US citizens and Green Card holders can file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, to sponsor their immediate relatives for lawful status in America. Unlike Green Card holders, US citizens can file this form to sponsor few other relatives apart from their immediate relatives. Form I-130 may be filed to sponsor relatives who are currently in America and Green Card holders and US citizens may also file this petition to sponsor their relatives who are currently in foreign countries. Similarly, the sponsors must also file Form I-864, Affidavit of Support and Form G-325A, Biographic Information, along with Form I-130.
If you are a US citizen and if you have filed Form I-130, to sponsor your wife, daughter or your father, who is your immediate relative, who is currently in the United States, such an immediate relative may file Form I-485 while you file Form I-130 and adjust his/her status to lawful permanent resident status. He/she need not wait until the USCIS approves Form I-130. But this does not apply to your relatives who are not your immediate relatives and they can file Form I-485 only after the approval of Form I-130 if they are currently in America on some other non-immigrant status.
Your relatives who are currently in foreign countries cannot file applications for adjustment of status and after the approval of Form I-130, they will have to go to local US consulates and apply for immigrant visas. If you have filed this petition for your spouse who is your immediate relative, she may not be required to wait until a visa number becomes available and she can file an application for an immigrant visa sooner. However, this does not apply to other categories of relatives and they can file applications for immigrant visas only after visa numbers become available. After their applications for immigrant visas are approved, they will be issued immigrant visas valid for six months and they can travel to America with those visas and obtain Green Cards.