WHAT IS “CHAIN MIGRATION”?

Chain migration is more commonly known and referred to as what it truly is – FAMILY IMMIGRATION, and it is the process by which the majority of immigrants in the U.S. undergo to get here and become a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR). The Immigration Act of 1990 established this form of family immigration through a process that requires that certain U.S. citizen family members or LPR family members petition for the relative(s) that they want to bring to the United States.

Now, not just any relative can qualify for this process. For example, aunts and uncles cannot directly petition for a nephew or niece, and grandparents cannot petition for grandchildren. There are very specific family relationships that qualify and are placed into categories and levels of importance by the Department of State. They are:

• Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens
• Parents of U.S. citizens (petitioning child must be at least 21)

The two categories above are considered the highest priority and are processed the fastest – visas are immediately available so these cases go to the front of the line. Depending on the criminal and immigration history of the intending immigrant, these cases can usually be resolved as quickly as 7-8 months or as long as 2 years.

After the categories above, everyone else is placed into 5 other categories known as the “preference system.” These categories are:

• F1: Unmarried adult children of U.S citizens
• F2A: Spouses and minor children of LPR’s
• F2B: Unmarried adult children of LPR’s
• F3: Married children of U.S. citizens
• F4: Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens

These categories are further broken down by country – China, India, Mexico, Philippines, and All Other – and set out in a chart called The Visa Bulletin on the Department of State’s website. The bulletin is updated monthly so you can see what cases are currently being worked on and estimate when your case may be up for processing. Here’s what this month’s bulletin looks like:

The dates on the charts are priority dates and indicate the date the cases were submitted that they are currently processing. These cases are processed much slower as they are lower on the priority level and only allotted a certain number of visas per category per year. Also, some of those categories allow for the intending immigrant to also bring in a spouse and minor children with them. The result of this is that most of these categories are extremely backlogged. How backlogged? Well, take a look at the chart: if you’re from Mexico and your U.S. citizen brother petitioned you today, you’re looking at a wait time of at least 20 years before you even get the chance to attend an interview to see if you will be admitted to the United States!

That’s right. The chart only tells you when you can apply for your immigrant visa, so you still wouldn’t just automatically be admitted. Just as any other category of immigrant, when you and your family apply for your visas, you must then go through the “vetting” process. In addition to completing a detailed application about your past, DHS will conduct a thorough background check using your personal information and fingerprints. Criminal history, previous immigration history, previous addresses, where you’ve worked, your family members, previous marriages – almost anything you can think of will be researched and combed through so that by the time an interview is scheduled, the interviewing officer will know just about everything they need to know about you and your family to make a decision on whether or not you’ll be admitted. Now, even if you have a clean history, any small mistake on your applications or anything that you left out can be interpreted as an attempt to commit fraud and your application will be denied. Unless you also happened to be in a limited category of applicants who can also qualify for a waiver of your issue (which can add another year or two to your process), you will not be allowed into the United States.

So, again, “chain migration” is FAMILY immigration – a way of bringing and keeping family members together that may otherwise have no path to the United States. However, people who fall into a category of family members eligible to immigrate must often wait years before their case is taken up for processing and are far from guaranteed admission.

The process of family immigration can be long and confusing, and every detail in a case counts. If you want to immigrate a family member and need help with this process, call my office today at (210) 320-5633 to set up a consultation and get a professional assessment of your situation.

The Echavarria Law Firm – Immigration attorney
709 E Quincy St, San Antonio, TX 78215, United States
+1 210-320-5633