The most popular route to migrating to the United States is to be petitioned by a family member who is either a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States.  This family-based petition is so popular among Filipinos that the Philippines is one of the three oversubscribed chargeability areas along with China and Mexico. 

This means that the applications that are filed greatly outnumber immigrant visas available per preference category per year.  And the applications still keep pouring in, especially with the wave of Filipino nurses becoming legal permanent residents, they are now able to bring and support their family members in the United States. 

For those curious about who can petition, who can be petitioned, and the length of the petition process, I hope the following will shed some light or serve as a starting point for those eligible.

For U.S. immigration purposes, the person filing the petition is called the petitioner and the person for whom the petition is filed is called the beneficiary.  The petitioner must either be a citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. 

When filing the petition, the petitioner must be able to provide documentary proof (i.e. naturalization certificate, U.S. passport) of their status.  In addition, the petitioner must be able to prove that they can provide economic support to the beneficiary by executing an Affidavit of Support.

Additionally, the status of the petitioner determines the beneficiaries, or who can be petitioned. 

If the petitioner is a legal permanent resident or greencard holder, then the beneficiaries can only be the spouse and single son or daughter, regardless of age. 

If the petitioner is a U.S. citizen, then the beneficiaries are the spouse, unmarried child under 21, unmarried son or daughter over 21, married son or daughter of any age, brother, sister, and parents. 

When filing the petition, documentary evidence must be provided proving the family relationship.

The form used in a family-based petition is called Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative.  This is filed with the USCIS, which will either approve or deny the petition.  Once approved, the Department of State will determine if an immigrant visa number is available for the beneficiary.

If the beneficiary is already in the United States, he or she may apply for an adjustment of status when the visa number becomes available.  But for the beneficiaries located in the Philippines, they must undergo an additional step and complete processing with the U.S. Embassy, who will issue an immigrant visa.

There are two categories that will determine how long the beneficiary will have to wait. 

The first category is the Immediate Relative (IR) category.  Beneficiaries who fall under this category will have an immigrant visa number immediately available to them and they would only have to wait for processing of 12-18 months or even less.  Beneficiaries who fall under this category are spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21 of a U.S. citizen only.

The rest fall under the second category and will have to wait for an immigrant visa number to be available for them.  The waiting period depends on the preference category the beneficiary falls under because of the limited visas available for each category.  The waiting time ranges from as short as 5 years to as long as 22 years.  These preference categories are listed below:

(1) First preference: Unmarried, adult (over 21 years old) sons and daughters of the U.S. citizens;
(2) Second preference: Spouses of lawful permanent residents, their unmarried children (under 21 years old), and the unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents;
(3) Third preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens;
(4) Fourth preference: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. Citizens.

If you ever find yourself in a fortunate position to be a beneficiary of a family-based petition, you must understand that having an immigrant petition filed for you will close the door for non-immigrant visas such as tourist and student visas. 

So before you decide to have your U.S. citizen or greencard holder relative file an immigrant petition for you, you must consider and determine whether you see the U.S. as a place where you want to permanently live and work or just a destination for vacation.  That should determine what type of visa you should apply for. 

Atty. Michael Templo is an attorney admitted to practice law in New York State and Federal Court and is a partner at Templo & Templo with offices in New York, USA and Makati City, Philippines.  Atty. Templo specializes in US Immigration matters.  The discussion above is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of a qualified professional.  For your comments and questions, Atty. Templo can be reached at mdt@templolaw.com or log on to www.templolaw.com.