Helping Clients in San Diego

Choose Immigration Attorneys With Decades of Experience

The Rodriguez Law Firm has helped many clients petition their spouse, parents, children, and siblings get their green card or naturalize to become U.S. citizens. Whether through adjustment of status or by consulate process our legal team is experienced and ready to help you get your green card or become a citizen of the United States.

Our mission at Rodriguez Law Firm is simple: As champions of hope and family unity, we offer our clients the guidance, knowledge, and professional experience that increases their chances of getting an approved application for a green card or work permit to naturalize and become a U.S. citizen.

Our immigration services include:

Schedule a consultation with our immigration lawyer today by calling (619) 332-1703. Se habla Español.

About Family-Based Immigration and Visas

At Rodriguez Law Firm, we have handled all types of inquiries and cases that involve family-based immigration and visas. Below, we go in-depth about the types of visas, preference categories, and waivers you may encounter during your immigration process.

Types of Visas

There are two types of visas. We can help you get the right one. These include:

An immigrant visa allows the non-citizen applicant to move and live in the United States on a permanent basis.
The non-immigrant visa is given on a temporary basis to tourists, students, business, or to those that want to work in the United States for a limited time.

The Immigrant Visa

If you want to permanently live in the United States we can help you get an immigrant visa.

There are two types of immigrant visas that allow foreigners to permanently live in the United States:

Family-based petitions: Where a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident can petition on behalf of certain family members
Employment-based petitions: Where an employer petitions the person

The Family Visa

A U.S. citizen or green card holder (permanent resident) can petition and sponsor certain family members that are already living in the United States and want to adjust their status in the United States. Another U.S. citizen can petition on behalf of family members that live in their home country

United States Citizen Petitioners

U.S. citizen can petition their immediate relatives so long that they are at least 21 years old. The benefit of a U.S. citizen filing for their immediate family member is that there is no waiting in line for a visa. The USICS will begin to process the application when they receive it.

Immediate relatives include:

Your husband or wife
An unmarried child who is under 21
Your mother(s) or father(s)

Siblings do not count as immediate family members.

Preference Categories

When the family member is not an “immediate” family member, the review of the petitioner’s application will fall under a preference category that prioritizes when it will be processed.

The following preference categories apply:

First preference: Unmarried adult children (over 21) of U.S. citizens
Second preference: Spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents
Third preference: Married children of U.S. citizens
Fourth preference: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens

A visa becomes available to a preference category based on the date the I-130 was properly filed.

If a permanent resident becomes a U.S. citizen after filing an I-130 application for a family member can change their visa classification by notifying the USCIS office. This will change the category to “immediate” and speed up the review process of the application.

Other family visas filed by U.S. citizens include:

K-1 Fiancé(e) Visa
K-2 Visa for the children of the fiancé(e)
K-3 Non-Immigrant Spousal Visa
K-4 Non-Immigrant Visa for child of spouse

Spouse Visas

Spouse visas are one of the most common ways to petition a family member. U.S. citizens or permanent residents are allowed to petition their foreign spouse and bring them to the United States after filing an I-130 application and completing a consulate interview. The process requires a showing that it is a bonafide marriage. If approved, the spouse can move to the United States.

Waivers

Waivers of inadmissibility may be available for persons that are inadmissible from the United States due to unlawful presence, fraud, or prior criminal convictions.

Provisional Waivers

This waiver is available for persons that entered the United States illegally and needs permission to return to the United States after the consulate interview in their home country. To be eligible for a provisional waiver, the person must be married to a U.S. citizen or have a U.S. citizen child or parent. They must show that there is extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen family member. Provisional waivers are limited to issues of unlawful presence and not for any criminal grounds of inadmissibility.

Call (619) 332-1703 to request a consultation with at Rodriguez Law Firm.
Services are also available in Spanish.

“I could not have asked for a better group of professionals to work with to get us through to the next stage in the process we cannot thank you enough.” - RK & EL
“Rodriguez law firm made it possible they won my case. Thank you for your hard work” - Jose Ruiz

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We approach every case with a unique level of integrity & transparency.

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