The Family Immigration Toolkit

Immigration > Family Immigration | Published 25 February 2025 - Updated 8 August 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Module 1 is a questionnaire. It exists because the fact that decides a family immigration case is almost never the fact the family came in to discuss.

Keywords: intake, history, categories, priority dates, departure analysis, waivers, conditions

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Module 1 — Intake questionnaire

Ask all of it, of everyone, before discussing any filing.

Status and citizenship

Who in this family is a U.S. citizen? · How did each become one — birth, naturalization, or through a parent? · Were your parents or grandparents ever U.S. citizens, and if so, when? · Who is a permanent resident, and since when? · Has anyone ever been told they might already be a citizen?

Entries and exits

List every entry to the United States, with dates, place, and manner. · Were you inspected by an officer each time? · List every departure. · Has anyone left the country since 2000, even briefly? · Any refusal of entry, expedited removal, or turnaround at a border?

Applications

List every application or petition ever filed, by anyone, for anyone in this family, ever — including by relatives now deceased. · Any denials? · Any appeals? · Do you have receipt numbers or approval notices?

Criminal

Any arrest, anywhere, at any time, including as a minor? · Any charge dismissed, diverted, or expunged? · Any conviction? · Any pending matter?

Family

Every spouse, current and former, with marriage and termination dates. · Every child, with dates of birth and marital status. · Where was each person born — city and country?

Proceedings

Has anyone ever been in immigration court? · Received a notice to appear? · Been ordered removed? · Failed to appear?

Why every question is here. Each one has changed the correct answer in an ordinary case. The place-of-birth question drives chargeability and cross-chargeability. The "anyone ever filed anything" question recovers old priority dates and § 245(i) eligibility. The grandparent question finds people who are already citizens.

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Module 2 — Immigration history worksheet

Date	Event	Place	Documented by	Notes
	Entry — inspected? admitted? parole?		Passport stamp / I-94
	Status expired		Notice / I-94 date
	Departure		Stamp / ticket
	Application filed		Receipt number
	Decision		Notice
	Arrest / charge		Court record
	Marriage / divorce		Certificate / decree
	Child born		Birth certificate

Complete this before advising. The three derived quantities that matter:

Total unlawful presence accrued, in days. Whether any departure occurred after 180 days or one year of it. Whether any entry was without inspection, and whether any followed a prior year of unlawful presence or a removal.

Those three numbers determine whether the case is straightforward, difficult, or presently impossible — and they come from a worksheet, not from a conversation.

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Module 3 — Category decision tree

Start here: is the petitioner a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident?

Citizen petitioner:

Spouse → immediate relative. No queue. Unmarried child under 21 → immediate relative. No queue. (File a separate petition for each — no derivatives.) Parent (petitioner 21+) → immediate relative. No queue. Unmarried son/daughter 21+ → F1. Married son/daughter → F3. Sibling (petitioner 21+) → F4.

Permanent resident petitioner:

Spouse → F2A. Unmarried child under 21 → F2A. Unmarried son/daughter 21+ → F2B. Married son/daughter → no category. Parent → no category. Sibling → no category.

Then ask the question that reorders everything: is the permanent resident petitioner eligible to naturalize? Under 8 U.S.C. § 1427, or 8 U.S.C. § 1430 for a spouse of a citizen. Naturalization moves three of those "no category" rows into existence and collapses two queues to zero.

Statutory basis: 8 U.S.C. § 1151 (immediate relatives, worldwide levels) · 8 U.S.C. § 1153 (preferences) · 8 U.S.C. § 1152 (per-country limits) · 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (definitions).

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Module 4 — Unlawful presence and departure analysis

Complete before anyone books travel. Give the result to the client in writing.

1. Was the beneficiary inspected and admitted or paroled at last entry? ☐ Yes ☐ No If No → adjustment under 8 U.S.C. § 1255 is generally unavailable absent § 245(i).

2. Unlawful presence accrued: ______ days.

3. Has the beneficiary departed since accruing it? ☐ Yes ☐ No If Yes → a bar under 8 U.S.C. § 1182 has already been triggered. Determine which.

4. Would the chosen path require departure? ☐ Yes ☐ No If Yes and line 2 exceeds 180 days → STOP. Resolve the waiver question first.

5. Qualifying relative for the unlawful presence waiver: U.S. citizen or LPR spouse or parent — ☐ exists ☐ does not exist. A U.S. citizen child is not a qualifying relative.

6. Any entry without inspection after a prior year of unlawful presence, or after a removal? ☐ Yes ☐ No If Yes → permanent bar. Ten years abroad before consent to reapply may even be requested.

