The Senate immigration reform bill will eliminate the F-4 family preference category and will not permit the US citizens to sponsor their siblings for US Green Cards. The country now permits the US citizens to sponsor their spouses, children, parents and their siblings and the Green Card holders to sponsor their immediate relatives and allots 480,000 immigrant visas, every year, for family immigration. Currently, there are four preference categories and the Senate immigration reform bill would eliminate those categories and create two new preference categories and under these two new categories, US citizens would be allowed to petition for their children (married and unmarried) below age 31 and the permanent residents would be allowed to petition for their children.
Hence, the siblings of US citizens may not be able to immigrate to America through family-based immigration. The V visa program would be expanded and immediate relatives of US citizens and Green Card holders with approved immigrant petitions would be permitted to travel to the United States and live there. Moreover, the V visa program would also permit some relatives of US citizens to temporarily visit the country for three months per year. The spouses and children of Green Card holders will have to wait until visa numbers become available and then apply for immigrant visas. If the immigration bill is passed, the immediate relatives of Green Card holders would not be required to wait and immigrant visa numbers would immediately be made available for them and they would not be put on a waiting list.
This bill would permit the spouses, parents, and children of US citizens and the spouses and children of Green Card holders, whose immigrant petitions are approved, to live and work in America, while waiting for their Green Cards. These relatives who get into the country would also be granted authorization to work there. If the Senate immigration reform bill is enacted, immigrant visas for the siblings of US citizens would not be made available and the F-4 family preference category will be eliminated, 18 months after the enactment of the immigration reform bill and there would be no wait time for the children and spouses of Green Card holders.