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39-483: In order to apply for permanent residency, the applicant must not be "removable" from the United States. If he or she is the beneficiary of an approved immigrant petition ( family or employment-based ), the priority date must be current (if applicable). Once the application package (I-485, I-693, and the filing fees) are received, the applicant will receive the receipt number. This receipt number can be used to track

78-459: A Lawful Permanent Resident ). For relatives already present in the United States it can be used for Adjustment of Status to that of Lawful Permanent Resident. For petitions filed by United States citizens, each I-130 petition can be on behalf of only one beneficiary, so a petitioner seeking to petition for multiple relatives (for instance, a spouse and children) must file separate I-130s for each of them. For lawful permanent residents, an exception

117-447: A Form I-130 petition filed on or before April 30, 2001. The other two main provisions address the issue of visas and change of non-immigrant status for people who have filed Form I-130 petitions but have still not been able to get visas or adjust status to that of Lawful Permanent Resident. The following forms may be submitted alongside Form I-130: All (non-DCF) applications from outside the United States, as well as all applications with

156-411: A United States citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident petitioning for an immediate or close relative (who is not currently a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident) intending to immigrate to the United States. It is one of numerous USCIS immigration forms . As with all USCIS petitions, the person who submits the petition is called the petitioner and the relative on whose behalf the petition

195-418: A child eligible for adoption, including verifying the propriety of the adoption under the laws of both countries; making a reasonable prior effort to facilitate a domestic adoption; and agreeing to use only certified adoption agencies. Article III outlines the responsibilities that the entire process must be authorized by central adoption authorities designated by the contracting states. If fully implemented at

234-523: A concurrent Form I-485 (adjustment of status) must be filed with the Chicago lockbox facility. Standalone Form I-130s need to be filed at either the Chicago or the Phoenix lockbox facility, where the choice of facility is determined by the home address of the petitioner used on the form. DCF applications need to be filed at the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. As of 2024, the filing fee for Form I-130

273-500: A temporary tourist status can risk inadmissibility bars. The initial response from the USCIS to a Form I-130 is one of these four: In the case of a RFE or NOID, the petitioner's response will be taken into account by the USCIS when deciding whether to approve or deny the petition. In case 1, where the beneficiary is already in the United States and the Form I-130 is filed concurrently with

312-423: Is $ 675 by mail or $ 625 by their website. There are no filing fees for the accompanying forms that need to be filed along with this form (I-130A and G-1145). However, this fee does not include : The USCIS releases statistics on a quarterly basis giving information on the number of applications received, approved, denied, and pending in that quarter. Here is the approximate data in most quarters: The USCIS data on

351-412: Is Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e). While there is only one Form I-130, there are three different ways the form could be used: Note that for the F category, that has numerical limits, the numerical limits that apply depend both on the category and country of chargeability . Moreover, the order of priority of applications is determined by the date the original Form I-130 petition was received by

390-427: Is an international convention dealing with international adoption , child laundering , and child trafficking in an effort to protect those involved from the corruption, abuses, and exploitation which sometimes accompanies international adoption. The convention has been considered crucial because it provides a formal international and intergovernmental recognition of intercountry adoption to ensure that adoptions under

429-454: Is made in the case for the beneficiary's unmarried children. Form I-130 can be used for the following categories of relatives: There are two subcategories of the IR category for which Form I-130 is not the appropriate form: IR-3 (orphan adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen) and IR-4 (orphan to be adopted in the U.S. by a U.S. citizen). For these categories, the appropriate forms are I-600 and I-600A (if

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468-465: Is made is called the beneficiary . The USCIS officer who evaluates the petition is called the adjudicator . Approval of the petition can be used by the beneficiary to obtain a United States visa in the Immediate Relative (IR) or Family-Based Preference (F) category at a US consulate or embassy abroad, and, once the relative has immigrated to the United States, to obtain a Green Card (i.e., become

507-518: Is not relevant to the 1993 Hague Convention (on Adoption)] Especially during emergency situations, natural disasters or conflicts, children are observed to be adopted without strict legal procedures being followed, with a risk that there may be cases of child trafficking. An excessive bureaucratization of the adoption process after the implementation of the Hague Adoption Convention has been noted to establishing possible additional barriers to

