How can I bring my mother or father to the United States?
If you are a United States citizen you can file a petition for your mother or father to get an immigrant visa to come to the United States. However, If you are only a legal permanent resident of the United States you cannot file a petition for your parent to immigrate until you become a U.S. citizen.
Filing a petition for a parent involves filing the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative form. This is the form that you, as the U.S. citizen relative file on behalf of your parent. This form must be filed with proof that you are a U.S. citizen and that your parent is in fact your parent. In the case of a mother all that is required to prove the parent-child relationship is a birth certificate showing that she is your mother. It is a bit more difficult in the case of a father. If your father was married to your mother at the time of your birth you must submit your birth certificate showing his name listed as your father, his marriage certificate to your mother, and if either your father or mother had a prior marriage, proof that the prior marriage was ended either by death or divorce. If your father was not married to your mother at the time of your birth it becomes even more complicated. In this case you can establish the father-child relationship in one of two ways. Either you can show that you are a “legitimated” child, or if you were not legitimated you can still establish the father-child relationship by proving that your father is your natural father and that you and he had a “bona fide” father-child relationship while you were unmarried and under 21 years old.
You can show that you were legitimated by showing that your parents were married before you turned 18, or that you were legitimated under the laws of the country or state of your domicile or of your father’s domicile. If you cannot prove that you were legitimated you can still get a visa for your father by proving that he is your natural father, which usually involves DNA tests, and that he had a “bona fide”, or authentic, father-child relationship with you while you were still unmarried and under the age of 21. If you are far over the age of 21 gathering evidence from long ago can be challenging, but it is not impossible. If there is no “primary evidence” available, “secondary evidence” can be used. If nothing else, you can use sworn statements from people who knew your family when you were unmarried and under 21 and can attest to the fact that your father took an active part in your life when you were growing up.
If your parent is not in the United States you will file the I-130 form with this proof of your parent-child relationship as a “stand alone” I-130 with USCIS. Assuming that your parent is outside the United States, this I-130 form will be adjudicated by USCIS and sent on to the National Visa Center, of “NVC”. If your parent is in the United States and entered the U.S. legally you will follow a process called “adjustment of status”, which will be discussed separately. This article discusses how to bring a parent who is overseas. Once the I-130 is sent to the NVC you will pay fees for the affidavit of support and the immigrant visa online. After that you will have to fill out the DS-260, Immigrant Visa Application online. After that you will be asked to submit civil documents to the NVC, including your and your parents’ birth certificates, marriage and divorce certificates, military records, any arrest or conviction records, etc. When all of these civil documents have been filed you will be asked to submit an affidavit of support along with copies of your most recently filed tax returns with W-2 forms and proof of current income.
When all of these documents have been filed with the NVC’s online system, which is called the Consular Electronic Processing System, the case will be called “documentarily qualified” and sent on to the U.S. consulate in your parents’ country of residence to be scheduled for an interview. If all goes well at the interview, your mother or father will be granted an immigrant visa to come to the United States.
If your parent is present in the United States and entered the U.S. legally, you may file the I-130 form along with an I-485 Application to Adjust Status to That of Permanent Resident with USCIS. This process is called “adjustment of status”. With these applications you will file all of the documentation mentioned above in addition to proof of your parents’ legal entry to the United States, current passport and birth certificate. An I-864 Affidavit of Support will also have to be filed along with financial documentation. Your parent will then be called for an interview at the local office of USCIS where a decision will be rendered on your application.
Can I bring my child to the United States?
Both United States citizens and legal permanent residents of the U.S. can obtain immigrant visas for their children to immigrate to the United States. Unmarried children of U.S. citizens who are under the age of 21 are considered “immediate relatives of U.S. citizens” and there is no waiting list for their applications. All other children of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents are called “preference category relatives”. These relatives must wait on a list for their visa applications to be approved.
Adult Children who are over the age of 21 or married are called “Sons or daughters”, not “children” in the language of immigration. Sons and daughters of U.S. citizens can be petitioned for, but they go on a waiting list. Legal permanent residents of the U.S. may file visa applications for their unmarried children under 21 but these children must also wait on a list to get visas. Legal permanent residents of the U.S. may only file visa petitions for their unmarried children who are under 21. They may not file petitions for “sons and daughters”, that is, children who “age out” by turning 21, or who are married. If a legal permanent resident files a petition for his or her unmarried child or son or daughter and that child marries before immigrating to the U.S., he or she becomes ineligible for a visa.
Natural children, stepchildren and adopted children are all considered to be children for immigration purposes, and all of them may be petitioned for. However, for a stepchild to qualify for a visa, the marriage which created the stepchild relationship must have occurred before the child’s 18th birthday.
Children who were born within a marriage are considered “legitimate” children for immigration purposes. Those born when their parents were not married are called “illegitimate” in immigration language. The mother of a child can always petition for that child, whether legitimate or illegitimate. The father, however, must either have been married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth, or he must prove that the child is his through “legitimation” or by other means. This can be a complicated process. If you are the father of a child born out of wedlock (or, “nonmarital child”) and wish to petition for that child, you should consult an experienced immigration lawyer before proceeding.
As with all other visa applicants, children or sons and daughters who entered the U.S. legally and who have not accrued any unlawful presence or other inadmissibility may adjust their status within the United States, without going back to their own country to get their visas. The only exception to this rule is that unmarried children of U.S. citizens who entered the U.S. legally can adjust their status within the U.S. even if they have accrued some unlawful presence. This is because unlawful presence is waived for “immediate relatives” of U.S. citizens. Unlawful presence is not waived for children of legal permanent residents or any other category of relatives.
What if my child turns 21 years old before he or she immigrates to the United States?Can I bring my child to the United States?
A child of a U.S. citizen is only an “immediate relative” of that U.S. citizen while he or she is under the age of 21. Once a child turns 21 he becomes a “preference category relative”, called a “son or daughter of a U.S. citizen”. Because preference category relatives must wait on a list to receive visas, whereas immediate relatives of U.S. citizens do not have to wait, time can be of the essence in deciding when to file immigrant visa petitions for children. Also, unmarried children under 21 of U.S. permanent residents wait on a list that is usually much shorter than the waiting list for sons and daughters of permanent residents who are over the age of 21.
If a child of a U.S. citizen was petitioned for while he or she was under the age of 21, that child’s age is locked in as of the day the I-130 immigrant visa petition is filed. This means that even if the child “ages out” by turning 21 before arriving in the U.S. he is still treated as if he were under 21 years old for immigration purposes. This is true for natural children, step-children or adopted children of U.S. citizens. This is a great advantage for children of U.S. citizens. It means that once the petition is filed age is not a factor in the case.
However, this is not true for children of legal permanent residents of the United States. A complicated formula is applied to determine whether these children “age out” of eligibility for a visa or not. The age of the child of a legal permanent resident for purposes of immigration is determined by subtracting the number of days the visa petition has been pending before it was approved from the child’s age on the date that the visa becomes available. Determining the date the visa becomes available can also be a complicated process. Because of this it is best to consult an experienced immigration lawyer if your child is anywhere near aging out of eligibility for a visa.
It is always possible to request that an application be expedited if you are in danger of an age out. Again, it is best to consult an immigration attorney if you are in this situation.