Suggestions for Getting Nephew of Finacee to US

[Charles C 0]

I am seeking suggestions for getting the nephew of my financee from Honduras to the US. Approaches and advice appreciated!

A bit of background... My fiancee is nearing the completion of her K-1 visa process. We will be coming to the US early in 2012 and her two minor daughters (15, 16 yrs.) will join us. All is fine there, we just need to grind through the K-1 process. However, her 3 year old nephew lives with us in Honduras and we are his primary care-givers. He was born with a both defect (now corrected) but we are essentially his parents. His mother (her sister) is alive and fine with us raising him in our house. She does not want us to adopt him (very difficult in Honduras) but she is willing the let him come to live in the US with us. So with this in mind, what might be the most efficient way to get Moises (the nephew) to the US?

It is possible for us to have Moises travel back and forth (with us, of course) periodically - we do not need to get him citizenship. We just want to have him continue in our home regardless if we are in the US or Honduras (we maintain homes in both countries). This is a matter of the heart... thanks for any ideas!

Charles

[Anh map 2,098]

There is no path for a person to petition a nephew.

[Penguin_ie 5,987]

Adoption for immigration would be very difficult anyways...

The problem is there is no relative immigration visa, not a "long term living in the USA" visa and I am not sure they would grant a 3 year old any other visa by himself. A B2 tourist visa would allow him 6 months in the USA, but he'd then need to spend at least that amount of time back in Honduras, and I am not sure a 3 year old would be granted such a visa. A F1 visa would be suitable for studying in the USA once he reaches school age, but not before.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The only path to petition a nephew is to bring the sister. You must first be a USC ( AOS+ 3 years so about 4 years from now ) then wait for a visa number to be available ( 10ish years from the above) By then the child will be nearly an adult. You could try for an F1 visa for schooling but they are rarely given to grade schoolers and would only be good for private schooling. You could try for a visitors visa but you have to show non immigrant intent and they would max out at 6 months a year. Maybe the best thing would be to use some of the US dollars you will soon be making to make sure he is taken care of there. I know that is the best we can do as our money goes so much furhter there.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

post posted twice

Edited August 14, 2011 by NigeriaorBust

[canuckbos 10]

I am seeking suggestions for getting the nephew of my financee from Honduras to the US. Approaches and advice appreciated!

A bit of background... My fiancee is nearing the completion of her K-1 visa process. We will be coming to the US early in 2012 and her two minor daughters (15, 16 yrs.) will join us. All is fine there, we just need to grind through the K-1 process. However, her 3 year old nephew lives with us in Honduras and we are his primary care-givers. He was born with a both defect (now corrected) but we are essentially his parents. His mother (her sister) is alive and fine with us raising him in our house. She does not want us to adopt him (very difficult in Honduras) but she is willing the let him come to live in the US with us. So with this in mind, what might be the most efficient way to get Moises (the nephew) to the US?

It is possible for us to have Moises travel back and forth (with us, of course) periodically - we do not need to get him citizenship. We just want to have him continue in our home regardless if we are in the US or Honduras (we maintain homes in both countries). This is a matter of the heart... thanks for any ideas!

Charles

Your case is complex. To truly do it justice I think a good lawyer would be in order. Emphasis on "good."

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Your case is complex. To truly do it justice I think a good lawyer would be in order. Emphasis on "good."

I beg to differ. Their case is not complex at all. There's no family immigration visa category for a nephew, and even the best immigration attorney isn't going to be able to create one. The other common non-immigrant options have already been pointed out, as well as the likelihood of getting any of those visas and the disadvantages of each. The only things that haven't been pointed out are those that have very little chance of success, such as a refugee/asylum application or a private relief bill filed by a US Senator or Congressman.

There's no harm in the OP consulting with an immigration attorney, but they shouldn't get the impression that this is something that an immigration attorney can fix (even a very good immigration attorney), and there are many attorneys who would be happy to promise them the moon and stars while separating them from all of their savings, and in the end deliver nothing.

[Charles C 0]

Well, none of this is very encouraging. But thank you for your comments. It seems odd to me that if there is a child with a medical condition and he requires extra care, there is no provision for getting them to the US. We will - of course - offer financial support if he is in Honduras, but the issue is more about the quality of the care he receives. This is very frustrating. I will continue to explore ideas, but as was pointed out, adoption is just not going to be possible. (Honduran law and mother's resistance.) If anyone has other ideas, I am all ears and eyes!

The "tourist" visa might be an option, even if we only get 6 months of the year. We plan to go back and forth part of the year in any case.

