About Form I-130
Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, is an immigration form issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, the agency that replaced the INS and is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. Under U.S. immigration law, U.S. citizens and permanent residents may sponsor certain non-U.S. citizen relatives for immigration to the United States. This form is for the use of the U.S. citizen, not the alien relative, and cannot be filed by a non-U.S. citizen seeking immigration to the United States.
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Significance
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U.S. immigration law allows alien relatives of U.S. citizens or permanent residents to immigrate to the United States only under certain conditions. One of those conditions is that the U.S. citizen or permanent resident resident must sponsor the alien relative's petition to immigrate to the United States. That means that even if you are a non-U.S. citizen and have a relative who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you will not be able to immigrate unless your relative agrees to sponsor you. When this restriction becomes a problem, it is usually because an alien spouse attempts to immigrate to the U.S. on the basis of marriage to a spouse who is now estranged.
Types
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Form I-130 is used for many different types of alien relative immigration petitions that are permitted under U.S. immigration law. U.S. citizens may sponsor alien spouses, children, parents (if the U.S. citizen sponsor is at least 21), and siblings (if the U.S. citizen sponsor is at least 21). U.S. permanent residents ("green card" holders) may sponsor only their spouse and their unmarried children. Form I-130 is included in these various types of alien relative immigration petitions as one of the required documents.
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Function
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The filing of Form I-130 by a sponsor is only the first step in the immigration process. The sponsor also must submit documentation proving, among other things, (i) his status as U.S. citizen or permanent resident; (ii) his relationship with the alien relative (marriage or birth certificates, for example), and (iii) that the alien relative will not become dependent on government assistance or charity while in the U.S. Only after the I-130 petition is approved may the alien relative may apply on his own for permanent residence in the U.S.
Time Frame
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Once an I-130 petition is approved, the alien relative is typically placed at the back of a long line of other immigration petitioners. Since the USCIS imposes yearly numerical quotas on the granting of permanent residence to various classes of petitioners, most alien relatives face waits of several years before their "visa number" is issued by the USCIS and they are allowed to continue with the immigration process. Alien spouses are a notable exception to this rule, however, the wait between the filing of Form I-130 and approval of permanent residence is typically one year or less.
Alternatives
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Highly skilled or highly educated professionals who work in fields for which qualified U.S. applicants are in short supply (nurses, for example) may qualify for employment-based immigration to the United States, although this process usually takes several years to complete.
Warning
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There have been many cases of "sham" marriages entered into solely for the purposes of obtaining immigration benefits. U.S. immigration officials are experienced in detecting such ruses, and consequences can include the rejection of the petition and possible criminal liability.
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