The F2A visa is a family preference visa for the spouses and minor, unmarried children of a permanent resident of the United States. For any foreigner who is a permanent resident in the U.S and wishes to be reunited with his or her family in America, there is the F2A Visa category. You will also learn more about the F2A visa in terms of the visa’s eligibility requirements as well as the steps required to apply for the visa and the normal time it takes to process the visa.
F2A visa eligibility
Applying for the F2A visa requires you to meet the following qualifications. First, to become a petitioner, the individual must be a permanent resident in the United States of the USA, which means the holder of a green card. Only two groups qualify for the F2A visa:
- Spouses of Green Card Holders: The petitioner must provide a valid marriage certificate to demonstrate the relationship.
- Unmarried Children (Under 21): The children must present a birth certificate as a requirement to show kinship to the green card holder
For it, the petitioner should be able to demonstrate that he or she can be financially capable of supporting the family in the US. This means the green card holder must fill an Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) and show that they earn not less than 125 percent of the US poverty level income.
How to apply for F2A
The F2A visa application starts by the green card holder filing the Petition for Alien Relative (Form I-130) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Submit Form I-130: The first of these is to complete Form I-130 which establishes the relationship between the petitioner and the beneficiary.
- Approval of I-130: After approval of the form I-130, the case will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC). Here the beneficiary will be given further processing instructions concerning visa application.
- Visa Bulletin and Priority Date: The F2A visa is governed by the visa bulletin that seeks to establish when a visa is available. After the priority date becomes available, the NVC will review the application and demand more papers.
- Submit Form DS-260: As mentioned above, the beneficiary will attend an interview after the priority date of the petition has become current, and the Immigrant Visa Application (DS-260) will be completed, and the necessary costs will be paid.
- Attend Consular Interview: If the beneficiary resides in any country other than the United States he will be required to go for an interview at the US consulate. All documents will be checked by the consular officer and he/ she will ask questions about the relationship.
- Visa Approval and Entry: However, as we would expect if all has gone well, the F2A visa will be granted, and the beneficiary can travel to the United States as a lawful permanent resident.
For those individuals who are already in the United States legally with a valid visa status they can apply for an adjustment of status using an I-485 form.
F2A visa processing time
The waiting time for a F2A visa can be very unpredictable. A number of things affect this depending on the capacity of USCIS to process applications as well as the backlog at the consulate level. On average, here’s what you can expect:
- Form I-130 Processing: This might last for 6 to12 months depending on the pace at which USCIS responds to your petition.
- Visa Bulletin Wait: In case of the I-130 approval, the applicants may need to wait until the preference category’s visa number is available with the specified priority date. It can take as little as a few months, to a rather longer period of over one year.
- NVC and Consular Processing: There is still 3 to 6 months for the NVC processing and the consular interview after the priority date becomes current.
Overall, F2A visa processing, which varies with each unique case, takes between 1.5 to 3 years.
The F2A visa gives green card holders the chance to bring their immediate relatives to the United States of America. When the petitioners have the knowledge of the conditions that qualify them, the procedures to follow, and the duration, the process will not be a hard nut to crack. Even so, it is a cumbersome process so it is recommended that if you follow all the guidelines and plan well, you and your family will be able to be together in the United States.