How to sponsor your sister to immigrate to the US

If you are a US citizen, you enjoy the benefit of sponsoring your sisters and brother to immigrate to the US. To sponsor your sister, you must be aged at least 21 years. Green card holders cannot sponsor their sisters to immigrate to the US.

To initiate the sponsoring process, you must fill and submit the form I-130 to the USCIS. Be sure to submit your and your sponsored sister’s birth certificate along with the petition. You must also submit an evidence of your US citizenship like a US passport, birth certificate, naturalization certificate etc.

If you and your sister are related via adoption, you must submit a copy of the adoption verdict to the USCIS. Keep in mind, however, that you can sponsor an adopted sister only if the adoption happened prior to both of you turning 16 years old. If you are sponsoring a stepsister, you should also submit an evidence of the marriage of the stepparent and the natural parent. It is also important to prove that the previous marriages of your natural and stepparents were ended before their existing marriage.

On the other hand, if you and your sister have the same natural father but different mothers, you must submit to the USCIS a copy of the marriage certificates of your father to both mothers and also a copy of the divorce papers.

The bad news is that unlike a US citizen’s spouse, a sister of a US citizen does not enjoy the benefit of quickly immigrating to the US. They fall under the 4th category of preferences and have to wait extremely long for their applications to be processed. You may be required to wait for 10 years or more to immigrate to the US as the sister of a US citizen.

Build your new life in the U.S.