When you receive notice that your I application has been approved, it means you are officially a lawful permanent resident of the United States. Until your green card arrives in the mail, your passport may be stamped by USCIS to indicate your new status. This stamp has the same authority as a green card.
You can use this stamp to:. In most cases, you will also have to file Form I Affidavit of Support. Form I is a legal contract between you and your I sponsor in which your sponsor promises to support you after you immigrate if it is necessary.
Submitting Form DS does not start the visa application. Your visa application officially starts when you are interviewed by a U. The steps associated with obtaining a visa through consular processing occur in the following order:. On a scheduled date, you will be called to a U. Embassy or Consulate for an interview.
During this interview, a consular officer will determine whether or not an immigration visa will be issued to you.
You, and all immediate family beneficiaries immigrating with you, must attend the interview. If your visa is approved, you will receive notice of when and how your passport will be returned to you. Your immigration visa will be stamped on a page in your passport.
You will have six months to immigrate to the United States. The two main categories of family-based immigration described above Immediate Relative and Family Preference define the type of relationship between you and your family sponsor and set the priority of all available green cards.
As opposed to Immediate Relative Category where visas are unlimited, federal law sets limits on visas awarded to individuals grouped in the Family Preference Category.
This Family Preference Category includes relatives with a more distinctive relationship to the sponsored family member. The Family Preference Category includes and is ranked in immigration priority as follows:. Absent from this Family Preference Category are grandparents, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunts, cousins, and in-laws.
These family members cannot be directly petitioned for family-based immigration. For these family members to immigrate through the Family Preference Category, the family member must meet the same requirements as immigrating through the Immediate Relatives Category, but must document a qualifying Family Preference relationship, instead of an Immediate Relative relationship.
Immediate relatives include a U. Everyone else who qualifies for a U. Only after the person's priority date if any has become current and a visa number is available will the NVC transfer the case to the appropriate U. Near the end of the process, every immigrant applicant will receive further instructions from the consulate and have to attend an interview before receiving a visa to come to the United States.
He or she will also have to show that none of the grounds of inadmissibility block his or her eligibility for a green card. For immigrants who are living in the U.
First off, let's repeat that an approved I gives the person no rights to remain in the United States. If you have a valid immigration status for example, are within the time permitted to remain under a student, visitor, or other visa , you can remain until your permitted stay ends. But in any other circumstance, staying in the U. The issue is that U. Those who remain unlawfully for six months or more and then leave voluntarily will face a three-year bar on returning.
Those who remain unlawfully for a year or more and then leave voluntarily face a ten-year bar on returning. Those who are deported removed from the U. By Tiffney Johnson , J. You probably know that you will need to attend an interview at a U. Although you've probably been dealing with either U. The NVC's main role is to ensure that your file is complete and your fees are paid before it transfers your case to the U. A lot has to happen, however, before the NVC can do that.
That can often take six to eight weeks after approval of the I, and possibly even longer in some cases. When NVC receives your case, it will send you a notification, typically via email. If you're a " preference relative " on a waiting list , that delay won't affect you much. You already have to wait until your priority date is current and a visa becomes available before NVC can do anything anyway.
This could take several years. The NVC will advise you six to 12 months before your priority date is expected to be current by sending you a welcome letter. If you're an " immediate relative ," or a visa is otherwise immediately available to you, the NVC will send your welcome letter shortly after it gets your file from USCIS.
The welcome letter contains fee invoices described below , your case number, and the invoice number. You'll need these numbers to apply for your visa, so make a note of them. Once you get the welcome letter, you're ready to start applying. Log in using the case number and invoice number that the NVC sent you, and select "Applicant" from the drop-down menu where it says "I am the. The DS is a fairly simple form, but keep in mind that by choosing an agent, you are essentially deciding where and how all important notices from the U.
If mail service from the U. View Larger Image. The immigrant visa fee for processing your visa during the interview stage: This fee applicants will pay separately. The affidavit of support fee for processing your testimony of support form and supporting evidence paid by only one for beneficiary and children. Step 5: Completing Form DS Before scheduling your interview with the embassy or consulate, you will have to complete online form DS This form is long and requires answers to many questions related to personal and family information, previous travel to the United States, work and education, etc.
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