There are various ways to be eligible for permanently immigrating to United States such as your close relatives are in USA who sponsor you (family based immigration), some professionals of a given occupation are in short supply in USA and your employer would like to sponsor you (employment based immigration), by applying in a lottery to win the permanent residence (not all citizens of all countries are eligible), political asylum, investment based and so on. This section describes family based immigration. Congress, by conferring permanent residence eligibility upon certain family-based groups, has properly emphasized the importance of family unification in American immigration law.

A lawful permanent resident is a foreign national who has been granted the privilege of permanently living and working in the United States.

In order to be able to sponsor a relative to immigrate to the United States, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the United States and be able to provide documentation proving your status.
• You must be willing to sponsor your relative for lawful permanent residency by filing the I-130, Petition for Alien Relative.
• You must prove that you can support your family, your relative and all other sponsored family members at 125% above the mandated poverty line.
  More information about meeting this criteria and filing the Affidavit of Support.
• If you are a US Citizen, you may petition for following relatives, as long as you can prove the relationships:
  • Husband or wife or unmarried child under 21 years old;
  • Parent, if you are at least 21 years old;
  • Unmarried son or daughter over 21 years old;
  • Married son or daughter of any age;
  • Brother or sister, if you are at least 21 years old.
• If you are a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), you may petition for following relatives, as long as you can prove the relationships:
  • Husband or wife; or
  • Unmarried child under 21 years of age;
  • Unmarried son or daughter over 21 years of age.
  Lawful permanent residents may not sponsor their parents, married sons/daughters or brothers/sisters to live permanently in the U.S.

You may not file for a person in the following categories:

• An adoptive parent or adopted child, if the adoption took place after the child's 16th birthday, or if the child has not been in the legal custody and living with the parent(s) for at least two years.
• A natural parent, if the United States citizen son or daughter gained permanent residence through adoption.
• A stepparent or stepchild, if the marriage that created the relationship took place after the child's 18th birthday.
• A husband or wife, if you were not both physically present at the marriage ceremony, and the marriage was not consummated.
• A husband or wife, if you gained lawful permanent resident status by virtue of a prior marriage to a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident unless:
  1. a period of five years has elapsed since you became a lawful permanent resident; or
  2. you can establish by clear and convincing evidence that the prior marriage (through which you gained your immigrant status) was not entered into for the purpose of evading any provision of the immigration laws; or
  3. your prior marriage (through which you gained your immigrant status) was terminated by the death of your former spouse.
• A husband or wife, if he or she was in exclusion, removal, rescission or judicial proceedings regarding his or her right to remain in the United States when the marriage took place, unless such spouse has resided outside the United States for a two-year period after the date of the marriage.
• A husband or wife, if the Attorney General has determined that such an alien has attempted or conspired to enter into a marriage for the purpose of evading the immigration laws.
• A grandparent, grandchild, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, cousin or in-law.