Immigration Issues for Families

Skilled Immigration Attorneys in Raleigh

If your family is split by a border or an ocean, the immigration system can seem like a hopeless maze. If your family member is living in the United States without legal status, you may be living under the constant fear that you will be torn apart.

However, immigration law in the United States was written to promote family unity. There are often options for family to be united and stay united in the U.S.A.

Raleigh Family Immigration Lawyer

A Raleigh family immigration lawyer can help you with the complicated legal issues surrounding immigration in uniting your family. Our skilled attorneys at Clifford Law Group will work with you and your family to find all available options and educate you on what they might mean. We can advise you and represent you in the sometimes overwhelming immigration process. We assist families in Wake County, Orange County, Durham County and the surrounding areas, including Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Call us today at (919) 441-1799 or contact us for a consultation with our Raleigh immigration attorneys.

Sponsoring a Family Member for Permanent Residence in North Carolina

A citizen or permanent resident may sponsor certain family members to obtain permanent resident status, also known as getting a green card. As a permanent resident, the family member will have legal status for 10 years, at which point he or she only must apply for renewal. Permanent resident is also an important step to becoming a U.S. citizen.

For immediate family members of U.S. citizens, defined as a spouse, unmarried child younger than 21 or parent, if the citizen is older than 21, have the easiest path forward. There are an unlimited number of green cards available to immediate family members of U.S. citizens, so there is no waiting list. However, the process could still take upwards to a year or more, so getting started soon is essential.

Other family members of U.S. citizens, such as children who are older than 21 or are married or brothers and sisters, may be sponsored for a green card, but there are a limited number of green cards available and, therefore, a waiting list. The wait can more than two decades in some cases.

The same applies for family members of permanent residents, who may face long wait times. However, if the permanent resident family member becomes a U.S. citizen, their family members may change to a shorter wait list. For example, if you are the spouse of a permanent resident, you may face a long wait time to obtain a green card. But if your spouse becomes a U.S. citizen, you will be able to obtain one of the unlimited green cards available.

You may seek a green card while in your home country or in the United States, and a Raleigh immigration lawyer can help you through this process.

If Your Family Member is Undocumented in Wake County

If you have a family member does not have current legal status to be in the United States, either because his or her visa expired or because he or she entered the country without permission, it's important for that family member to see an immigration attorney as soon as possible, especially if he or she is facing a deportation order.

Your family member may have options, but those options may take a long time - including a decade or more. Your lawyer will carefully evaluate your family member's situation and identify what options might be available, so that you'll have some choices on how to proceed.

Marriage & Immigration in Raleigh

It's important to recognize that the common belief that a U.S. citizen may marry a non-citizen and the non-citizen automatically become a citizen is not true. However, the marriage does allow the citizen to sponsor the non-citizen for the quickest way to obtain a green card.

This is also true of same-sex couples. Married LGBT couples may seek the same opportunities as any other married couple.

If you are engaged to be married to a U.S. citizen, the citizen may not yet sponsor you, but you are eligible to receive a K-1 visa, or fiancée visa, so you can have legal status in the United States. To receive a K-1 visa, both parties must be eligible for marriage at the time of the application. If, for instance, you are engaged to a U.S. citizen who is divorcing, you must wait until the divorce is final to apply.

If you are the spouse of the U.S. citizen and you either are waiting to be granted permanent residence status or are not seeking it, but wish to be in the United States, you can seek a K-3 visa for spouses of U.S. citizens. Your children may seek K-4 visas.

Wake County Immigration Attorney for Families

If you are a United States citizen and your spouse, fiancée, child, parent, brother or sister is seeking to come to this country and live in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, or you have any question that pertains to the immigration status of a family member, our Raleigh family immigration lawyers at Clifford Law Group can assist you.

Call us today at (919) 441-1799 or contact us on our online form to schedule a consultation with one of our Raleigh immigration lawyers.