A US citizen or a lawful permanent resident in the US can petition his/her immediate relatives to be able to come and live in the US permanently through IR petitions. The beneficiaries of this petition fall under the unlimited immigrant visa quota which grants them a resident status in the US immediately once their visas are approved.
                        

1. Spouse
2. Unmarried children under 21 years old.
3. Parents

• You don’t need to be a US citizen to be able to petition your immediate relatives. You just need to be a lawful permanent resident in the US.
• Your petitioned immediate relatives can work in the United States once they receive their Social Security number and Green Card

• Longer processing time
• No derivative beneficiary unlike K visas

• US citizen or a US Permanent resident
• Meet financial requirements as stated in the Poverty Guidelines
• Must be at least 18 years old
• Domiciled in the US

1. Spouse (IR1) – You need to establish a genuine, on-going marital relationship with your foreign spouse. Having a child together, jointly owned assets and properties, staying together, among others are pieces of evidence to fortifying your marriage. By US immigration definition, a spouse is a legally wedded husband or wife. This means you have to register your marriage and procure marriage license or certificate. Common-law spouses may qualify as spouses for immigration if the country where the marriage occurs affords them the same rights and privileges being granted by a traditional marriage. For those who are into polygamous marriage, only the first spouse can be petitioned.

The child can be considered as a step-child of the US citizen/permanent resident if he is less than 18 years old by the time his natural parent married an American citizen/permanent resident. Those who are 18 years older during their parent’s marriage with the US citizen/permanent resident may  not be classified as step children and they can only be petitioned by their foreign parent once s/he obtains his/her US permanent residence status.

IR stands for “Immediate Relative” visa which entitles the holder a permanent residence status allowing him a renewable 10-year stay in the US.  Immediate Relatives of a US citizen or the lawful permanent resident in the US can apply for this visa.

CR stands for "Conditional Residency" and this is applied for by spouses of American citizens/permanent residents whose period of marriage to their American/permanent resident spouses is less than two years. The applicant will be initially awarded a 2-year conditional permanent residency in the US which can be removed through an application for removal of conditions to be done 90 days before the CR 1 visa expires. They will receive a green card status also called as permanent residency after the successful removal of the conditions.

1. The petitioner files petition with the USCIS
2. The National Visa Center is notified of the approved petition.
3. The National Visa Center contacts the applicant and the petitioner with instructions for submitting the appropriate processing fees.
4. After the fees are settled, the NVC will be in touch with the petitioner and the applicant to inform them of the required documents to be submitted.
5. The petitioner and the applicant will just have to submit the required documentations until the process is completed.

This normally depends on the petitioner and applicant’s promptness in furnishing the required documents once notice from the NVC is received. On average, it can take 6 months to one year to be to be issued an IR 1 or CR 1 visa.