Attorney Carl Shusterman (Former INS Attorney 1976-82) provides insight into how to speed up the process of family-based immigration. He describes how you can bring your relatives to the U.S. sooner by changing preference categories, using alternate chargeability and by properly using the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
US citizens may sponsor spouses, children, adult sons and daughters, parents and brothers and sisters for lawful permanent residence. US permanent residents, however, are limited to sponsoring spouses, children and unmarried adult sons and daughters.
Except for spouses, children and parents of US citizens who are deemed “immediate relatives”, all other categories of relatives are subject to a numerically-limited preference system.
The State Department Visa Bulletin shows the waiting times each month for the various family-based preference categories. However, the dates listed on the Visa Bulletin can easily be misinterpreted.
For example, if a lawful permanent resident born in Mexico wishes to sponsor her unmarried, 22-year-old son for a green card, she must submit a form I-130 visa petition under the family-based 2B preference category. On the Visa Bulletin, this looks like a 20-year wait. However, what the Visa Bulletin is saying is that if the parent sponsored their son 20 years ago, and he remained unmarried all this time, he can apply for his green card today. However, the Visa Bulletin does not predict future waits. In reality, due to per-country quotas, the most immigrant visas under the 2B category that are available to persons from any country is 1,841 per year. How many people are in the 2B line from Mexico? Over 200,000. The sad truth is that if a 2B visa petition is filed today, the waiting time would be over 115 years for a person born in Mexico, and over 28 years for a Filipino!
Green Card Attorney Carl Shusterman has been counseling clients regarding how to shorten family-based waiting times for over 30 years. In this video, he shares some of his best tips for doing so.
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“Very professional law firm. We had a difficult issue and Mr. Shusterman’s office got right onto the case and resolved the issue with USCIS. Because of their efforts, me and my family were able to get our Legal Permanent Residency card. My suggestion to those trying to obtain employment based card. Don’t look for money saving attorney. They will cost you lot more in long run. Go to a law firm which is professional and knowledgeable. It pays in the long term.”
- Nilesh Patel, Chicago, Illinois
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Carl Shusterman
Immigration Attorney Carl Shusterman has 40+ years of experience. He served as an attorney for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1976 until 1982, when he entered private practice. He has testified as an expert witness before the US Senate Immigration Subcommittee. Carl was featured in SuperLawyers Magazine. Today, he serves as Of Counsel to JR Immigration Law Firm.