Greencard for children without entering the US???

[pastalover 0]

My fiance and I are planning on filing for his K1 visa. We went ahead and contacted a lawyer regarding our case, and we were given some confusing answers.

My fiance has 3 children home in Canada (9, 11, and 15 year old). The problem is that they are living with his ex-wife in Canada. He has joint custody of them, yet his ex-wife has primary guardianship of them. Therefore, they will continue to live in Canada, unless something unexpected happens. Our lawyer told us that we can file for my fiance's K1 visa, that when he adjusts his status, we can also apply for the children's greencards at the same time... without them even having to enter the US. The lawyer mentioned that they would have to go see the consolate in Canada, but issuing them greencards should not be a problem... even if they never use them to come to the US..

It is important to us that they are able to come to the US to live, just incase there is ever an emergency in Canada (IE: death or illness of their mother) Also, we want to make sure that if they ever want to come to the US later in life to work, or to go to college, that they'll be able to do so without having the hassle of going through the immigration process. It is likely that they may never use their greencards, but we want to afford them whatever benefits they are legally entitled to..

So my question is: Is it possible for his children to get greencards, considering that they will be staying in Canada? Has anyone else experienced this situation?

Thanks. All answers are appreciated.

Edited June 23, 2008 by pastalover

[pushbrk 13,767]

My fiance and I are planning on filing for his K1 visa. We went ahead and contacted a lawyer regarding our case, and we were given some confusing answers.

My fiance has 3 children home in Canada (9, 11, and 15 year old). The problem is that they are living with his ex-wife in Canada. He has joint custody of them, yet his ex-wife has primary guardianship of them. Therefore, they will continue to live in Canada, unless something unexpected happens. Our lawyer told us that we can file for my fiance's K1 visa, that when he adjusts his status, we can also apply for the children's greencards at the same time... without them even having to enter the US. The lawyer mentioned that they would have to go see the consolate in Canada, but issuing them greencards should not be a problem... even if they never use them to come to the US..

It is important to us that they are able to come to the US to live, just incase there is ever an emergency in Canada (IE: death or illness of their mother) Also, we want to make sure that if they ever want to come to the US later in life to work, or to go to college, that they'll be able to do so without having the hassle of going through the immigration process. It is likely that they may never use their greencards, but we want to afford them whatever benefits they are legally entitled to..

So my question is: Is it possible for his children to get greencards, considering that they will be staying in Canada? Has anyone else experienced this situation?

Thanks. All answers are appreciated.

Even with an immigrant visa, one must enter the USA before receiving a green card. It signifies permanent resident status and requires actual residence, the first step of which is to enter the USA. I think your lawyer's full of smoke.

[Zee Bee 61]

Your finace's children cannot get a greencard just because their father entered the US on a K1 and filed AOS. In this case they would need to have a K2 visa, enter the US, file AOS and then get the greencards. During that process they would have to be living in the US and intend to make the US their home.

A greencard is for permanent residents of the US. Unless the kids are going to live here, getting a greencard is really not going to help them.

If the time comes that they would need to move here permanently, you would need to file for the appropriate visa to get them to live here.

[pastalover 0]

That is what I was worried about. I figured that since the lawyer mentioned it, I would check here to see how other people faired at such endeavors. However, I wasn't able to find anything even remotely resembling this scenario. Surely there are other people who immigrated to the US that have children from a divorce, and would like to pass on any derivative benefits that they could... but no finding.

Are you absolutely sure there is no way they can get greencards without coming to the US? What can we do to make sure that if something ever happens that they'll be able to come to the US??

[Heliosphan 1]

Have your fiance work on getting naturalized. It'll be easier to bring the kids here.

[pushbrk 13,767]

That is what I was worried about. I figured that since the lawyer mentioned it, I would check here to see how other people faired at such endeavors. However, I wasn't able to find anything even remotely resembling this scenario. Surely there are other people who immigrated to the US that have children from a divorce, and would like to pass on any derivative benefits that they could... but no finding.

Are you absolutely sure there is no way they can get greencards without coming to the US? What can we do to make sure that if something ever happens that they'll be able to come to the US??

There is no way to "make sure that if something ever happens that they'll be able to come to the US" permanently. They can come to the US to visit as they wish. To immigrate, they go through whatever immigration process is appropriate for them at the time.

[Dakine 26]

Lawyer is smoking "something" other than tobacco!!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

A green card gives government permission to live and work in the US permanently. If they are not living in the US, then they cannot get a green card. In fact, if a green card holder stops living in the US, they lose their permanent residency and their right to have a greencard. The two are tied together and go hand-in-hand. The children should be allowed to visit without any real difficulties, especially as Canada and the US enjoy a special relationship as neighbours. Hopefully nothing dire will happen to their mother but unfortunately there is no real way to cross that immigration bridge before you get to it.