546-424: Is the major multilateral instrument regulating international adoption and calls for the need for co-ordination and direct co-operation between countries to ensure that appropriate safeguards are respected. The Hague Adoption Convention has several requirements. The adoption process includes establishing a "Central Authority" to serve as the country's primary contact in adoption processes; satisfying several checks for

585-590: The New York Times , with the temporary increase attributed to the increased workload on the USCIS arising from the introduction of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program announced in June 2012. Note that these processing times do not include wait times for visa numbers in the case of Form I-130 petitions in the numerically limited F category, which can be quite long in some cases. Also, they do not include

624-582: The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). BIA is part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review , which is under the United States Department of Justice , a separate federal government agency from USCIS' parent, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security . A petitioner who believes that his or her petition was incorrectly denied or revoked can file Form EOIR-29 with the USCIS to have an appeal heard by

663-562: The BIA. This is in contrast with the appeals process for the vast majority of USCIS immigration forms is handled by the USCIS's Administrative Appeals Office , with which the petitioner is required to file Form I-290B. In case of an unfavorable BIA decision, the petitioner can appeal the decision in the United States judicial system. This is supported by the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act , that states that United States citizens and residents adversely affected by government agencies can appeal

702-483: The Department of State Office of Children's Issues assisted in the return to the United States of 260 children who had been abducted to or wrongfully retained from other countries and 171 children were returned from countries that are Convention partners with the United States. [This statistic, though accurate and interesting, refers to returns of wrongfully retained children under the 1980 Hague Convention (on Abduction) and

741-549: The Form I-485, the petitioner and beneficiary are initially interviewed jointly by a USCIS officer. If, based on the joint interview or other reasons, the USCIS officer is suspicious about the petition, he or she may require a Stokes interview , where the petitioner and beneficiary are interviewed separately about their relationship and the responses of both are compared. The Stokes interview is generally used for marriage petitions (IR-1 and F2-1). Based on new evidence suggesting that

780-654: The Seventh Circuit. On March 9, 2021, the Seventh Circuit lifted its stay and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ order vacating the Public Charge Final Rule went into effect. On March 9, 2021, DHS moved to dismiss its appeal before the Seventh Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals , and the Seventh Circuit dismissed the appeal the same day. DHS immediately implemented

819-484: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On Nov. 2, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule, 84 Fed. Reg. 41,292 (Aug. 14, 2019), as amended by Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds; Correction, 84 Fed. Reg. 52,357 (Oct. 2, 2019) (Public Charge Final Rule) nationwide. That decision was stayed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for

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858-713: The USCIS, known as the Priority Date. The Visa Bulletin , published by the Visa Reporting and Control Division of the U.S. Department of State , provides cut-off dates for each category. If the Priority Date is earlier than the cut-off date, then the beneficiary can get an immigrant visa or apply for Adjustment of Status. The Legal Immigration Family Equity Act has provisions targeting beneficiaries of pending or approved Form I-130 petitions. One provision specifically addresses overlooking of unlawful entry or presence for people who otherwise qualify for Adjustment of Status based on

897-475: The United States, except for those who fall under exceptions, had to submit form I-944, Declaration of Self-Sufficiency. The form called for information related, among other things, to the applicant's assets and liabilities, health insurance, bankruptcy filings, past Immigration Fee waiver requests, applicant's education and occupational skills and more. The form was based on the Public Charge Rule adopted by

936-445: The United States, it may be difficult to obtain a non-immigrant visa because the pending Form I-130 is an indicator of future immigrant intent. The beneficiary may still be able to obtain a B visa by convincing the consular officer that the current visit is temporary. Moreover, those who enter on a temporary business/tourist visa are generally not allowed to transition to a permanent resident status, and trying to file Form I-485 while on

975-582: The additional time spent processing the Form I-485 at the Field Office (in case the beneficiary is in the United States and applying for Adjustment of Status ) or the additional time taken to obtain an immigrant visa after an immigrant visa number is obtained (in the case the beneficiary is not currently in the United States). For petitions filed with USCIS international offices using Direct Consular Filing ,

1014-628: The case online. In most employment-based applications , the petition will be approved within four months and a green card will automatically be mailed. In some cases, a face to face interview is required. This is often done in marriage-based applications to ensure that the marriage is bona fide , meaning genuine and not a sham marriage . Based on a rule promulgated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in August 2019, from February 24, 2020 to March 8, 2021, every applicant for adjustment of status in

