Moving to the USA on a family visa - advise please!!

[TOMOLBEN]

Hi all, my sister has just renewed her green card and is in the process of applying for her citizenship. When she has this she said she would file for the I-130 family ( sibling) visa for me and my DH and DC.
I just wondered if anybody has any personal experience of this visa e.g how long we would be looking at, if you can visit the states while the visa is pending etc etc. I have looked a lot on the Internet but it is very basic info with no time scales etc.
Thank you :)

Hi tomoblen! No direct experience of a family visa (I'm in the US on a different visa). Where are you thinking of heading? The US is huge and culture, laws etc vary hugely. So advice will largely depend on which state you have in mind.

Well my sister lives in Virginia at the moment. So we spend a lot of time there but we also spend a lot of time in Florida. So probably either one of those 2 states. I did read somewhere the wait time can be anywhere up to 11 years for the visa to be granted. This worries me and if it is the case i don't think it is worth pursuing as my oldest child is 12 so by time we got it she would no longer be a dependent.
My sister said she will ask her lawyer more about it once all her forms are submitted. I may also contact an immigration lawyer to get advise. Just thought I would sound out here 1st and see if anyone had any experience.
The other option we have is to apply for a different visa and then file the family one later on and change the status of our visa, which I think can be done??
Thank you for your reply :)

11 years seems extreme!! I've no personal experience though, so I suppose it's possible. Hopefully someone who has done it will be along soon, it's Thanksgiving here so a lot of people will be away for a few days. Good luck

It does seem extreme! I must admit when I read that I was very disappointed but the literature did say the time varies depending on which country you are applying from, financial stabilty of your sponsor and so on and so forth. The info on the Internet is very confusing Tbf. Thanks for your reply x