best thing to do would be for you to petition for her asap, get her place in the line. And then for your mother to do the same whenever she's able to. Both of you can petition her no problem, and then it's just a case of who gets there first. Does she have any other route to a visa? Specialist skills that would mean she would get an employer to sponsor her perhaps? DV Lottery?

If you're not in the US, then I don't see how that's relevant? That's only for people who resided in the US when the qualifying relative dies, and when the decision is made on the petition. Neither seems to apply to you. I would contact an immigration lawyer if you want a definitive answer, but I don't see any way that humanitarian reinstatement is possible. Your brothers case has already been revoked and I think that at some point somebody will realise yours should be too.

Also, just checking, but you say petition rather than petitions - you did file one for each sibling?

You need to look at Table B on the Visa Bulletin, that's when they'll be asked to start the NVC process. Currently at April 2004, so maybe in another 20-25 years for your siblings as a rough guess? https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2024/visa-bulletin-for-march-2024.html So nothing to do for now but sit and wait, and check the VB occasionally to see what's happening.

That means you shouldn't count on your immigrant visa being granted i.e. you shouldn't book a flight to the US until you actually have your visa in hand. You can certainly try for the H2B, but as above it's not dual intent, so you'll need to be prepared to show you will return to your home country once it ends. Good luck.

If it’s a new case, you’ll have a new case number. I’m assuming this is a new employer too? Hopefully they’re paying you a lot more - even just above the poverty line wouldn’t be wise in the US, it’s not a good place to be poor. Good luck.

You've posted this in the DV section of the forum, you might want to ask a kind mod to move it for you.

Yes, 3 weeks to create the case and send the WL. So maybe 4 weeks until you can send docs in (it can take a week for payment to clear), then only 10 days or so to get DQ'ed (assuming you've sent everything required of course). End of April for DQ perhaps? After that it will very much depend on which consulate they'll be interviewing at - some consulates are only a couple of months from DQ to interview, others are a couple of years.

Your use of 'home' was confusing, it sounded as though she already lived there on a temp visa. So as said above, the I-485 isn't relevant to you, it doesn't form part of consular processing. This overview of the whole process may be useful, so you can understand each step - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition/step-2-begin-nvc-processing.html

H2B isn't dual intent, so you'd have to prove you don't intent to immigrate when you apply for one - rather tricky with an immigrant visa in the works! https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-are-dual-intent-visas.html But your PD is current - or are you 'Other Workers'??

You need to contact them as per their webpage - https://tr.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/fiancee-visa/the-interview/ Good luck.