7. Is a provisional waiver available? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Conclusion: ______________________ Delivered to client in writing on: ______

Why this module is a form and not a conversation. The bar triggers on departure, and the most damaging error in family immigration is a client who leaves on advice that was verbal, general, and given by someone who had not counted the days.

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Module 5 — Client travel warning

Put this in the engagement letter and in a separate signed acknowledgment.

DO NOT LEAVE THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT CALLING ME FIRST.

Departing the country can trigger a bar to returning that lasts three years or ten years, even where you are eligible for the benefit we are pursuing. The bar is triggered by the act of leaving, not by anything you did before.

This applies to: vacations · funerals · weddings · medical emergencies · brief trips across a land border · trips you have taken before without incident · and travel on advance parole.

If you leave without confirming with me first, I may not be able to fix it, and the consequence may be years of separation from your family.

Signed: ______________ Date: ______

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Module 6 — Extreme hardship brief outline

The hardship is to the qualifying relative, not to the applicant. That single sentence fixes the most common drafting error.

I. The qualifying relative. Identity, status, relationship, and — precisely — why they qualify.

II. The two scenarios, both addressed.

(a) The qualifying relative remains in the United States without the applicant. (b) The qualifying relative relocates abroad with the applicant. Both must be briefed. A brief addressing only separation concedes that relocation is tolerable.

III. Medical. Diagnoses, treatment, provider letters, prognosis, and the availability and cost of equivalent care in the destination country.

IV. Financial. Income, debt, dependents, mortgage, the loss of the applicant's contribution, and the cost of relocation.

V. Caregiving. Obligations to children, elderly parents, or disabled family members — with documentation.

VI. Educational. Disruption to children, language of instruction, and the availability of comparable schooling.

VII. Country conditions. Specific, sourced, and tied to this family rather than general.

VIII. Psychological. An evaluation where warranted, addressing the qualifying relative.

IX. Family ties and community. Length of residence, employment, community role, and other relatives.

X. Cumulative argument. Make it explicitly. Factors individually insufficient can together constitute extreme hardship, and the brief should say so and then show it.

What does not work: a general statement that the family will miss each other. Separation is the ordinary consequence of the bar, and the standard requires more than the ordinary consequence.

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Module 7 — Marriage bona fides index

Organize by category and by time, not by document type. An adjudicator should be able to see the relationship as continuous.

Tab	Category	What goes in it
A	Residence	Lease or deed with both names, renewals across the whole period, utility bills, mail
B	Finances	Joint accounts with transaction history, joint credit, shared loans, beneficiary designations
C	Insurance	Health, life, auto, renter's — each naming the other
D	Tax	Jointly filed returns or transcripts, every year
E	Children	Birth certificates, school and medical records listing both parents
F	Photographs	Many occasions across years, each dated and captioned with the occasion and the people
G	Travel	Itineraries, boarding passes, hotel records for shared trips
H	Correspondence	Messages, cards, letters — a sample across time, not a volume from one week
I	Affidavits	From people with genuine personal knowledge, each in their own words

The three failure patterns, named so they can be avoided: photographs from one event · affidavits in identical language · no financial commingling.

And the one instruction to give a couple at the start of a case, not the end: keep the joint paperwork. The evidence that proves a good-faith marriage two years later is exactly the paperwork that accumulates naturally and gets thrown away — lease renewals, insurance declarations, joint statements.

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Module 8 — Affidavit of support explainer

Give this to every signer, in writing, before signing.

What you are signing. A contract under 8 U.S.C. § 1183a promising to maintain the sponsored immigrant at a specified income level.

Who can enforce it against you. The immigrant — they can sue you on it. And any government agency that provides them a means-tested public benefit, for reimbursement.

When it ends. Your death · their death · their naturalization · their permanent departure with abandonment of residence · or when they are credited with forty qualifying quarters of work.

When it does NOT end. Divorce. Separation. The end of the relationship that prompted you to sign. A falling-out. Your own change in circumstances.

If you are a joint sponsor and not the petitioner: you are signing the same contract with the same consequences. The fact that you are doing a favor changes nothing about the obligation.

Signed: ______________ Date: ______

The related provision on bonds and support generally is 8 U.S.C. § 1183, and the public charge ground it addresses is at 8 U.S.C. § 1182.

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Module 9 — Aging-out worksheet

Compute. Never estimate.

Beneficiary date of birth: ______ Priority date: ______ Date petition approved: ______ Days petition was pending: ______ Date visa became available (final action): ______ Biological age at availability: ______ Less pending time (where the formula applies): ______ Adjusted age: ______ Under 21? ☐ Yes ☐ No "Sought to acquire" deadline: ______ Action taken on: ______ If aged out — converts to: ______ Priority date retained? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Three rules. File early — pending time is subtracted where the formula applies. Act promptly when the date becomes current — the "sought to acquire" requirement has a deadline and missing it forfeits the protection. Marriage terminates derivative status, so a beneficiary planning a wedding should be told what it does to the case first.

