Do I have to start at the begining of the immigration process?

*CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE*: This electronic mail is intended only for the named recipient. It is a legally privileged document and is exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or if this has been delivered in error, you may not copy, distribute or disseminate this e-mail or its attachments and are asked to please advise the sender immediately of the transmission by telephone at 305-445-1011 or email at CruzLawpa@gmail.com. Thank you. You may have lost your permanent resident status by being out of the country so long. You say your parents are citizens. If they became citizens while you were still a minor, then you may be able to get derivative citizenship through them. If no, then you have to start again and your age, marital status, and country of citizenship will determine the wait time. You should talk to an immigration attorney to evaluate your case and determine your best course of action. Please contact me for a consultation.

If your parents became United States Citizens when you were under 18, you are a citizen Alan Diamante California State Bar Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law LAW OFFICES.

NO, there is no jumping any queue. You need to start from the beginning of being petitioned and the process is going to be longer if your parents petition for you since you are now over the age of 21. It will be about 4-6 years before you can get a green card on that basis. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or how I can be of further assistance to you in this matter. Thank you,

You can, of course, "start from the beginning" by asking your parents to file an immigrant petition for you. However, the "queue" is backed up 7.5 years for the 1st preference category (unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens). So I would suggest filing an application for replacement of your green card. If you did not secure USCIS' OK for an extended absence, and did not return to the U.S. every year, USCIS will likely deny your application for "abandonment of the permanent residence in the U.S." Should that happen, you will have to prove that you did not abandon your residence here. It will be an uphill battle, and you should seriously consider retaining an immigration attorney to handle it. Unless your attorney advises you otherwise, don't come to the U.S. visiting on any kind of a visa or on a visa waiver: such visits will be interpreted by USCIS as proof that you have, in fact, abandoned your permanent resident status in the U.S.

You need to be more clear as to how often you returned to the US, and whether you physically lost your greencard or have abandoned your permanent resident status, and give the dates of when your parents naturalized as US citizens.

You can request a transportation letter from the US Embassy in London upon showing of your LPR status. You may have a problem to show that you have not abandoned your LPR status as you were out of the US for 4 years. If you are determined to have abandoned your LPR, your parents will have to to apply for you again. You will not get any special treatment just because you were once an LPR.

My suggestion would be that you speak with a US immigration attorney before taking any action. Sounds like you were a resident alien (a/k/a lawful permanent resident) for an extended period of time and may have "abandoned" that status as a result of your absence from the US for as long as you were away. On the other hand, you may not have abandoned that status if the only purpose for your extended time away was to attend school and then return to the US. The easiest way out of this situation is for you to not be considered to have abandoned status and for the US consulate to provide you with evidence that you maintain status as a resident so that you can return to the US. If that does not happen, the you may likely need to have mom or dad file a visa petition on your behalf and start all over again. Having some effective advocacy here may assist greatly with the hoops that you may need to jump through in order to find a workable solution to your situation and I would suggest that the best place to start is with a good immigration attorney. Good luck.