Use this form if you are a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) and you need to establish your relationship to an eligible relative who wishes to come to or remain in the United States permanently and get a Permanent Resident Card (also called a Green Card). Show File Online Submitting Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative is the first step in helping an eligible relative apply to immigrate to the United States and get a Green Card. The filing or approval of this petition does not give your relative any immigration status or benefit. We will generally approve your Form I-130 if you can establish a relationship between you and your relative that qualifies them to immigrate to the United States. Generally, once we approved the petition, your relative may apply to become an LPR (get a Green Card). If your relative is already in the United States and a visa is available, they may be eligible to get their Green Card by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. Certain relatives must wait until a visa number is available before they can apply for either a Form I-485 (to adjust their status if they are in the United States) or for a visa (if they are outside the United States). If your relative qualifies as an immediate relative, however, an immigrant visa is always available. If your relative is already in the United States but is not eligible to get their Green Card by filing Form I-485, either because a visa is not immediately available or for another reason, they may apply for an immigrant visa with the U.S. Department of State at the U.S. embassy or consulate in their country. For more information on eligibility and process for applying for a Green Card, please visit our Green Card Eligibility Categories page. When completing Form I-130, please make sure that you (as the petitioner) select only 1 option when indicating that the beneficiary intends to apply for adjustment of status inside the United States or will pursue visa processing abroad. If the Form I-130 is still pending with us and you want to change your selection (to either consular processing abroad or adjust status in the United States), you may contact the USCIS Contact Center and request a change. If you want to change your selection after we have already approved the form, you may need to file Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition. How to Report Suspected Marriage Fraud: We encourage you to report suspected immigration benefit fraud and abuse, including marriage fraud. For more information, please visit our Reporting Fraud page. Help for victims of abuse If you are the spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen who has abused you, or the spouse or child of a lawful permanent resident who has abused you, you may be eligible to file a petition for yourself independent from your U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident abuser. For more information, go to the Abused Spouses, Children, and Parents (Form I-360 VAWA Self-Petitioners) webpage. What This Form Can Help You DoFamily Based Petition for an Adopted Child Green Card for Family Members of a Permanent Resident U.S. Citizen Petition for a Preference Relative to Become a Lawful Permanent Resident U.S. Citizen Petition for a Spouse U.S. Citizen Petition for an Immediate Relative to Become a Lawful Permanent Resident Form DetailsForms and Document Downloads Form I-130 (PDF, 674.56 KB) Instructions for Form I-130 (PDF, 258.23 KB) Form I-130A, Supplemental Information for a Spouse Beneficiary (PDF, 1.02 MB) Edition Date 07/20/21. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions. Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format. If you need help downloading and printing forms, read our instructions. Where to File You have 2 options for filing your Form I-130 petition with USCIS: • Online; or The filing location for your Form I-130 depends on where you live and if you are filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, at the same time (this is called “concurrent filing”). Filing Your Form I-130 Online You can file Form I-130 online even if your relative is in the United States and will file Form I-485 by mail. Once you submit your Form I-130 online, we will send a receipt notice to your USCIS online account. Provide a copy of the receipt notice to your relative to include in their Form I-485 packet. You cannot file Form I-485 or Form I-129F online at this time. Please see our Form I-485 and Form I-129F pages for current filing information, and refer to the form instructions for specific instructions on completing each of these forms. We will only accept and adjudicate forms that have been properly filed. We will not accept or adjudicate any Form I-485 or I-129F included as supporting evidence for a Form I-130 that was filed online. If you reside outside of the United States, you may:
Filing Fee $535. If you are filing Form I-130 on behalf of your Afghan national relative whose country of birth in Part 4, Item 7, is not Afghanistan, please write “OAW” at the top of your Form I-130 to be considered for a fee exemption that is effective through Sept. 30, 2023. For those petitioners that wish to be considered for the fee exemption and whose Afghan national relative was not born in Afghanistan, you cannot submit your petition online. You must complete a paper version of Form I-130 (PDF, 674.56 KB) and follow the instructions for filing the Form I-130 by mail (paper). You may pay the fee with a money order, personal check, or cashier’s check. When filing at a USCIS Lockbox facility, you may also pay by credit card using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. When you send a payment, you agree to pay for a government service. Filing and biometric service fees are final and non-refundable, regardless of any action we take on your application, petition, or request, or if you withdraw your request. Use our Fee Calculator to help determine your fee. Pay each filing fee separately. We are transitioning to electronically processing immigration benefit requests, which requires us to use multiple systems to process your package. Because of this, you must pay each filing fee separately for any form you submit. We may reject your entire package if you submit a single, combined payment for multiple forms. Checklist of Required Initial Evidence (for informational purposes only) Please do not submit this checklist with your Form I-130 (and Form I-130A, if required). It is an optional tool to use as you prepare your form, but does not replace statutory, regulatory, and form instruction requirements. We recommend that you review these requirements before completing and submitting your form. Do not send original documents unless specifically requested in the form instructions or applicable regulations. If you submit any documents (copies or original documents, if requested) in a foreign language, you must include a full English translation along with a certification from the translator verifying that the translation is complete and accurate, and that they are competent to translate from the foreign language to English. Did you provide the following?
If you are filing Form I-130 for your adopted child
Form Filing Tips Filing Tips: Go to our Form Filing Tips page for information on how to help ensure we will accept your form. Filing Tips for Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative Complete all sections of the form. We will reject the form if these fields are missing:
Don’t forget to sign your form! We will reject any unsigned form. Special Instructions When completing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, please make sure that you (as the petitioner) select only 1 option when indicating that the beneficiary intends to apply for adjustment of status inside the United States or will pursue visa processing abroad. If the Form I-130 is still pending with us and you want to change your selection (to either consular processing abroad or adjust status in the United States), you may contact the USCIS Contact Center and request a change. If you want to change your selection after we have already approved the form, you may need to file Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition.
You must submit a separate Form I-130 for each child if:
When you submit their forms, you must include:
What if I submitted a petition for a relative when I was a permanent resident, but I am now a U.S. citizen? If you become a U.S. citizen while your relative is waiting for a visa, you can upgrade your relative’s visa classification by notifying USCIS or the Department of State of your naturalization. If you are a U.S. citizen, your spouse and unmarried children under 21 will have immigrant visas immediately available to them. What does it mean when IUnfortunately, an approved I-130 petition does not, by itself, give you permission to come to, or remain in, the United States. The approval of the I-130 petition is a prerequisite to the immigrant then filing an application for a green card (lawful permanent residence).
What comes after IOnce USCIS approves your I-130 application, your application will be sent to the U.S. Department of State's National Visa Center (NVC) for processing. If your family member's case is not subject to immediate processing, your I-130 application will remain with NVC until processing begins.
What happens after the USCIS sends your approved IAfter your I-130 is approved, USCIS will send it to NVC for pre-processing. Then, NVC will begin collecting fees, forms, and documents from the petitioner and beneficiary.
What is the next step after petition approval?After USCIS approves your petition, they will transfer your case to the Department of State's National Visa Center (NVC) for pre-processing. The first step in this processing is the creation of your case in our system. Once this is complete, we will send you a Welcome Letter by e-mail or physical mail.
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