appleblossom

Just searched and can’t find many examples, but did find one if it helps. Good luck.

Ah, your timeline says March 2023, PERM was Feb 2022? Looks like you’ve got a long wait for an interview unless you expedite, so it’s worth a try.

Ok. So your PD isn’t current and by law there is no visa available to you yet, so there’s nothing to expedite. this page is for family visas but the answer is the same for EB’s - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html#ivp7 Once your PD is current you can request an expedite with the consulate, but you’d need a better reason. If your employer is expecting you to be able to start work in 2024 then you might want to manage their expectations!

What stage are you at and is your PD current? It would be really helpful if your timeline was completed, both to help others applying via the same route but also so people can see your info when you ask questions. If your PD is current you can request an expedite, employment based visas are eligible for expedites the same as all other applicants - but of course you’d need a good reason for it.

It depends on the consulate. Some have huge queues (2 yrs + for an interview), others no backlog at all. But spousal cases are always given priority over employment based ones.

Your PD only current became current 6 days ago though, nothing will have happened before that point. Now that a visa is available to you things should be underway. Your online status will change to ‘in transit’ when your case is being sent to the consulate. Good luck.

Nobody is arguing with you, not sure why you'd say that? Powerpuff just kindly explained that *you* don't invite them, you have nothing to do with their application, they need to qualify on their own merits. And she's given you a link confirming that from the official source. Also worth noting that immigration laws are updated very regularly, not 'created decades ago'.

Because you're a reason for them to want to stay in the US, having close family there can often lead to a visitor visa refusal. Presumably you'll have applied for their visas by the time they have their interview?

But did your father file as well, to try and get your brother in under F2A? Or just the one petition? What happened for the plan for just one of them to go back? If both are out of the country that takes away a tie that proves they are maintaining their PR status i.e. having a spouse there.

Very unlikely they'd have biometrics in a month. https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ Once they do get it though, if they are planning on being out for a while make sure they take steps to maintain their LPR status - keeping their property in the US, filing tax returns, paying bills etc. Basically as much as they can to show they'll be returning and that the US is still their permanent home.

It's definitely a tough choice. She should also enter the lottery, you never know! Best of luck to you with your decision.

If they apply now they will hopefully get an appointment in spring 2025, but Nigeria has quite a high refusal rate for B visas and their chances are even lower with you living in the US. But if they're happy to spend the money on applying, it's worth a try. Good luck.

It also means you may well lose your LPR status. Your options realistically are to either give up the green card and be with your wife in another country, or to just wait it out and be apart for 5 years ish. Only other possibility is for her to qualify for a visa via another route i.e. employment based visa, that's worth investigating if you think she'd be eligible for anything else. How did you get your green card?

Oh, as you included a screenshot about the DS-260 I assumed that’s what you were asking about. Do you already have an attorney on file that represented you for the I-130?

As per the guidance, it can take a few days for the fees to process. Only once that’s happened will you be able to complete the DS-260.

If you applied in 2020 then I suspect that’s more to do with the Covid backlog than anything else, all processing times increased hugely after that.

The online ‘countdown’ is notoriously inaccurate, if you search the forum you’ll find tons of threads about how it’s best to completely ignore it. Hopefully you’ll have approval soon, you can search the forum for more accurate timelines from those who’ve shared theirs. Good luck.

There’s no annotations on the image you’ve shared, it’s just the blank form, so can you clarify which bit you’re asking about?

OK that's good, not one of the countries that take longer then i.e. Mexico. Your father will get an immigrant visa/green card, so he'll be a Legal Permanent Resident of the US, nothing temporary about it. The 4-5+ years isn't the wait for your father to be able to petition your brother, it's the wait time from him petitioning your brother to a visa actually becoming available to your brother - see the Visa Bulletin above for the F2A/F2B category wait times. So once your father gets his green card, he then applies for your brother, and they have to wait apart for the time it'll take for your brother to get his visa. You said earlier in the thread that your brother was under 16, so he could have been any age, I didn't know if he was a baby or really young. If your brother is 16 now, then he'll be 18/19 or possibly even a bit older (I believe Lagos has a long wait for an interview at the moment) by the time your father gets his visa, so perhaps your father will be happy to leave him then? It does mean that your brother will likely be F2B category though (over 21), which has an even longer wait, so that 4-5 years will become 8-9 years (these times are a VERY rough guide, nobody knows how the wait will change between now and then, it's only going on the current Visa Bulletin). But then (just to confuse things further and chuck another idea in to the mix), your father would potentially be able to get his citizenship and your brother's category would then be F1, which has a shorter wait than F2B.

That's exactly what everybody has said you should do. Now that you know the reality of the wait times ahead, you need to have a conversation with your father and he needs to make a decision. He needs to work out if he wants to pursue life in the US for him and your brother, and if so, is he prepared to leave him behind for 4-5 years when he's young. Or just forgetting the idea for now and then moving once your brother is old enough to be left and can wait for his visa as an adult (I'd still suggest you petition for him now just in case as back up). One thing you've not mentioned is which country are they in/from? Best of luck to you.

Both Dashinka and I (and probably others) have given you info on it above, as well as the link to the Visa Bulletin. I appreciate that you thought this would be relatively easy and we’ve all chucked a load of info at you and thrown you a curveball in your plans that you weren’t expecting. So maybe slow down, have another read of the thread from the start, and a read of the links given. Then you can ask ask questions about anything you’re not clear on.

As said above, if your parents petition for him, it won't be as long as that. But that's why people are suggesting you petition him as well, as back up in case something happens to your parent(s). I'd just email the lawyer and ask them for clarification on the timelines. It's odd that they've said 18 though, even a dependent doesn't need to be under 18, it's 21 for US immigration. So either something they're saying is being misunderstood, or they're not a very good lawyer - but ask them to clarify it all and they should do. They are a member of AILA?

OK, so yes, you can petition for all of them. But there will just be a difference in the processing time as above.

It’s not though, we’ve all said you can petition for him. All the info you need is on the USCIS website - see the links above. The link given by @JeanneAdil tells you clearly that your brother isn’t an Immediate Relative.

Yes, you can petition him. But as per the answers above, unlike your parents your brother is not an 'immediate relative', so he must wait for a visa. You need to look at the Visa Bulletin for info, if you petition him he'll be category F4. Currently those who applied in May 2007 - 16.5 years ago - are only just now able to apply for their visas, and that timeline is increasing due to a big backlog in that category. If your parents petition for him he'll be category F2A. And for that category those who applied in November 2019 - 4.5 years ago - are only now eligible to apply for visas. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2024/visa-bulletin-for-january-2024.html And these timelines can be longer depending on the country i.e. if your brother is from India or Mexico. And no, his age makes no difference, but be aware that he may 'age out' of the F2A category and move in to the F2B category (a longer wait - as you can see from the link above), depending on his age now and how long it takes for his I-130 to be approved.