The answer to your question is yes. A US citizen (USC) can submit a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of her sibling to accord that foreign national sibling an immigrant visa as the brother/sister of a USC. Unfortunately, the waiting period for a visa to become available in this category is upwards of 12 years. This means that once you file the application, a "priority date" will be assigned and this will mark a place in line. There are yearly limitations on the availability of visas in this category and you can understand, ther are many more individuals who apply for these visas than there are visas available. So I would suggest that you submit the Form I-130 and obtain a spot in line. This is not the most difficult work to handle, but it may be worth it to hire a lawyer if you are worried about doint it right. At the end of the day it isn't that difficult to do and can easily be done by someone without th need of a lawyer. Once the visa becomes available, I would highly suggest hiring a lawyer, but as indicated above, that will certainly take quite a while. If you do decide to hire someone. Speak with someone who is licensed and someone who knows what they are talking about with authority when you speak to the lawyer. There are a lot of people out there that will gladly take your money and run. Find someone who is reputable, there are lawyers out there who are honest and will do right by you. Good luck.
Answered on May 14th, 2012 at 8:57 PM