Petitioning for naturalized wife's siblings

[jg121783 3,921]

So my wife would like to petition to bring her parents on an immediate relative visa. I think for the most part we understand how that works. She also has a 17 year old brother she would like to petition for. It is my understanding that if she petitions for him now he would be in the F4 category which takes quite a long time (about 15 years for the Philippines as far as I can tell). However it is also my understanding that if her parents get their green cards first then they petition for him before he turns 21 he would be put in a category that processes much faster.

 

Is it better to just wait until her parents get their green cards then at that point start the process for her brother? Or should my wife petition for him right away to get him "in line" in case her parents for whatever reason don't get their green cards before he turns 21? If my wife petitions for him right away then her parents get their green cards before he turns 21 can they then petition for him and change his category or does it not work that way? This is something I am confused about. My wife has other siblings she would like to petition for but they are over 21 so they would all be in the F4 category. After we get her parents and brother taken care of we would like to file for them and get them "in line" even though it could take a decade or two.

Edited Sunday at 09:59 PM by jg121783

[Boiler 47,262]

Decade or 3

 

She can petition him now and her parents when they arrive can petition unmarried children under or over 21.

 

whether this one will be F2a I would not be able predict, could age out to F2b

[jg121783 3,921]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Decade or 3

 

She can petition him now and her parents when they arrive can petition unmarried children under or over 21.

 

whether this one will be F2a I would not be able predict, could age out to F2b

So what you ae saying is my wife can petition him now then when her parents get here they can also petition him and change his category as a result assuming he is under 21 and unmarried?

[jg121783 3,921]

So doing some quick google searching it appears if my wife's brother is petitioned by my wife and her parents do not get a green card before he is 21 he would be in the F4 category. If my wife's parents petition for him after he turns 21 he would be in the F2b category. I have no idea how accurate this is but google says current processing times for F4 visas from the Philippines are 20 to 25 years while google says the processing times for F2b visas are about 13 years. Taking that into consideration does it even make sense for my wife to petition for any of her siblings? Wouldn't it be faster for her parents to do it (assuming they obtain their green cards in a reasonable amount of time). Am I missing something here?

Edited Monday at 12:01 AM by jg121783

[Boiler 47,262]

I suggest you read the guides.

 

Any sibling married under or over 21 sponsored by your wife would be F4

 

GC Holders can petition single children, when the Priority date is current, subject to any adjustment under CSPA the youngest child could be F2a or F2b, as I said not possible to determine that now.

[appleblossom 4,197]

2 hours ago, jg121783 said:

Wouldn't it be faster for her parents to do it (assuming they obtain their green cards in a reasonable amount of time). Am I missing something here?

It will be quicker but your wife should petition him as well as back up if she can afford to do so. I’d ignore what Google is telling you as it’s basing it on the wait those who are eligible for visas today have had, but it doesn’t accurately reflect how long it will take for anybody applying today as it’s not linear. 

For example, looking at the current Visa bulletin the date for F2B is Feb 2012, meaning those who are now eligible for visas have been waiting 13 yrs 4 months. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2025/visa-bulletin-for-june-2025.html

 

But if you go back 3 years to the June 2022 bulletin, you’ll see the date was October 2011, so in the past 3 years it’s only moved forward 4 months.
 

Nobody knows what will happen in the future of course, and we don’t yet know which category your BIL will be in, but I’d assume a longer wait with the backlog growing all the time. 
 

And make sure your BIL doesn’t get married if his parents remain green card holders (there’s no category for married children of LPR’s). 
 

Good luck. 

[Crazy Cat 44,154]

14 hours ago, jg121783 said:

and change his category as a result assuming he is under 21 and unmarried?

No, he would have 2 concurrent I-130s.....2 different visa categories.  2 different priority dates.

Edited Monday at 02:44 PM by Crazy Cat

[Dashinka 25,713]

15 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

No, he would have 2 concurrent I-130s.....2 different visa categories.  2 different priority dates.

And have contingencies in place because of life's unpredictability.