When I was an EB-5 green card holder, I filed for my spouse (principal applicant), and I paid all the immigrant visa fees for the kids. All the documents have been submitted and accepted since 2021, and we were said to be placed in line for an interview. The visa bulletin says my spouse’s case is current (priority date Aug. 2019), but my spouse’s case has not been transferred to the local embassy. Now that I am a citizen, would it make sense to remove the kids from their present dependent status and file a new application for them, considering the processing time it’s going to take for approval and other things? Would I need to pay and fill another IV fee for DS-260, bearing in mind that I have paid that as a dependent?
Answers
Lynne Feldman
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyAre the kids in or out of the U.S.? To switch categories, you would need to file an I-130 for each of them, but if they are legally in the U.S. in a nonimmigrant category, then you can file the
I-130 with the I-485 and ancillary benefits (same for your spouse.)
Benjamin Hu
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyIf you are a U.S. citizen, you may initiate a parallel and concurrent immigrant petition for your children and spouse, if they have not yet received an unconditional green card. Both the EB-5 and the family immigration processes may proceed simultaneously without negating the other, until one process results in a permanent unconditional green card. The immigrant visa fees will likely need to be paid again separately if your family members are approved for a separate visa category.
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