Nxt yr will be my fifth yr as immigrant.Should I petition my husband now or when I become a citizen?

Question

Nxt yr will be my fifth yr as immigrant.Should I petition my husband now or when I become a citizen?

Answer 1

You should have petitioned him immediately after you married him. If you were married 5 years ago, then he'd be getting an immigrant visa sometime soon as the F2a petition spouse of a legal permanent resident take about 5 years to become valid for use.

However, after 5 years of legal residency, you are eligible to apply for citizenship now or very soon. The problem with this is, while you may be eligible to apply, it may be a while before you can actually qualify as they have long backlogs for naturalitzation as well. So, who knows exactly when you'll be a citizen?

If you apply for your husband once you're a citizen, it will take another 8 to 12 months to process the petition, send it to the embassy and get the visa. So, add up to another year after you get citizenship. If you did apply now, your petition would be in a lower category, but it would be upgraded once you became a citizen. You absolutely would not need to file a new petition.  The fellow who said that is well intentioned, but wrong. You would need to tell USCIS about your petition so they could take the proper action, because they won't rush out to look for it unless you tell them to.

So,it's hard to say exactly what's best, but chances are you will lose less time by filing now.

Answer 2

That's up to you.

AMNESTY means never having immigration enforcement!

Those 'undocumented' are actually 'highly documented' with fraudulent documents our government readily accepts.

If fences don't work then take down those around the White House.

http://www.illegalaliens.us/

Answer 3

You mean that you would be for 5th yr a legal permanent resident...which is not the same as to say only immigrant. You can apply for naturalization 90 days prior to your 5th year as a LPR.

You can petition or file the I-130 for your husband now (as a LPR) and then upgrade it once you become a US citizen.

The only difference is that IF your husband is outside the US then having that petition pending...could cause some issues at the port of entry (sometimes), if he is inside the US then nothing should change. IF he is outside the US then it would be easier to just wait until you become a US citizen, and then he can come (if he has a visa) and then adjust status (filing concurrently I-130 + I-485 package AOS).  Or he just can go through consular processing, in which then would be the same, only that he must wait outside the US until his visa is given/approved.

Be aware, that you must be sure to fulfill all the requirements for naturalization.

Answer 4

It will be faster when you become a citizen.  After approval, you have to wait until a visa is available, which could take years.  But if it takes a while to become a citizen, you could apply now, then re-apply when you become a citizen if it has not been approved.  It might cost more in application fees, but that will insure he gets a visa as soon as possible, whichever way it goes.

Answer 5

It will be a quicker and easier process for you if you wait until you are a citizen.

Answer 6

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

Go to this website and click on forms. If you have the money get a I-765 form and apply for him a work card. It cost $340. If you don't have that kind of money file him a I-9 form. this is free, then he could come to the U.S and work legally and the two of you could start this process together. I'm not sure of his age. There are many forms on this page and you can try different ways to get him into the u.s.      Good luck.