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I was discussing with one of my friends about the US family sponsorship for non-immediate relatives. There are per country caps which is no more than 7% per country. That means people from one country can't get more than 7% of the total family immigrant visas. This is why big countries with large emigration like India, China, Mexico suffer the longest waiting times.

But what happens, say, if someone is a US citizen (who was originally an Indian citizen, but had to renounce it as India doesn't allow dual citizenship), but their brother is a British citizen (who was also originally an Indian citizen)? In the petitioning process, will the brother be placed in the Indian queue or the British queue? What if the brother had just became a British citizen (and rather had spent most of his life in India as an Indian citizen)?

There is a related question as well. What happens in a scenario where a US-British dual citizen petitions for their Indian citizen brother? Will they be considered as "sponsored by a US-British citizen", or "being sponsored as an Indian citizen" for the purposes of placing in the queue? Which queue will they join in this case?

I tried to find the answer but there seems no specific definition.

Another way to state the question is: In determining which family sponsorship queue I will join, what do they consider, "my country of birth" or "country of citizenship"?

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The country of chargeability is generally the country of birth. The only exception that takes citizenship into account applies to people born in the US. See 8 USC 1152(b). Therefore, unless the brother was born in the US, he will be placed in the India queue. The sponsor's nationality does not matter, nor does the sponsor's country of chargeability under subsection 1152(b).

(It is possible for someone who was born in the US not to be a US citizen either because the person's parents were foreign diplomats or because the person has renounced US citizenship.)

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  • Just a theoretical extension of the question (for curiosity, nothing personal): What if someone who wants to be sponsored is born on British soil with one British parent but one Indian parent too? (India gives citizenship or a pseudo-citizenship to anyone with at least one Indian connection, regardless of place of birth). Does the law state which queue will they join in this case?
    – Yashveer Singh
    Commented Sep 9, 2020 at 13:18
  • Under the facts presented in the question none of the exceptions in 1152(b) would apply to this person, so the place of birth would control.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 9, 2020 at 13:26
  • I have deleted my comments because I found the answers to them.
    – Yashveer Singh
    Commented Sep 9, 2020 at 16:43

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