12/19/2025
Honestly, if you go to a lawyer and say, “My sister is going to file a visa for me,” and the lawyer just files it without sitting down and asking you all the right questions, that’s a problem.
Here’s why. In most cases, you can’t get your green card inside the U.S. through a brother or sister petition. You usually have to leave the country to finish the process. But if you leave without a waiver, you trigger a 10-year bar and can’t come back.
Now, waivers aren’t automatic. You need a qualifying relative—and the law only counts U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouses or parents. So if your parents have passed away, and you’re not married (or your spouse isn’t a U.S. citizen or green card holder), then you don’t qualify for a waiver at all. At that point, you really have to ask: what’s the plan?
If the attorney had taken the time to talk things through, they might have learned something important—like the fact that your partner (who you’re not married to yet) actually qualifies to adjust status in the U.S. under section 245(i), even though he entered without inspection. His employer already started an employment-based case, and as long as you get married before he receives his green card, you may also be able to get yours without leaving the U.S.
But if you wait too long and don’t marry before he gets his green card? Then you could be looking at years before you have a path of your own.
That’s why this matters. Don’t just buy a service. Get a consultation.
