The main steps to expect after USCIS approves your I-130 include:
- tracking your priority date until it is "current," meaning an immigrant visa to the U.S. is available to you
- submitting paperwork to U.S. immigration authorities and the U.S. consulate in your country
- attending an interview at the U.S. consulate in your country and, assuming your immigrant visa is approved,
- using your new visa to enter the United States and become a lawful permanent reside
Let's take a closer look at each.
(Also see What Types of Family-Based U.S. Immigrant Visas Are Available? for more about the different visa categories.)
Monitor the Progress of Your Priority Date
The only people who won't have priority dates are the parents, spouses, and unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens. Several more categories of visa exist, such as spouses and unmarried children of U.S. lawful permanent residents (LPRs), married children or over-21 children of U.S. citizens, and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. All of them will be assigned a priority date.
Let's say, for example, that you are the 22-year old daughter of a U.S. LPR who petitioned for you, and you are single (either never married or since divorced). Children of LPRs who are age 21 or over and unmarried are in what's called "category 2B" of the U.S. visa preference system. Unlike "immediate relatives," only a limited number of 2Bs can obtain visa numbers (basically, green cards) per year. A waiting list developed decades ago.
The typical wait for an immigrant visa number in category 2B is at least 8 years, though it's typically closer to 20 years if you're from Mexico or 13 years if you're from the Philippines, owing to high visa demand from those countries.
With your priority date in hand, you'll want to check the State Department's Visa Bulletin regularly. It lists the priority dates of people being allotted visa numbers each month. Each date represents the date the petitioner first filed I-130s for the people just becoming eligible to move forward and receive visas. If, for instance, the "current" priority date for 2Bs is "01DEC16" (as it was in January of 2026), that tells you that people whose I-130s were filed on December 1, 2016 are finally (nearly 10 years later) coming off the waiting list. It's also important that you not get married during this time, or you will lose eligibility for this visa entirely.
If, by contrast, you are an LPR's unmarried child under age 21, you would be in category 2A of the system. Your priority date in January of 2026 was 01FEB24, or February 1, 2024. That puts your wait at close to two years.
As you track the progress of your priority date, you'll get a sense of how quickly these dates move forward, and get some idea of when yours will likely become "current" and appear on the list. (Or, a date after yours might appear on the Visa Bulletin list; that's fine, you're still current, the numbers jump forward unevenly.)
Where You'll Wait for Your Priority Date to Become Current
An approved I-130 does not, by itself, grant its holder any status or right to live in the United States. You will be expected to wait overseas.
The only exception would be if you are granted a temporary U.S. visa, such as a student visa. You're likely to find, however, that you have trouble obtaining many types of U.S. temporary visas, or reentering the United States if you already have one. The U.S. consular officer reviewing your application, or the border official, might suspect that your true intent is to stay in the U.S. permanently, based on the I-130 application that is already on file for you.
Communicating and Filing Paperwork With U.S. Consulate After Your Priority Date Becomes Current
Once your priority date becomes “current,” the U.S. consulate serving the country where you live will take over handling your case file. You should receive word from the National Visa Center (NVC) when it's time for you to submit paperwork of your own, via an online portal called the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC). After you've done so to the satisfaction of those reviewing these submissions, the NVC will transfer your file to the appropriate consulate.
Your part of the application will be as demanding as that filed by your U.S. petitioner, because you have to independently prove that you are not only eligible for your visa, but are not inadmissible to the U.S. (barred based on legal grounds such as past crimes, communicable diseases, or the likelihood that you will become a "public charge" and need government assistance in the United States).
In addition, your U.S. petitioner will (unless an exception applies in your case) need to file an I-864 Affidavit of Support on your behalf. Its purpose is to prove that the petitioner has income and assets at a level above 125% the U.S. Poverty Guidelines (or 100% for military families) and for the petitioner to legally promise to reimburse the U.S. government for any public assistance you might end up relying on.
If you don't hear from the U.S. government after noticing that your priority date has become current, contact both the NVC, and the consulate itself. Also be sure to let them know of any changes in your address!
Attending Your Immigrant Visa Interview
For the final step in the approval process, the consulate will schedule you for an immigrant visa interview.
Just before the interview, you will need to complete a medical exam with a doctor who is on the list of those approved to perform exams for U.S. immigration purposes. Any of a few communicable diseases can make someone inadmissible to the United States, so this exam is an important step. You'll also need to fill in any gaps in your vaccination history.
At the interview, the U.S. consular officer will review your file, speak with you, and ensure that everything is order and that you are not inadmissible (for example, based on a criminal record or the likelihood that you will need government assistance in order to survive in the United States). The officer will make sure that you still meet the underlying eligibility criteria for the visa, for example, if you're applying in a category for unmarried children, that you are still unmarried.
If all goes well, you will be granted an immigrant visa for U.S. entry. This will be in the form of an envelope full of papers, which might be given or mailed to you later. Do not open the envelope.
Entering the United States With an Immigrant Visa
You are not actually a lawful permanent resident until you use your immigrant visa to enter the United States. You will have six months from the visa approval date to do so.
After you've paid USCIS the immigrant visa fee and entered the country, your actual green card should arrive a few weeks after.
You are expected to actually make your home in the United States once you have a green card. Traveling in and out is fine, but if you stay away too long, and your real home is elsewhere, U.S. authorities can decide that you have "abandoned" your U.S. residence and then cancel your green card.
After five years in the United States with a green card, you might be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.
Do You Need to Hire an Immigration Attorney?
In light of the paperwork, complexities of U.S. immigration law, and long waits involved in these applications, hiring an attorney to prepare and monitor your case can offer peace of mind and a greater chance of success. See articles on Hiring an Immigration Lawyer for details.