hi everyone!

i hope someone could provide us information regarding follow to join benefits for an LPR who married before he got his immigrant visa.

if there's anyone with an experience about this type of visa application, it would really be a great help not only for me but for all the others who have the same situation but are not aware that they have this option.

the only confusion for me and my husband is that initially he got his immigrant visa more than 10 years ago because of a US immigrant step father. but 4 years ago, he lost his immigrant status because of overstaying in the philippines and expiration of his green card. he was lucky to be granted a new immigrant visa status and a new alien number with that.
we are not sure if we could qualify under the category of follo-to-join benefits since the criteria is quite vague.

so please if there's anyone with experience or knowledge on this one..let us know.

thanks guys!

Following-to-join beneficiaries may derive immigration benefits only if the aliens requesting immigrant benefits as a result of their immediate relative were either a spouse or child of the principal applicant prior to the principal applicant’s admission into the United States; and the principal applicant acquired permanent resident (PR) status or received an immigrant visa under either a family-preference or employment-based visa category. Derivate follow-to-join benefits can also be secured if the principal applicant was issued a non-immigrant K visa. (Aliens that immigrated in the immigrant visa category need to file a separate I-130 petition on behalf of their foreign-born spouses and children). Also the following-to-join beneficiaries can only derive immigrant benefit if the principal applicant has not yet naturalised. Once an alien becomes US citizen, alien relatives cannot opt for follow-to-join and the prcinipal applicant will need to file a separate visa petition on behalf of the spouse and/or children to qualify for immigration benefits again.

Following-to-join beneficiaries will be required to demonstrate their relationship to the principal applicant. This can be done with a copy of a birth certificate of a child/ren and/or a marriage certificate to the foreign-born spouse and the passport pages where the principal alien's status at the time of entry to the US is stamped