Should I sponsor my children upon getting my green card OR wait to become a citizen?

[cursor9]

Hi there! I'm 57 years old. After being a green card holder (by marriage) for years, my son is getting his US citizenship soon. He will petition me and my wife. I want my other children to join us as soon as possible. Should we sponsor them as soon as we get our green cards or should we wait to become citizens (5 years after getting the green cards) before petitioning them?

I have four children, some will be over 21 soon, some are still minor, everyone's unmarried and will stay as such until they get their green cards. Please help me fill out this table:
Petitioning Children under 21 if I'm a Permanent Resident - Processing Time?
Petitioning Children 21+ if I'm a Permanent Resident - Processing Time?
Petitioning Children under 21 if I'm a Citizen - Processing Time?
Petitioning Children 21+ if I'm a Citizen - Processing Time?

I'm Filipino, by the way, and I know that makes a difference when it comes to the waiting period because of their quota.

Thank you guys in advance for your advice.

 

[newacct]

It never hurts to petition them when you are a permanent resident. If their priority date is not current by the time you become a citizen, you can always upgrade the petition and it will keep the original priority date.

 

[Jackolantern]

Definitely apply for them as soon as you're a green card holder. Although you can later upgrade the petition when you become a citizen, if they were born in the Philippines (note that it goes by their place of birth, not yours) it may be to your advantage to avoid that upgrade, due to the weird situation with the F1 category taking longer than F2B for the Philippines.

See the visa bulletin at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5993.html and also read this other page about opting out of the automatic F2B->F1 upgrade: http://v2011.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/obtainlpr/oblpr110.htm