Immediate Relatives- IR/CR Visa 

Overview

The Immigration and Nationality Act allows immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to immigrate to the United States. Immediate relatives include:

  • Spouse of a U.S. citizen (IR-1 / CR-1)
  • Unmarried children under age 21 of a U.S. citizen (IR-2 / CR-2)
  • Parents of a U.S. citizen who is 21 or older (IR-5)

U.S. citizens who plan to petition for immigrant visas for their alien relatives based on family relationship must complete the I-130 Form, Immigrant Petition for Immediate Relative.

File the Immigrant Visa Petition

File I-130 petitions at the USCIS service center in the United States having jurisdiction over petitioner place of residence. A list of service centers is included in the instructions with downloadable I-130 Form.

If the petition is filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the United States, the case will be processed through the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire.  To apply for an immediate relative or family preference immigrant visas, follow the steps on the Immigrant Visa Process.  Once you have completed those steps, review the instructions given by the NVC, along with the information presented on this website, for further guidance and instructions.

Gather the Required Documents and Prepare for the Immigrant Visa Interview

When the petition is approved by USCIS in the United States, USCIS will send you an approval notice (I-797 Form).  At the same time USCIS will also forward the approved petition to the National Visa Center (NVC) for further processing.

NVC will process the case from fee collection to document gathering and will schedule an appointment for beneficiary.  Beneficiary will be notified of his/her appointment date from NVC.  NVC will then forward the documentarily qualified petition to the U.S. Embassy Jakarta for the visa interview and adjudication.

Immigrant Visa Interview

On the interview date, a consular officer will adjudicate the application based on the visa interview and documents submitted at the interview by the applicant. Whether to issue the immigrant visa is up to the discretion of the interviewing officer.

Due to the limited space in our interview waiting room, only beneficiaries may enter; the petitioner may accompany the applicant. Other accompanying parties including friends, employees, or attorneys, must wait outside. Children under 16 years old may be accompanied by one parent or guardian to the interview.

Beneficiaries are strongly advised not to finalize travel arrangements, dispose of their property, or give up their jobs until after they have been issued visas. Quitting a job, leaving school, selling property and/or closing bank accounts prior to visa issuance may be risky, as in certain cases visa issuance may be delayed for some time.

 

Important Notice: 

If at the time of admission to the United States, you will have not celebrated the second anniversary of your marriage, which is the basis of your CR immigrant status, you are subject to the provisions of section 216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under these provisions, you will be granted conditional permanent residence by an officer of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the time of your admission to the United States. You and your spouse will be required to file a joint petition (Form I-751) with the DHS to have the conditional basis of your status removed. This petition must be filed within the ninety-day period immediately preceding the second anniversary of the date you were granted conditional permanent resident status. If a petition to remove the conditional basis of your status is not filed within this period, your conditional permanent status will be terminated automatically, and you will be subject to deportation from the United States. You will be provided with written information about this status when your visa is approved and issued, which you should retain and use as a reference.