The spouse and children of a principal applicant are entitled to derive immigration benefits from their principal’s approved visa petition and may travel to the United States at a later date. Under no circumstance will the derivative spouse or child be allowed to travel to the U.S. ahead of the principal applicant.

Following-to-join applicants may derive immigration benefits only if:

a) the spouse or children were acquired before the principal applicant’s admission into the United States; and

the principal applicant gained lawful permanent resident (LPR) status or was issued an immigrant visa under the family-preference or employment-based (E) visa categories or was issued a nonimmigrant K or V visa. Foreign nationals who immigrated to the U.S. under an immediate relative (IR) visa category need to file a separate Form I-130 visa petition on behalf of their spouses and children.

c) the principal applicant has not naturalized. Once the principal applicant becomes a U.S. citizen, a separate visa petition would need to be filed on behalf of the spouse and /or children to qualify for immigration benefits again.