Legal Question in Immigration Law in Maryland

Unfortunately, green card holders cannot file immigrant visa petitions for their parents and siblings. You'll have to be a US citizen to do that. Most green card holders must wait for 5 years before they are eligible to become citizens, but if you received your green card by marriage to a US citizen you can do so after only 3 years. Once you become a citizen, your parents will be considered "immediate relatives" and will not have to wait any period of time for a visa to become available. Your siblings and their spouses, however, will have to wait in what's called the 4th family preference category. Wait times for those visas are 10 years or more. You can read all about who can file what for whom in the US Department of State's monthly Visa Bulletin, which is available here -- http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html. Click the link for the current month, which should be January 2009 (they publish these a month in advance).

When you become a USA citizen by naturalization, only then you'll be able to file petitions for your parents, sisters and brothers.

Your father and mother should be able to immigrate to USA within a year. Your sisters and brothers will have to wait at least 10 years (depending on their country of birth, it could be even longer).

If you�d like to schedule a confidential telephone or email legal consultation, or need advice or help, please let me know and I�d be glad to help you. Contact email address: Attorney [@] law-visa-usa.com or LubaSmal [@] yahoo.com . I offer legal consultations and assist in matters of U.S. immigration law to clients from all States, as this is the matter of U.S. federal law.

Note: The above response is provided for legal information purposes only and should not be considered a legal advice. This response doesn�t create an attorney-client relationship, which can only be established through payment of a fee. If you request a follow-up confidential advice on your specific situation and regarding U.S.A. immigration-related issues, we can offer a paid consultation by telephone or email to clients from all States and globally. Please visit our website http://www.law-visa-usa.com/contact_us.html for more details.