	Overview of Family-Based Immigration

The United States has long distinguished settlement or permanent immigration from temporary immigration. Family reunification, which has long been a key principle underlying U.S. immigration policy, is embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (INA), which specifies five categories of family-based immigrants. These include the numerically unlimited category of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, minor children, and parents) and four numerically limited family preference categories. The latter vary according to individual characteristics such as the citizenship status of the petitioning U.S.-based relative, and the age, family relationship, and marital status of the prospective immigrant. Consequently, a visa queue has accumulated with roughly 4 million persons who qualify as family-based immigrants under the INA but who must wait for a numerically limited visa to immigrate to the United States. It outlines a brief history of U.S. family-based immigration policies, discusses current law governing family-based immigration, and summarizes recommendations made by previous congressionally mandated commissions charged with evaluating immigration policy. Given that continuity in immigration policy, earlier recommendations for revising family-based immigration policy to address certain perennial issues—in particular, the large "visa queue" of prospective family-based immigrants awaiting a numerically limited visa, and the high proportion of immigrants who enter based upon family ties—still have relevance. In FY2016, a total of 804,793 family-based immigrants made up just over two-thirds (68%) of all 1,183,505 new LPRs. In FY2016, derivative immigrants represented 9% of all family-based immigration, 43% of all other immigrant categories, and 20% of total immigration. About half of all immediate relatives of U.S. citizens adjusted their status from within the United States over this period, while most family-based preference category immigrants, particularly in recent years, were admitted from abroad. Supply-Demand Imbalance for U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence

Each year, the number of foreign nationals petitioning for LPR status through family-sponsored preferences exceeds the number of immigrants that can be admitted to the United States according to current law. As such, the visa queue constitutes not a backlog of petitions to be processed but, rather, the number of persons approved for visas that are not yet available due to the numerical limits enumerated in the INA. DOS adjusts these cut-off dates each month based on several variables, such as the number of visas used to that point, the projected demand for visas, and the number of visas remaining under the annual numerical limit for that country and/or preference category. Applicants with priority dates earlier than the cut-off dates in the Visa Bulletin are currently being processed. Countries that send many immigrants to the United States, such as China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines, currently have above-average waiting times. Broader Immigration Questions

Long-standing debates over the level of annual permanent immigration have regularly placed scrutiny on family-based immigration and revived debates over whether its current proportion of total lawful permanent immigration is appropriate. The Hesburgh Commission recommended more flexible family-based immigration numerical limits. A central argument for expanding family-based immigration is to reduce the current visa queue of roughly 4 million persons with approved immigration petitions who must wait years to receive a visa to immigrate. Selected Legislative Activity

Legislative options to address selected stand-alone policy issues surrounding family-based immigration—the supply-demand imbalance for U.S. lawful permanent residence, the per-country ceilings, limitations on foreign nationals who wish to visit U.S.-based relatives, the impetus to violate U.S. immigration laws, aging out of certain legal status categories, the marriage timing of immigrant children, and policies toward unaccompanied alien children—have been debated by scholars and policymakers as well as addressed in a range of legislative proposals. Examples of recent legislative proposals that focus on altering the level of permanent immigration include S. 744 , the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act introduced in the 113 th Congress and S. 1720 , the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act introduced in the 115 th Congress.
Family reunification has historically been a key principle underlying U.S. immigration policy. It is embodied in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which specifies numerical limits for five family-based immigration categories, as well as a per-country limit on total family-based immigration. The five categories include immediate relatives (spouses, minor unmarried children, and parents) of U.S. citizens and four other family-based categories that vary according to individual characteristics such as the legal status of the petitioning U.S.-based relative, and the age, family relationship, and marital status of the prospective immigrant.
Of the 1,183,505 foreign nationals admitted to the United States in FY2016 as lawful permanent residents (LPRs), 804,793, or 68%, were admitted on the basis of family ties. Of the family-based immigrants admitted in FY2016, 70% were admitted as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Many of the 1,183,505 immigrants were initially admitted on a nonimmigrant (temporary) visa and became immigrants by converting or "adjusting" their status to a lawful permanent resident. The proportion of family-based immigrants who adjusted their immigration status while residing in the United States (34%) was substantially less than that of family-based immigrants who had their immigration petitions processed while living abroad (66%), although such percentages varied considerably among the five family-based immigration categories.
Since FY2000, increasing numbers of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens have accounted for the growth in family-based immigration. In FY2016, related (derivative) immigrants who accompanied or later followed principal (qualifying) immigrants accounted for 9% of all family-based immigration. In recent years, Mexico, the Philippines, China, India, and the Dominican Republic have sent the most family-based immigrants to the United States.
Each year, the number of foreign nationals petitioning for LPR status through family-sponsored preference categories exceeds the numerical limits of legal immigrant visas. As a result, a visa queue has accumulated of foreign nationals who qualify as immigrants under the INA but who must wait for a visa to immigrate to the United States. The visa queue is not a processing backlog but, rather, the number of persons approved for visas not yet available due to INA-specified numerical limits. As of November 1, 2017, the visa queue numbered 3.95 million persons.
Every month, the Department of State (DOS) issues its Visa Bulletin, which lists "cut-off dates" for each numerically limited family-based immigration category. Cut-off dates indicate when petitions that are currently being processed for a numerically limited visa were initially approved. For most countries, cut-off dates range between 23 months and 13.5 years ago. For countries that send the most immigrants, the range expands to between 2 and 23 years ago.
Long-standing debates over the level of annual permanent immigration regularly place scrutiny on family-based immigration and revive debates over whether its current proportion of total lawful permanent immigration is appropriate. Proposals to overhaul family-based immigration were made by two congressionally mandated commissions in 1980 and 1995-1997. More recent legislative proposals to revise family-based immigration include S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act in the 113th Congress and S. 1720, the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act in the 115th Congress.
Those who favor expanding family-based immigration by increasing the annual numeric limits point to the visa queue of approved prospective immigrants who must wait years separated from their U.S.-based family members until they receive a visa. Others question whether the United States has an obligation to reconstitute families of immigrants beyond their nuclear families and favor reducing permanent immigration by eliminating certain family-based preference categories. Arguments favoring restricting certain categories of family-based immigration reiterate earlier recommendations made by congressionally mandated immigration reform commissions.