Sponsoring a Minor Sibling

nurseamz

New Member
Good Morning,

I have been an American Citizen for a few years now. This summer, I plan on sponsoring my parents for their green cards. I have a sibling who is a "minor" (20 years old) that I would also like to sponsor. Is there a process for sponsoring minor siblings? Are they able to latch onto my parents application. I understand the sibling category is for siblings of American Citizens who are 21 years or older.

Thanks,

Arman
 
Your petition for your sibling is in the F4 category which as you can see from the visa bulletin has about a 15-year wait for visa numbers (longer for people born in India, Mexico, or the Philippines). If your sibling is unmarried, the other option is that either of your parents, after entering the US as a permanent resident, can petition your sibling as the child of a permanent resident. An unmarried under-21 child of a permanent resident is in the F2A category with no wait for visa numbers. An unmarried 21-or-over child of a permanent resident is in the F2B category with about a 6.5 year wait for visa numbers (longer for people born in Mexico or the Philippines). By the time your parents can enter the US, your sibling will most likely already have turned 21, so their petition for him would be in the F2B category. As you can see, F2B (even accounting for a year or so it takes for your parents to immigrate before they can file the petition) is far faster than F4 (except if your sibling was born in Mexico in which case there is not much difference). In order to immigrate in F2B, your sibling would have to remain unmarried until he enters the US with his immigrant visa. If you want to be extra safe and don't mind the extra cost, both you and your parent can petition your sibling (in case your parent dies or your sibling marries in the meantime, so that there would still be a petition to fall back on without starting the wait from scratch).
 
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