Installment Ninety-Seven
Q: What is the process to obtain a U.S. immigrant visa?
With few exceptions, applicants must be petitioned for by a family member or an employer in order to apply for an immigrant visa. The petitioner will initiate the process in the U.S. or under special conditions at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate. Once an immigrant visa petition has been filed and processed, the applicant will be required to appear at the local U.S. Embassy or Consulate for an interview and to provide supporting documentation. At the end of the interview, the consular officer will inform the applicant of the status of their case which will depend on the applicant’s preparedness and other factors.
Q: Once my petition has been filed, how long does it take to become eligible for an immigrant visa?
That depends on the visa category you are in. In some immigrant visa categories there is a worldwide limit for how many visas can be issued each year, in others there is no limit.
For immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, parents and unmarried children under 21) there is no annual limit. Immediate relatives are eligible for an interview as soon as the paperwork is processed in the U.S. and sent to the U.S. Embassy. This usually can take anywhere between six months to a year after the petition has been filed.
For other relatives there are worldwide limits. These categories include adult children of U.S. citizens, siblings of U.S. citizens and spouses and children of U.S. permanent residents. Because so many people around the world have applied in these categories, applicants will have to wait several years until they are eligible for the visa interview. As there are more applicants than available visas, applicants become eligible based on when their family in the U.S. filed a petition on their behalf. The date the petition was filed is called a priority date and effectively determines the applicant’s position on the waiting list. When the priority date becomes current, or in other words the applicant reaches the front of the list, the applicant is scheduled for an interview.
Q: How do I know when I am eligible?
The monthly Visa Bulletin announces which priority dates are current. The Visa Bulletin is available online at www.travel.state.gov and your priority date is the date when the petition was filed.
Q: How long is the wait for each category?
It depends. Current priority dates advance at different rates each month based on the previous month’s worldwide issuances. Depending on the visa class, applicants in numerically limited visa classes may expect to wait anywhere between five and ten years from the date of filing until the date of their interview. Please check the Visa Bulletin to see which priority dates are current.
Q: I have a family member who has discussed filing an immigrant visa petition for me, how do I prepare?
In most cases there is little that applicants can do to prepare at this stage. Applicants should realize, however, that all family relationships must be legally defined in order to qualify for immigration benefits. For example, a religious marriage in the absence of a legal marriage does not qualify a spouse for immigration benefits. Nor will legal guardianship over a child replace a full legal adoption under U.S. immigration law. If you have any such relationships which are in question, you may wish to contact visageorge@state.gov for general questions, or consult an immigration attorney for more complex matters.
Q: I have finally been scheduled for an appointment, how do I prepare?
The US Embassy in Guyana has published an extensive set of instructions on how to prepare for your immigrant visa interview. Please visit our website at http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/visas.html.
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“Ask the Consul” is a bi-weekly column from the U.S. Embassy answering questions about U.S. immigration law and visa issues. If you have a general question about visa policy please email it to us at AskGeorge@state.gov. We select questions every other week and publish the answers in Stabroek News and on our website at http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/ask-the-consul.html For more information about visas please see http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov or http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/.
Other than the questions we select, we DO NOT respond to questions sent to Ask the Consul. Please contact the visa inquiries unit (email visageorge@state.gov or call 225-7965 between 8 am and 4 pm Monday through Friday) if you have questions about a specific case.
