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Can I change the sponsor on my green card application, but keep the same priority date?
Anonymous2 views3 answers
My father is a permanent resident, and filed an application on my behalf for a green card. My step-mom is a US citizen and they were married while I was still a minor, but my sister was 19. Two questions:
1) Can we change the application so that my step-mom sponsors me as a step-child/immediate relative and keep the original filing date, or do we have to simply re-file as a new application?
2) Does my sister, who was 19 at the time of marriage, qualify as an immediate relative, or will she simply have to wait in line?
Thanks
1) No. The date your step-mother files will be the new priority date. However, if you are still under 21, you qualify as an immediate relative and will not have to wait in line. Your only wait time is the USCIS petition processing time.
2) No. If she was over the age of 18 when her father remarried, she is not considered to be your step-mother's daughter for immigration purposes. Only your father can petition for her. That means she was to patiently wait.
It is a different petition. If you are still under 21 then when stepmom files, there is no queue. The priority date is useful only to freeze your age in case the process takes a while. Your sister has to wait in line. She was not under 18. Go get a consultation with a professional. These are good questions but may not be the only relevant ones.
Your U.S. citizen stepmother can file a petition on your behalf if she married your father before you turned 18 years of age. The FORM I-130 is independent of your resident father's petition filed on your behalf and a filing/priority date can not be transferred.
Your sister can not be named as a beneficiary in a relative petition filed by your stepmother in that your sister was over the age of 18 at the time of your father's marriage to your stepmother.
