Your mother can apply for you to obtain the green card, but the timing and steps involved will depend upon how you came into the United States and how old you are at present. If under the age of 21 and entered the US with a nonimmigrant visa or parole, you may be immediately eligible for adjustment of status in the US. If between ages 18-21 and you entered without inspection, you might be eligible for the I-601A program under which your mother would petition for you on form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, and after approval, you would apply for an I-601A waiver application to forgive the unlawful presence in the US, and upon approval, travel back to the home country for an immigrant visa interview and if successful, return to the US. This would take approximately 3-4 years given the present backlogs although it could be sooner as USCIS is establishing a new virtual service center, HART, which will concentrate on certain applications, among which is the I-601A. If over the age of 21 by the time that your mother files for you, you would fall into another category, F-1 adult son of a US citizen, and the timing would be approximately 7-8 years. If you have left or will leave the US before reaching the age of 18, you would not have to do an I-601A waiver if you entered without inspection, and your mother could simply file the I-130 petition and upon its approval, you could consular process your case at the American Consulate in your home country, and that situation would take approximately 1 ½-2 years dependent upon the speed of processing at USCIS and the American Consulate. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee & Arthur Lee, Esqs.’ (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.
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