When you’ve built a life in the United States, the desire to bring loved ones here grows stronger each year. Cousins who grew up with you, shared your childhood: you want them here too. Now, you’re thinking: can i petition my cousin to usa?
The answer is direct and disappointing: No. U.S. immigration law doesn’t recognize cousins as qualifying relatives for family-based sponsorship.
But digging into why cousins don’t qualify, and what honest, legal alternatives actually exist, helps you plan realistic pathways forward.
The Legal Boundaries of Family Sponsorship
Congress designed the immigration system around a specific vision of family. The Immigration and Nationality Act defines exactly which relatives qualify for sponsorship, and that list stops at immediate family and siblings.
Citizens cannot directly sponsor cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, or grandparents. No exceptions exist. No special circumstances change this rule.
Who U.S. Citizens Can Actually Sponsor
If you’re a U.S. citizen, you may be able to sponsor these relatives only:
- Spouse (husband or wife in a legally recognized marriage)
- Children (unmarried or married, any age)
- Parents (if you’re at least 21 years of age)
- Siblings (brothers and sisters, if you’re at least 21)
That’s the complete list. These relationships form the foundation of family-based immigration, with some receiving faster processing than others.
What Permanent Residents Can Sponsor
Green card holders have even more limited options. A lawful permanent resident can sponsor:
- Spouse only
- Unmarried children only (married children don’t qualify)
Parents and siblings don’t qualify for sponsorship by permanent residents. You must become a U.S. citizen first before petitioning these relatives.
Why Extended Family Doesn’t Qualify
The system prioritizes nuclear family unity. Congress limited family preference categories to prevent chain migration of entire extended families. Each person who immigrates can sponsor their immediate family, but the chain stops there for lateral relatives like cousins.
How Family Immigration Actually Works
The two-tier system helps explain why some relatives get green cards quickly while others wait decades.
Immediate Relatives Get Priority
Visas for immediate relatives have no annual numerical caps. These relationships receive the fastest processing because unlimited visa numbers are available.
Immediate relatives include:
- Spouses of U.S. citizens
- Unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens
- Parents of U.S. citizens (when the citizen is at least 21)
These beneficiaries can often apply for adjustment of status if they’re already in the United States. If abroad, they go through consular processing.
Family Preference Categories Face Long Waits
Everyone else falls into preference categories with annual limits. The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin showing current wait times, which can span years or even decades.
The four preference categories are:
- F1: Unmarried adult children (21 or older) of U.S. citizens
- F2A: Spouses and children of permanent residents
- F2B: Unmarried adult children of permanent residents
- F3: Married children of U.S. citizens
- F4: Siblings of U.S. citizens (family fourth preference)
The F4 category for siblings currently has the longest waits. Citizens cannot directly sponsor cousins through any category, making sibling sponsorship the closest connection available for your cousin’s parents.
Filing the I-130 Petition
When you qualify to sponsor someone, the process starts with Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. This form establishes the family relationship between the petitioner and the beneficiary.
The basic steps include:
- File Form I-130 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- Pay the required filing fee (currently $535, though amounts change)
- Submit proof of your status and the family relationship
- Wait for USCIS approval
- Wait for visa availability in preference categories
- Complete either consular processing or filing Form I-485 for adjustment of status
- Receive permanent resident status
For immediate relatives, steps happen quickly. For preference categories, years can pass between approval and visa availability.
Realistic Alternatives When Direct Sponsorship Isn’t Possible
Your cousin cannot get a green card through your petition. But other pathways exist that don’t depend on your family relationship.
The Multi-Generational Sibling Strategy
This approach requires patience measured in decades, not years. It’s the only family-based route that eventually connects you and your cousin, though extremely indirectly.
Here’s how it works:
- You sponsor your sibling (your cousin’s parent) through the F4 category
- Your sibling waits for visa availability (currently 10-15+ years depending on country)
- Your sibling immigrates and becomes a lawful permanent resident
- Five years later, your sibling naturalizes and becomes a citizen
- Your new citizen sibling can now sponsor their own children, including your cousin
- Your cousin waits in the F1 category (unmarried adult child) or F3 (married child)
Total timeline? Often 20-30 years from start to finish. The first step requires you to be a U.S. citizen yourself. Permanent residents cannot sponsor siblings at all.
Employment-Based Immigration Routes
Your cousin might qualify for permanent residency through work rather than family ties. These paths don’t require your involvement at all.
