Can a lawful permanent resident file an immigrant visa petition for an adult child?

The availability of green cards or immigrant visas in family-based immigration law cases is based on a preference system. Whether or not an immigrant visa is available and how long it will take is based on the nature of the relationship between the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative.

Unfortunately, there are no immigrant visas available for adult children of lawful permanent residents. Adult children are children who are over 21 years of age. However, there are immigrant visas available for adult children of U.S. Citizens so if your parents become U.S. Citizens they could file a petition for you. (They will not qualify for U.S. Citizenship until they have been lawful permanent residents for 5 years.)

However, in your case even if your parents did become citizens there is a long wait for immigrant visas for adult children of U.S. Citizens.

Furthermore, even if you eventually qualified for an immigrant visa through your parents you would have to deal with the issue of your unlawful presence in the U.S. Since you are out-of-status you would have to return to your home country to apply for a visa. Since you have overstayed your visa for so long you would be barred from entering the U.S. (even if you had an approved visa) for a period of 10 years and you would have to apply for a waiver.

None of this probably really matters because you would probably be looking at waiting at least 9 years before you could even get the visa and then you would still have to deal with the 10 year bar.

All you can really do now is hope for some sort of immigration reform or amnesty that would benefit you. Or maybe you'll fall in love and marry an American Citizen. If this happened you would be in good shape because you could adjust your status here. Best of luck.