Adding A Child Mid-Process?

[CasiCassie 0]

Hey community,

I feel like I already know the answer to this, but I figured I'd ask...

My husband and I have already turned in our I-130's and are waiting to hear back from the USCIS for their transfer of our case to the NVC in-country (July 5th). When we applied, we had discussed putting his daughter onto the application so that things would be smoother in the long run. However, things with her mom were stable and her mom already had plans to keep her in school in that country and travel with her on a tourist visa at the end of this year.

Well, in the last 3 weeks, that changed. Now there is discussion of the daughter coming to live with us, which is wonderful. Except for trying to figure out what that means for our visa process. So my questions.....

1.) There is no possible way to add her to our process now that we're in already in progress, is there (without causing a major delay in his process)? To clarify, we can't just add her on the affidavit, without her name being included on the initial I-130 application, right?

2.) How long until we can begin her processes?

3.) And once we're in the States can we use DCF for her, or does it have to be through mailing things in?

Thanks in advance!

[A'n'L 735]

You can start her process immediately. Follow the guide here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/childpet

[Penguin_ie 5,985]

You can't file DCF once you are in the USA.

However, since you have not had your interview yet, I would contact the US embassy and ask if you can send the I-130 and other docs for the child now, and have it "meet up" with the spousal case. This being DCF, it may not delay the case more than a week or two, and would make the overall process much smoother.

[CasiCassie 0]

Oh wow. Okay, I'm going to look into this. Thank you guys very much!!

[dekedwin 52]

This is somewhat like our situation. I am the US Citizen Petitioning for my Philippine Citizen wife to move with me to the USA in a few month. We decided that we want to take her thirteen year old son with us. Only his mother is listed on his birth certificate, so we don't need permission from anyone to bring him. What is the procedure that we need to follow to Petition him, are the fees the same amount of money as those for my wife? What forms do we need to fill out, and how do we go about it and what do we do. Thank you very much!