Priority date is the date that an alien initially filed his/her case to immigrate to the United States by applying for an immigrant visa. For family-based applicants, this is the date the USCIS first received the immigrant petition (Form I-130) filed on the alien's behalf. For employment-based applicants, this is the date PERM (an application for labor certification) is received by the DOL, or the date an immigrant preference petition (Form I-140) was filed, if no labor certification is required.

Since certain aliens are subject to restrictions on the annual immigrant visa quota and the quota is full for some categories, the State Department publishes a monthly waiting list based on the priority date to regulate who is eligible to apply for adjustment of status to permanent resident (Form I-485) or Consular Processing. On the list, the State Department provides a date for each category of preferences for both family-based immigrant applications and employment-based immigrant applications. This date is known as cut-off date. The State Department determines the cut-off dates by viewing the priority date of first applicant who could not file for adjustment of status due to the previous month’s dates and quota.

Typically, a derivative beneficiary is an immediate family member of the principal beneficiary of an approved immigration petition. A derivative beneficiary may apply for an immigrant visa or adjust his/her status to permanent resident if the principal beneficiary is eligible to apply or adjust. For example, if a man is eligible to adjust his status based on an approved immigration petition filed by his U.S. citizen sister, this man's wife and minor children may also adjust their status in the U.S. The wife and the minor children are derivative beneficiaries.

Family-based immigration is also called relative immigration, a kind of immigration through a family member who is a US citizen or permanent resident. The US citizen or permanent resident is called the petitioner while the alien relative is called the beneficiary.

Spouse means lawful husband or wife. In order to successfully petition for an immigrant visa for your spouse, your relationship with your spouse must be established and your spouse must be admissible to the United States under the immigration law.

The immigration law defines a child as an unmarried person under the age of 21 (a minor) who is

1.         A child born to parents who are married to each other (born in wedlock);

2.         A stepchild if the marriage creating the step-relationship took place before the child reached the age of 18;

3.         A child born out of wedlock (the parents were not married at the time the child was born). Note: If the father is filing the petition, proof of a bona fide (real and established) relationship with the father must be supplied;

4.         An adopted child if the child was adopted before the age of 16 and has lived with the adoptive parent(s) in their legal custody for at least two years;

5.         An orphan under the age of 16 when an adoptive or prospective adoptive parent files a visa petition on his or her behalf, who has been adopted abroad by a U.S. citizen or is coming to the U.S. for adoption by a U.S. citizen, or

6.      

An unmarried son or daughter is a person who was once a child but who is now 21 years of age or older. A carried son or daughter is a person who has a recognized parent-child relationship, but who is also married, regardless of age.

A sibling is a brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or adopted brother or sister. For the necessary sibling relationship to exist, each person must have been a child of at least one of the same parents. The siblings need not share the same biological parents as long as both became children at the appropriate time (before the age of 16 in cases of adoption, and before the age of 18 for stepchildren).

Adjustment of Status is a procedure allowing certain foreign nationals already in the U.S. to apply for immigrant status. Foreign nationals admitted to the U.S. in a nonimmigrant, refugee, or parolee category may have their status changed to that of lawful permanent resident if they are eligible to receive an immigrant visa and one is immediately available.

Consular processing is applicable to those who are outside the U.S., while the adjustment of status is available only to those who are inside the U.S.

You will receive conditional permanent resident status if it is based on a marriage that was less than two years old on the day you were given permanent residence. You are given conditional resident status on the day you are lawfully admitted to the United States on an immigrant visa or receive adjustment of status. Your permanent resident status is conditional, because you must prove that you did not get married to evade the immigration laws of the United States.

You and your spouse must apply together to remove the conditions on your residence during the 90 days before your second anniversary as a conditional resident. Otherwise, you could lose your conditional resident status and be removed from the country.

Conditional permanent resident enjoys the same rights as the general permanent resident. They can work and go in and out of US freely. And their residence time during this period can also be calculated into that required by naturalization.