U.S. citizens can sponsor their family members to immigrate to the United States. Only very close familial relationships, however, qualify for a family-based immigrant visa under U.S. law. U.S. citizens can directly sponsor only their spouses, children, parents, and siblings to immigrate to the United States.
U.S. citizens may be able to indirectly sponsor other relatives (for example someone could sponsor a parent and then that parent could in turn sponsor their parent, the original petitioner’s grandparent). However, the process of obtaining residency and citizenship in the U.S. takes so many years that this type of so-called “chain” migration is typically not feasible.
Let’s say a U.S. citizen wants to begin the process that would lead to his uncle being granted a visa to immigrate to the United States through family-based migration. He would first have to sponsor his parent (assuming his parent wanted to immigrate to the U.S.) and would be able to do so only after he (the citizen) reached the age of 21.
After his parent obtains his green card and holds the green card for five years, he would then be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship (assuming he met all the qualifications). After the lengthy citizenship application and swearing-in process, the parent would be able to petition for his brother (the original petitioner’s uncle) to come to the United States. However, the wait for an immigrant visa for the brother would be around 14 years (and in some cases more than 20 years), based on current visa wait times and country of origin of the brother.
For this reason, it would take between 20 and 30 years for the original U.S.-citizen petitioner to start the process that would lead to his uncle being able to immigrate the United States. And that's assuming there were no other problems or delays with the immigrant petitions and citizenship application.
Because the original petitioner was of legal necessity over 21 when he started this process (and assuming the uncle is significantly older than him), the uncle may not even be alive by the time a visa would be available to him.
Talk to an experienced attorney to help figure out the fastest way to eventually sponsor a distant relative immigrate to the United States.
Even the process of U.S. citizens sponsoring very close relatives has limitations. For example, U.S. citizens cannot sponsor their parents until they themselves reach the age of 21.
U.S. citizens wishing to sponsor their children also face restrictions. If a U.S. citizen’s child is under the age of 21, he or she will have a visa available immediately, but citizens whose children are over the age of 21 face years-long wait times. If a U.S. citizen’s child is over 21 and married, for example, the wait for an immigrant visa is currently more than ten years for most applicants, and up to around 23 years from countries where demand for visas is high (usually Mexico and the Philippines).
It is a popular misconception that U.S. citizens are able to easily sponsor unlimited numbers of family members to immigrate to the United States. In reality, significant wait times can make it difficult for U.S. citizens to sponsor even close relatives and U.S. citizens cannot sponsor non-immediate relatives (such as nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents) to immigrate to the United States.
