US citizens and Green Card holders can sponsor their spouses and children for lawful status in America. Spouses and children of US citizens belong to the immediate relatives category and the spouses and children of permanent residents belong to the family preference category.
People who belong to the immediate relatives category need not wait for priority dates to become current and they will immediately be issued immigrant visas. But this does not apply to the ones who belong to the family preference categories. They need to wait until immigrant visa numbers become available. Hence, they need to wait for several years to get immigrant visas.
But for August and September, there is no wait time for the spouses and children of Green Card holders. The wait time for the spouses of Green Card holders and US citizens is now the same. Spouses of Green Card holders can now file for adjustment of status soon after their sponsors file Form I-130 for them, irrespective of their priority dates.
This is similar to the immediate relatives of US citizens who are eligible for concurrent filing. There are no wait times for the immediate relatives of US citizens and they can file applications for employment authorization documents and adjustment of status, when their sponsors file immigrant petitions for them. Now the immediate relatives of permanent residents also can do the same.
This F2A category will remain current for a limited time period. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, priority dates are likely to move backwards in October. The priority dates in the visa bulletin, that the US Department of Homeland Security publishes every month, helps the visa applicants know how long they need to wait to get visas.
Now the F2A visa category is current and this is a great opportunity for the Green Card holders who seek to bring their spouses and children to the United States. Applicants can keep track of the waiting time by going through the visa bulletin that is being published every month.
