Im US citizen now petitioning for my son, while waiting for the first petition when I was a PR

[peacefulSurfer 3]

Hello Community,

I would like to ask for your recommendation in this situation:

I'm now a citizen, and thinking to petition my unmarried (21+ yo) son with I-130. Meanwhile, I have already petitioned for him starting in 2016, while I was a Permanent Resident, and today the case is still with NVC waiting to be called for an interview by the US Embassy overseas.  

Would it affect the first case at all if I petition my son again, with the expectation it would be faster processing time now, since Im petitioning as a U.S citizen now? Would petitioning the second case now be helpful or effective? Thank you for your thoughts and time.

 

[Tm and Je 33]

What is the country of origin of your son? I am asking because the F2B category might be faster than F1 depending on the country.  Anyway, you should notify the NVC that you are now U.S. citizen. He will convert to F1. However, he can opt out to F1 if F2B is more convenient. Please check the latest visa bulletin. Lastly, filing another petition won’t help at all. You don’t need to do it. A new petition will start from scratch and it will take almost 9 years. 

[appleblossom 1,342]

1 hour ago, peacefulSurfer said:

Hello Community,

I would like to ask for your recommendation in this situation:

I'm now a citizen, and thinking to petition my unmarried (21+ yo) son with I-130. Meanwhile, I have already petitioned for him starting in 2016, while I was a Permanent Resident, and today the case is still with NVC waiting to be called for an interview by the US Embassy overseas.  

Would it affect the first case at all if I petition my son again, with the expectation it would be faster processing time now, since Im petitioning as a U.S citizen now? Would petitioning the second case now be helpful or effective? Thank you for your thoughts and time.

 

Just to be clear, his case isn’t ’waiting to be called for an interview’. It’s waiting for him to become eligible for a visa. Once his Priority Date is current on the Visa Bulletin, then a visa will become available to him and he will be added to the queue for an interview. 
 

As said above, starting again would mean another lengthy wait. But you should inform NVC of your citizenship as it may knock a bit of time off his wait. 

Edited April 25 by appleblossom

[peacefulSurfer 3]

16 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

Just to be clear, his case isn’t ’waiting to be called for an interview’. It’s waiting for him to become eligible for a visa. Once his Priority Date is current on the Visa Bulletin, then a visa will become available to him and he will be added to the queue for an interview. 
 

As said above, starting again would mean another lengthy wait. But you should inform NVC of your citizenship as it may knock a bit of time off his wait. 

Correct, his case is not waiting to be called for an interview.  The correct way to say is it is waiting for him to become eligible for a visa.  

 

On your second point, how would informing the NVC of my citizenship reduce the time off his wait? Would it mean they would still keep him on the same case? Would this expedite his visa eligibility significantly? 

[appleblossom 1,342]

Just now, peacefulSurfer said:

Correct, his case is not waiting to be called for an interview.  The correct way to say is it is waiting for him to become eligible for a visa.  

 

On your second point, how would informing the NVC of my citizenship reduce the time off his wait? Would it mean they would still keep him on the same case? Would this expedite his visa eligibility significantly? 

Yes, same case.
 

See the Visa Bulletin. He’ll move from category F2B (currently those with PD’s prior to Nov 2015 are eligible for visas), to category F1 (PD’s of Feb 2015). So that’s 9 months less wait time, although of course it’s not linear and may change between now and his PD becoming current. 
 

 

[peacefulSurfer 3]

59 minutes ago, Tm and Je said:

What is the country of origin of your son? I am asking because the F2B category might be faster than F1 depending on the country.  Anyway, you should notify the NVC that you are now U.S. citizen. He will convert to F1. However, he can opt out to F1 if F2B is more convenient. Please check the latest visa bulletin. Lastly, filing another petition won’t help at all. You don’t need to do it. A new petition will start from scratch and it will take almost 9 years. 

The country would be Indonesia. Would this country have a faster F2B category? How could certain countries have faster F2B category than F1 category?

 

Okay, I have heard from a few people saying that it is recommended to inform the NVC that I'm now a U.S. citizen. Would this automatically convert his case to F1 or would the NVC give us the option? If he does convert to F1, would this mean his priority date will also change? 

Thank you for the heads up that filing another petition wont be helpful, as another 9 years from now would not be the ideal wait time situation at all.

 

  

[peacefulSurfer 3]

12 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

Yes, same case.
 

See the Visa Bulletin. He’ll move from category F2B (currently those with PD’s prior to Nov 2015 are eligible for visas), to category F1 (PD’s of Feb 2015). So that’s 9 months less wait time, although of course it’s not linear and may change between now and his PD becoming current. 
 

 

Thank you for your answer. 

 

His PD is Sep 2016.  While reading the April Visa Bulletin and comparing the F1 category to F2B under chart A. Final Action Dates for Family-Sponsored Preference Cases, I thought F2B's PD has already reached Nov 2015 (closer to Sep 2016), while F1 is still in Feb 2015 (further than Sep 2016). Im not quite understanding how this means 9 months less wait time.  Wouldn't the F1 category is still further than F2B?