Scialabba v. Cuellar de Osorio, 573 U.S. 41 (2014), addressed retention and automatic conversion for aged-out derivatives and produced a fractured decision deferring to the agency's narrower reading — which is why this is computed, and computed by someone who does it regularly.

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Module 10 — Conditional residence calendar

Create this entry on the day residence is granted, in at least two calendars.

Residence granted: ______ Second anniversary: ______ FILING WINDOW OPENS (90 days before): ______ FILING WINDOW CLOSES: ______ Consequence of missing it: STATUS TERMINATES. Evidence to accumulate meanwhile: joint lease renewals · joint account statements · insurance · joint tax returns · photographs · children's records If the marriage has ended, the waiver route is: ☐ good faith, marriage terminated ☐ battery or extreme cruelty ☐ extreme hardship Naturalization eligibility date: ______

Statutory basis: 8 U.S.C. § 1186a, with the parallel provision at 8 U.S.C. § 1186.

Why a calendar module exists at all. This deadline arrives two years after everyone stopped paying attention, and it terminates a status the family spent years and thousands of dollars obtaining.

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Module 11 — Request for evidence response template

This responds to the notice dated [___] in matter [receipt number].

Item 1. [Restate the request verbatim.] Response: [describe what is provided], at Tab A. Item 2. [Restate.] Response: [___], at Tab B. Item 3. [Restate.] Response: The requested document is not issued by [country] for persons in [beneficiary]'s circumstances. Documentation of unavailability appears at Tab C, together with the alternative evidence permitted: [list], at Tab D.

All foreign-language documents are accompanied by certified English translations. A complete index appears at Tab [___].

Three rules for responses. Answer every item, including ones you think were requested in error. Restate the request so the reader can match your answer to it. Never respond partially intending to supplement — the response is adjudicated as filed, and a partial response is a denial waiting to happen.

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Module 12 — Reference tables

Authorities

Authority	Proposition
8 U.S.C. § 1101	Definitions
8 U.S.C. § 1151	Immediate relatives — no numerical limit
8 U.S.C. § 1152 · § 1153	Per-country limits; preferences
8 U.S.C. § 1154 · § 1155	Petitions; revocation
8 U.S.C. § 1157 · § 1158	Refugees; asylum
8 U.S.C. § 1182	Inadmissibility; the departure bars
8 U.S.C. § 1183 · § 1183a	Affidavit of support
8 U.S.C. § 1184 · § 1201 · § 1225	Nonimmigrants; visas; inspection
8 U.S.C. § 1186 · § 1186a	Conditional residence
8 U.S.C. § 1227 · § 1229 · § 1229a · § 1229b	Deportability; proceedings; cancellation
8 U.S.C. § 1255	Adjustment of status
8 U.S.C. § 1361	Burden on the applicant
8 U.S.C. § 1427 · § 1430 · § 1431	Naturalization; spouses; children
8 C.F.R. Part 204 · Part 245 · Part 1003	Petitions; adjustment; EOIR
Mandel · Fiallo · Trump v. Hawaii	Deference; consular nonreviewability
Morales-Santana	Equal protection limit on that deference
Wilkinson · Santos-Zacaria · Kucana · Judulang · Nken · Zadvydas	Review, stays, and detention
Cardoza-Fonseca	Asylum standard
Padilla	Plea advice on immigration consequences

Vocabulary

Priority date — your place in line, set by the filing date. Immediate relative — spouse, unmarried minor child, or parent of a citizen; no queue. Preference category — everyone else, subject to numbers. Chargeability — the country your visa counts against, generally by place of birth. Cross-chargeability — being charged to a spouse's or parent's country instead. Retrogression — a cut-off date moving backward. Adjustment of status — becoming a resident without leaving. Consular processing — doing it at a consulate abroad. Unlawful presence — time in the U.S. after status ended. The bar — triggered by departure, not by the overstay. Conditional residence — two-year residence from a young marriage. Derivative — a spouse or child riding along on a preference petition; immediate relatives have none.

