What happens if a petition is filed by a Lawful Permanent Resident (F2A or F2B) and the petitioner becomes a U.S. citizen before the applicant is called for an interview?

April 25, 2011

When the petitioner naturalizes, the F2A petition (spouse or minor child of a permanent resident) is automatically converted to an IR1 (spouse of an American) or IR2 (child of an American) petition. These visa categories are not subject to the visa quota system and will therefore always have visas available for the beneficiaries' use if they qualify for visa issuance.

However, because there are no derivative beneficiaries allowed with IR petitions, children who are derivative applicants on a parent's F2A application must each have a separate IR2 petition filed for them if the petitioner becomes a U.S. citizen. F2A petitioners who naturalize should make sure to file new IR2 petitions for their children (if they did not originally file separate petitions for them).

For F2B applicants (unmarried son/daughter of a permanent resident), their F2B petitions are automatically converted to the F1 category retaining the original priority date when their petitioners naturalize. If an F2B applicant marries before petitioner naturalizes, the petition becomes invalid because there is no visa category for the married son or daughter of a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR).