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Things to Consider:
- Child turning 21 while green card application is pending.
- The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA): CSPS may allow certain child to retain the status as long as the petition is filed before the child reaches 21.
-If a child gets married while the permanent residence petition is pending, such child loses the qualification.
-If the permanent resident relative petitioner becomes a U.S. citizen, then it may shorten the wait time for obtaining a green card.

Family members of Permanent Resident

A permanent resident is a foreign citizen and holder of a green card, and such person has the right to enter the United States without a visa and also to live and work in the U.S. with a very few restrictions. A permanent resident can sponsor and petition certain close family members (spouses and unmarried children) for green card. Such petitions are under Family 2nd Preference Category.

There are two sub-categories under the 2nd Preference. Category 2A is for spouses and unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents, 2B is for unmarried children of 21 years of age or older.
 
A qualifying child is a son or daughter of a permanent resident, and who is unmarried. An adoptive child will qualify if the adoption was finalized before the child's sixteenth birthday, and the adoptive parents have had legal custody of the child for two years before to after the adoption, and the child have been living with the adoptive parents for 2 years before to after the adoption. A step child qualifies as long as the marriage between the permanent resident and step child's biological parent happened before the child's eighteenth birthday.

Similar to the process for non-immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, the type of petition process is depended on whether the family member of the permanent resident is inside or outside the United States. For details please look under “Other Family Members of U.S. Citizen” by clicking “Family-Based Immigration.”


                  
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