Common employment options include:
- Employer sponsorship where a U.S. company petitions for permanent residence based on job skills
- Temporary work visas like H-1B (specialty occupations), L-1 (intracompany transfers), or O-1 (extraordinary ability)
- EB-5 investor visas requiring investment of $800,000-$1,050,000 in a qualifying business
- EB-1 extraordinary ability category for individuals with exceptional achievements
Your cousin needs job qualifications, employer willing to sponsor, or substantial capital. These paths operate completely separately from family immigration.
Student Visas as Stepping Stones
An F-1 student visa allows your cousin to study at a U.S. university or vocational school. This creates legal presence in the United States and potential future opportunities.
The student visa path works like this:
- Your cousin gets accepted to an accredited U.S. educational institution
- They obtain an F-1 student visa showing temporary intent
- After graduation, Optional Practical Training allows limited work authorization
- Employment during OPT might lead to employer sponsorship for a work visa or green card
This route offers no guarantees. Student visas are temporary visas by nature, but education opens doors that might eventually lead to permanent residence through other means.
Diversity Visa Lottery Program
Each year, the U.S. government holds a lottery offering 50,000 immigrant visas to nationals from countries with low immigration rates. No sponsor required, no family relationship needed.
Eligibility requirements include:
- Being a native of an eligible country (changes annually)
- High school education or equivalent, OR two years of work experience in qualifying occupation
- Meeting health and character requirements
Your cousin can enter the lottery themselves if their country qualifies. Selection is completely random, making it a long shot. But it costs nothing to try.
Marriage Creates Immediate Eligibility
If your cousin marries a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, spousal sponsorship becomes available immediately. A spouse or child relationship qualifies under immigration law, where cousin relationships don’t.
Marriage to a citizen makes the cousin an immediate relative with no waiting period for visa numbers. Marriage to a permanent resident puts them in the F2A preference category with shorter waits.
The Consequence of Marriage Fraud
This only works if your cousin actually meets and marries someone for legitimate reasons. Marriage fraud solely to get a green card carries severe penalties, including permanent immigration bars and criminal prosecution.
What Happens When You Try Sponsoring Ineligible Relatives
Some people file Form I-130 for cousins hoping USCIS might not notice the relationship doesn’t qualify. This never works.
USCIS Rejects Invalid Petitions
Filing an i-130 petition for a cousin results in automatic denial. The form specifically asks about the relationship, and USCIS officers know exactly which relationships qualify. You’ll lose your filing fee with no refund, and the denied petition creates a paper trail.
Fraudulent Approaches Create Permanent Problems
Desperate families sometimes try creative workarounds. All of them backfire:
- Fake adoption claims fail because adoption must occur before the child turns 16, with two years of legal custody and residence
- Falsely claiming closer relationships fails because you must submit documentary evidence that exposes lies immediately
- Arranged marriages for immigration benefits constitute marriage fraud investigated intensely by USCIS
Consequences Affect Everyone Involved
Immigration fraud doesn’t just hurt the beneficiary trying to immigrate. The petitioner faces consequences, too:
- Loss of ability to sponsor anyone in the future
- Potential criminal prosecution under federal law
- Risk to your own immigration status if you’re not a citizen
- Permanent record making any future immigration benefits difficult
Honest approaches take longer but avoid destroying all future opportunities.
When Professional Help Makes Sense
Your cousin doesn’t qualify for sponsorship through you. No California immigration attorney can change that. It’s federal law that applies nationwide. But legal guidance helps identify which alternative pathways make sense for your specific situation.
Immigration attorneys help with:
- Evaluating all possible routes, including employment, education, or distant family connections
- Planning multi-step strategies that might take years but eventually succeed
- Identifying potential problems before you waste money on applications that can’t succeed
- Documenting legitimate relationships when you do qualify to sponsor someone
The Law Office of Lina Baroudi in California works with families trying to reunite relatives through legal immigration channels. Sometimes the path forward is obvious. Other times, creative but lawful approaches exist that most people don’t know about.
The Reality of Extended Family Immigration
You cannot sponsor a cousin under the current rules. That won’t change unless Congress amends the Immigration and Nationality Act, which hasn’t happened despite decades of immigration reform debates.
What you can do is help your cousin explore legitimate alternatives.
Working within the system’s constraints, rather than against them, gives your cousin the best chance at eventually immigrating to the U.S. through legal channels. Contact the Law Office of Lina Baroudi today for legal guidance that upholds family togetherness.
The information provided in this guest blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and The Law Office of Lina Baroudi, or any contributing author. Immigration law is complex and constantly evolving, and the application of law depends on the specific facts and circumstances of each individual case.