 

Apologies if I misunderstood your point. 

Edited April 25 by peacefulSurfer

[appleblossom 1,342]

Just now, peacefulSurfer said:

Thank you for your answer. 

 

His PD is Sep 2016.  While reading the April Visa Bulletin and comparing the F1 category to F2B under chart A. Final Action Dates, I thought F2B's PD has already reach Nov 2015 (closer to Sep 2016), while F1 is still on Feb 2015 (further than Sep 2016). Im not quite understanding how this means 9 months less wait time.  Wouldn't the F1 category is still further than F2B?

 

Apologies if I misunderstood your point. 

Doh! Yes, sorry - late evening here and my brain clearly isn’t working. It’s the other way around. But it does depend on the country and how things move, often F1 will be quicker than F2B, and it says that it will move faster in the coming months. 
 

But as said above you can opt out of the conversion - you should still inform NVC though and can then choose which category he’s in depending on how things go between now and his PD becoming current, and such category moves quicker. 
 

 

[peacefulSurfer 3]

2 hours ago, appleblossom said:

Doh! Yes, sorry - late evening here and my brain clearly isn’t working. It’s the other way around. But it does depend on the country and how things move, often F1 will be quicker than F2B, and it says that it will move faster in the coming months. 
 

But as said above you can opt out of the conversion - you should still inform NVC though and can then choose which category he’s in depending on how things go between now and his PD becoming current, and such category moves quicker. 
 

 

Yes, no problem.  I still don't understand how the F1 category could also have a longer wait time than F2B in certain countries. In which countries does this take effect and what would be the reasons for this? 

 

I understood that I would still be recommended to inform NVC about my citizenship status either way. How would we go about informing the NVC about the citizenship status usually for an ongoing case?

[appleblossom 1,342]

7 hours ago, peacefulSurfer said:

Yes, no problem.  I still don't understand how the F1 category could also have a longer wait time than F2B in certain countries. In which countries does this take effect and what would be the reasons for this? 

 

I understood that I would still be recommended to inform NVC about my citizenship status either way. How would we go about informing the NVC about the citizenship status usually for an ongoing case?

See the Visa Bulletin for dates for the different countries - it’s linked to above. 
 

And here’s the info on informing NVC - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html#ivp6

[Tm and Je 33]

11 hours ago, peacefulSurfer said:

Yes, no problem.  I still don't understand how the F1 category could also have a longer wait time than F2B in certain countries. In which countries does this take effect and what would be the reasons for this? 

 

I understood that I would still be recommended to inform NVC about my citizenship status either way. How would we go about informing the NVC about the citizenship status usually for an ongoing case?

According to the latest visa bulletin (May 2024), the Philippines is the only country where F1 is more advanced than F2B. Indonesia falls into “All chargeability areas.” You should notify NVC because if you do not, the consul will discover it during the interview and then the case of your son will be put in administrative process while they ask for DHS authorization on your behalf. It would be better to do that in advance (send an inquiry to NVC). However, wait until the priority date, Sep 2016, is current in the chart A, whether it is in F1 or F2B, to take action (Opt out of the conversion to F1 and remain an F2B visa applicant).

Edited April 25 by Tm and Je

[dwheels76 5,463]

13 hours ago, peacefulSurfer said:

Yes, no problem.  I still don't understand how the F1 category could also have a longer wait time than F2B in certain countries. In which countries does this take effect and what would be the reasons for this? 

 

I understood that I would still be recommended to inform NVC about my citizenship status either way. How would we go about informing the NVC about the citizenship status usually for an ongoing case?

To upgrade your petition to US Citizen filer you send Public Inquiry to NVC here's the link. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html
You upload your Naturalization certificate also.

[peacefulSurfer 3]

On 4/25/2024 at 4:14 AM, appleblossom said:

See the Visa Bulletin for dates for the different countries - it’s linked to above. 
 

And here’s the info on informing NVC - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html#ivp6

Thanks for the helpful link! 

[peacefulSurfer 3]

On 4/25/2024 at 8:46 AM, Tm and Je said:

According to the latest visa bulletin (May 2024), the Philippines is the only country where F1 is more advanced than F2B. Indonesia falls into “All chargeability areas.” You should notify NVC because if you do not, the consul will discover it during the interview and then the case of your son will be put in administrative process while they ask for DHS authorization on your behalf. It would be better to do that in advance (send an inquiry to NVC). However, wait until the priority date, Sep 2016, is current in the chart A, whether it is in F1 or F2B, to take action (Opt out of the conversion to F1 and remain an F2B visa applicant).

Thank you for the very helpful advice.    

[peacefulSurfer 3]

On 4/25/2024 at 10:15 AM, dwheels76 said:

To upgrade your petition to US Citizen filer you send Public Inquiry to NVC here's the link. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html
You upload your Naturalization certificate also.

Thank you for the helpful link! 

Update: Informed the NVC, and now waiting for a response from them.