Many people in the United States have family members living in other countries, and wonder whether they can bring them here. It's a myth that if one immigrant settles in the United States, that one can get green cards (permanent residence) for the whole extended family, and so on. (A process the Trump White House called "chain migration.")
The truth is both more limited and more complex.
You can petition to bring family members to the United States (often called "sponsoring" them) only if you are a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident (green card holder). Even then, you can bring in only those family members listed on the chart below. Before reading the chart, please click the links explaining what "immediate relative" and "preference relative" mean.
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Who Can Sponsor Who |
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Who You Are |
Immigrants You Can Petition |
The Immigrant's Category |
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U.S. citizen age 21 or older |
Parents |
Immediate relative |
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U.S. citizen (at least age 18, for financial sponsorship purposes) |
Spouse |
Immediate relative |
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U.S. citizen (at least age 18, for financial sponsorship purposes) |
Minor, unmarried children |
Immediate relative |
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U.S. citizen |
Married children or adult children |
Preference relative |
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U.S. citizen age 21 or older |
Brothers and sisters |
Preference relative (4th preference) |
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U.S. permanent resident |
Unmarried children |
Preference relative |
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U.S. permanent resident |
Spouse |
Preference relative |
Notice who is not on this list: grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents-in-law, and other extended family members.
However, if allowed to immigrate to the United States, the people on the above list, except for the immediate relatives, will be permitted to bring their own spouses and children with them. And it is true that once someone has a green card, they can sponsor other people on the list.
Immediate relatives can get green cards without worrying about visa-availability waiting periods or numerical limits. (There will be a wait of many months, however, while USCIS and then the State Department actually process the applications.)
Preference relatives typically have to wait between for some number of years before being allowed to apply for their visa or green card.
Only a certain percentage of the green cards in the preference categories go to any one country each year. That means that if a particularly high number of people submit petitions for family from certain countries—as is often the case with India, Mexico, China, and the Philippines—their family members end up waiting even longer than others.
Because of annual limits on how many green cards (immigrant visas) are given out, and the unpredictability of how many people will submit petitions each year, no one can say exactly how long each preference-category applicant will wait. All we know for sure is how long the people at the front of the line right now have been waiting.
As a general rule, applicants in higher preference categories wait less time. The average time that people have been waiting as of February 2021 is as follows:
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Current Average Waiting Period |
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Type of Preference Relative |
Preference Category |
Average Wait |
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Adult, unmarried children of U.S. citizens |
First preference (F1) |
Six years; but 23 years for citizens of Mexico and nine years for citizens of the Philippines. |
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Spouses or children of permanent residents |
Second preference (F2A and F2B) |
Currently no wait in category 2A for spouses or minor children, but in the past it's typically been in anywhere from two to 22 years, depending on country of origin. In category 2B, for unmarried children over 21, the average wait is six years from most countries, 22 years for citizens of Mexico, and ten years for citizens of the Philippines. |
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Married children of U.S. citizens |
Third preference (F3) |
Thirteen years for people from most countries; but 24 years for citizens of Mexico and 19 years for citizens of the Philippines. |
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Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens |
Fourth preference (F4) |
Fourteen years for people from most countries; but 15 years for citizens of India, 22 years for citizens of Mexico, and 19 years for citizens of the Philippines. |
Although these waiting periods are not set in stone, it's been true for years that the longest waits are endured by siblings of U.S. citizens (4th preference), particularly from the Philippines.
It's your job as a U.S. citizen or green card holder to start the process, after which a number of followup steps are required. Your family member can't enter the U.S. until both the petition and a number of subsequent applications have been approved.
For more information, see How to File a Green Card Application. For details and help applying, see the book How to Get a Green Card, by Ilona Bray (Nolo) or, for married or engaged couples, Fiance and Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration (Nolo).