In certain situations, a green card applicant may benefit from charging their visa to their spouse's or parent's country of birth rather than their own. This is known as cross-chargeability.
In practice, cross-chargeability is used where the preference quota category is backlogged for one spouse's country of chargeability but is current for the other spouse's country of chargeability. For example, suppose the principal applicant is born in India, and the spouse is born in any other country other than China. In that case, the spouse's country of birth can be used to see if the priority dates are current and then file the adjustment application. The principal applicant may cross-charge to the derivative spouse's country, and the derivative spouse may cross-charge to the principal's country.
Derivative children may cross-charge to either parent's country as necessary. Parents may not cross-charge to a child's country. In other words, the principal applicant or derivative spouse may never use their child's country of birth for cross-chargeability.
To benefit from cross-chargeability, both applicants must be eligible to adjust their status. A derivative using the principal's country of chargeability may adjust status with the principal or at any time after that. When a principal uses the derivative spouse's country of chargeability, both applicants are considered principal applicants: one for the purpose of conferring immigrant status and the other for the purpose of conferring a more favorable chargeability. An applicant should affirmatively request the use of cross-chargeability when filing the green card application.
We regularly update our blog section to acquaint the community with to latest changes in Immigration policies. Please note the information in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be nor should it be construed as legal advice. We can promptly and efficiently represent clients located anywhere in the US or abroad on US Immigration Policies. If you seek further clarification, don't hesitate to contact SanSha Law Office at [email protected] or call us at 469-777-6161.
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