1053-458: The convention has been ratified by 99 states. South Korea , Nepal , and Russia have signed but not ratified it. Many countries which have not ratified the Convention do not permit foreign adoptions of their children nor adoptions of foreign children. With respect to the previous multilateral instruments which include some provisions regarding intercountry adoption, the Hague Adoption Convention

1092-550: The convention will generally be recognized and given effect in other party countries. The preamble to the Convention states: The main objectives of the convention, are set out in Article 1: The convention was developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law , the preeminent organization in the area of private international law . It was concluded on 29 May 1993 and entered into force on 1 May 1995. As of March 2019,

1131-407: The date (to get the actual processing time, you need to see how far back that date is relative to the date for which the processing times and dates are reported). USCIS breaks down Form I-130 into six categories and reports processing times separately for each: Processing times have in the past gone as low as 9 months according to the USCIS' own estimates, and to as high as 15 months according to

1170-565: The decisions in the judicial system. The USCIS does not handle appeals for denials and revocations of visa applications based on approved USCIS petitions. Due to the doctrine of consular nonreviewability , visa denials and revocations can generally not be appealed in the United States judicial system, though there are some exceptions. Hague Adoption Convention The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (or Hague Adoption Convention )

1209-414: The information in the middle of every month, with a lag of 45 days for data quality auditing and control (so for instance the information posted on January 15 will provide processing times and dates as of approximately November 30). USCIS' target processing time for Form I-130 is 5 months, and if the date of the most recently processed form is 5 months or less it simply reports "5 months" otherwise it reports

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1248-476: The judgment, i.e., the vacatur of the August 2019 rule. This rule was discontinued by DHS on March 9, 2021 and Form I-944 has been discontinued and should not be filed. Form I-130 Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative is a form submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (or, in the rare case of Direct Consular Filing , to a US consulate or embassy abroad) by

1287-481: The national level, the convention offers a protective framework against the potential risks of private adoption (when the adoptive parents set the terms of the adoption directly with the biological parents or with children's institutions placed in the country of origin, without recurring to accredited adoption service providers). The Implementation and Operation of the 1993 Intercountry Adoption Convention: Guide to Good Practice , prepared by HCCH, provides assistance to

1326-453: The number of petitions received, accepted, denied, and pending is broken down by service center and field office location. USCIS processes Form I-130 on a first-come, first-served basis, so at any given time, the date received for the forms that have just finished processing provides a good estimate of processing time. USCIS makes this information available by a combination of form type and service center/field office on its website, and updates

1365-418: The operation, use and interpretation of the convention. To comply with international standards, many changes have been introduced in national legislation enacting laws to criminalize the act of obtaining improper gains from international adoptions. However, instances of trafficking in and sale of children for the purpose of adoption continue to take place in many parts of the world. In the fiscal year of 2006,

1404-428: The original petition was fraudulent, the USCIS may issue a revocation of petition (i.e., revoke the petition entirely) or send the petitioner a Notice of Intent to Revoke , to which the petitioner may respond with additional evidence or challenge the reasons. The typical impetus for the USCIS to reconsider an approved petition is when a United States consular officer evaluating the beneficiary's visa application based on

1443-580: The orphan is from a non- Hague Convention country) and I-800 and I-800A (if the orphan is from a Hague Convention country). There are some subcategories of the F category that cannot be specified on Form I-130: these include the minor children of those in the F1-1 category, and the spouses and minor children of those in the F3-1 and F4-1 categories. Note that Form I-130 cannot be used to obtain approval for K visas for fiancé(e)s. The appropriate form for that purpose

1482-498: The petition encounters evidence suggesting that the petition was fraudulent. If the consular office finds such evidence, he or she returns the petition to USCIS along with the reasons the petition appears fraudulent, and issues a Section 221(g) quasi-refusal to the applicant (note that this is relevant to cases 2 and 3, and not to case 1 where the beneficiary is already in the United States). The following are worth noting: Appeals for Form I-130 (both denial and revocation) are handled by

1521-409: The relevant processing time is that of the international office rather than of a US service center. While the Form I-130 is pending or after it has been approved and the beneficiary is waiting for an immigrant visa number, the beneficiary is not forbidden from traveling to and from the United States. However, if the beneficiary is currently outside the United States and does not have a visa to enter

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