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Module 13 — The document index

Category	Items	Common failure
Petitioner status	Naturalization certificate · U.S. passport · birth certificate · unexpired resident card	Expired card submitted
Relationship	Birth certificates · marriage certificate · adoption or custody orders	Stepchild timing rule not documented
Prior marriages	Divorce decrees or death certificates — for both parties	Omitted entirely
Translations	Certified English translation of every foreign-language document	The single most common delay
Beneficiary	Passport · national ID · police certificates · military record	Expired passport
Financial	Tax returns or transcripts · W-2s · employment letter · assets	Household size miscounted
Medical	Civil surgeon or panel physician form · complete vaccination record	Expired examination
Bona fides	Tabs A–I from Module 7	One event, no commingling
Waiver	Hardship evidence per Module 6	Built around a non-qualifying relative

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Module 14 — Sequencing card

Pin this above the desk. The order is the substance.

1. Is anyone already a citizen?
2. Complete immigration history (Module 2).
3. Complete criminal history, including dismissals and expungements.
4. Is anyone eligible to naturalize? If yes, that filing usually comes first.
5. Map every petitioner-beneficiary pair, both directions (Module 3).
6. Chargeability and cross-chargeability for every beneficiary.
7. Any pre-2001 filing preserving § 245(i) eligibility?
8. Inadmissibility screen (Module 4), unlawful presence first.
9. Adjustment or consular, and if consular, the waiver question before any travel.
10. Then file — everything eligible, for the priority dates.

Steps 1 through 9 are free. Step 10 is the only one with a fee, and it is the one most consultations begin with.

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Module 15 — Where this connects

The narrative and the doctrine. The Line That Is Not a Line: How Family Immigration Actually Works and Family-Based Immigration: A Comprehensive Guide to Petitions, Priority Dates, Adjustment, and Consular Processing.

The step-by-step. Preparing a Family-Based Immigrant Petition and Adjustment Application: A Practical Checklist.

Citizenship. Naturalization: A Comprehensive Guide to the N-400 Process · Obtaining U.S. Citizenship Through Marriage: A Step-by-Step Guide · Acquiring U.S. Citizenship Through Parents: Birthright and Derivative Paths · Birthright Citizenship Across Nations: Jus Soli, Jus Sanguinis, and the American Debate.

Other paths. Employment-Based Immigration: A Comprehensive Guide to H-1B, O-1, and EB Visas and Applying for Asylum: A Practical Checklist.

If proceedings begin. Removal Defense: A Comprehensive Guide to Immigration Court Proceedings and The Immigration and Citizenship Toolkit.

If a criminal case is anywhere in the picture. The Criminal Case from Arrest to Sentencing: A Comprehensive Guide · The First Forty-Eight Hours: What Actually Happens Between Arrest and Arraignment · Preparing for Arraignment, Bail, and the First Court Appearance: A Practical Checklist · The Criminal Defense Toolkit. And note that a juvenile adjudication requires its own analysis — see The Juvenile Justice and School Discipline Toolkit.

If money problems follow. An immigration case is expensive, and families frequently arrive with consumer debt from paying for it. The FCRA and FDCPA tools are in Disputing a Credit Report Error and Defending a Debt Collection Suit: A Practical Checklist and The Consumer Debt and Credit Reporting Toolkit.

If a marriage is ending. Child Custody and Support: A Comprehensive Guide to Parenting Plans, Guidelines, Modification, and Enforcement · Building a Parenting Plan and Child Support Order: A Practical Checklist · The Child Custody and Support Toolkit.

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Module 16 — Practice notes by role

For the family. Complete Module 2 honestly and completely — including the parts that are embarrassing, because the government has the records and the surprise at an interview is worse than the disclosure now. Then sign Module 5 and mean it.

For a general practitioner. Modules 1 through 4 are within any careful lawyer's competence and account for most of the value in this field. The filings are specialist work, and consular processing with an inadmissibility issue is specialist work of the highest order.

For immigration counsel. Module 4 in writing, delivered in writing, every time. Module 10 on the day residence is granted. And ask the "did anyone ever file anything" question in every intake — old priority dates and § 245(i) eligibility are found no other way.

For criminal defense counsel. Padilla is a duty, not a courtesy. Get the analysis before the plea and structure the disposition around it.

And for everyone: the deference doctrine means a consular refusal frequently cannot be appealed. The first submission is the only submission that matters, which is why every module here is about preparation rather than argument.

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Related Documents

Articles

• The Line That Is Not a Line: How Family Immigration Actually Works
• Obtaining U.S. Citizenship Through Marriage: A Step-by-Step Guide

Guides

• Family-Based Immigration: A Comprehensive Guide to Petitions, Priority Dates, Adjustment, and Consular Processing
• Naturalization: A Comprehensive Guide to the N-400 Process

Checklists

• Preparing a Family-Based Immigrant Petition and Adjustment Application: A Practical Checklist
• Applying for Asylum: A Practical Checklist

Toolkits

• The Immigration and Citizenship Toolkit