Charles... wife won't like this...

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Well, none of this is very encouraging. But thank you for your comments. It seems odd to me that if there is a child with a medical condition and he requires extra care, there is no provision for getting them to the US. We will - of course - offer financial support if he is in Honduras, but the issue is more about the quality of the care he receives. This is very frustrating. I will continue to explore ideas, but as was pointed out, adoption is just not going to be possible. (Honduran law and mother's resistance.) If anyone has other ideas, I am all ears and eyes!

The "tourist" visa might be an option, even if we only get 6 months of the year. We plan to go back and forth part of the year in any case.

Charles... wife won't like this...

Charles, it might help to see things in perspective. There are hundreds of millions of people around the world who are in desperate need of assistance. There are nearly 4 million in Somalia who are starving to death right now. Very few of these people would have any basis for immigrating to the United States, and frankly, the majority of Americans wouldn't want them to come here. It wouldn't benefit the United States or it's citizens in any way to invite millions of uneducated and unskilled people into the country just so they could be supported by the taxpayers. US humanitarian policy is to provide assistance to people in the countries where they live rather than handing them an immigrant visa and a green card.

US immigration policy is to provide immigration benefits to people in certain narrow qualification classes. Family based immigration is provided for close relatives, by blood or marriage, of US citizens and permanent residents. This includes qualifying parents, children, spouses, and siblings - members of the same family unit. It doesn't include aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, or anyone else further removed. The only way for these more distant relatives to immigrate is to first help a qualifying relative immigrate. For example, your fiancee could first become an LPR. When she's eligible she could become a US citizen. After that, she can petition for her sister. When her sister's priority date becomes current, her sister can come to the US and become an LPR. She can then file for her son. You see, it's possible, but because these visa categories have annual numerical limits it's going to take a very long time. Without those annual limits in place, the US would quickly be flooded with family based immigrants.

Your fiancee's family can try to get a B2 visa for her nephew. B2 visas are also available for people who need to come to the US for medical treatment, provided they have a financial sponsor. The stay is usually limited to six months, but an additional six month extension can be obtained if the treatment will require additional time. That's pretty much all her nephew might have a reasonable expectation of getting right now.

[Charles C 0]

Thank you for taking the time to write a thoughtful reply. I do understand the guidelines and principles behind the US immigration law, but it does't make it any easier to accept. Fundamentally, the US immigration policy seems flawed. And while I understand your case based on "millions of starving" people, this is not the same case. As a USC, and a business owner and relatively "successful" citizen of this country, anyone I bring here would not be a burden on the society. Would they be "contributors" to a greater America? Who knows... but Americans are not limited to the number of children they have if they are born here. There is no means testing for child birth. It seems restrictive that a capable family could not bring additional family to this country.

Of course we won't solve the immigration issues here, and we will need to live within the laws as they are set. But boy, oh boy... our country seems to have made a mess of this entire process! Thanks again for your thoughts.

Charles... more and more a libertarian every day...

Charles, it might help to see things in perspective.

<SNIP>

Your fiancee's family can try to get a B2 visa for her nephew. B2 visas are also available for people who need to come to the US for medical treatment, provided they have a financial sponsor. The stay is usually limited to six months, but an additional six month extension can be obtained if the treatment will require additional time. That's pretty much all her nephew might have a reasonable expectation of getting right now.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Well, none of this is very encouraging. But thank you for your comments. It seems odd to me that if there is a child with a medical condition and he requires extra care, there is no provision for getting them to the US. We will - of course - offer financial support if he is in Honduras, but the issue is more about the quality of the care he receives. This is very frustrating. I will continue to explore ideas, but as was pointed out, adoption is just not going to be possible. (Honduran law and mother's resistance.) If anyone has other ideas, I am all ears and eyes!

The "tourist" visa might be an option, even if we only get 6 months of the year. We plan to go back and forth part of the year in any case.

Charles... wife won't like this...

While a visitor visa may work for a while, it will not work indefinitely. Here are a couple of complications that your nephew could face;

He could be refused entry into the US because of excessive time in the US.

Visa extensions are not going to be granted forever.

What is going to happen when the child starts school? A child on a visitor visa cannot legally register for school.

What are your plans for medical insurance when his legal resident is outside the US?

Edited August 16, 2011 by Jojo92122

[canuckbos 10]

I beg to differ. Their case is not complex at all. There's no family immigration visa category for a nephew, and even the best immigration attorney isn't going to be able to create one. The other common non-immigrant options have already been pointed out, as well as the likelihood of getting any of those visas and the disadvantages of each. The only things that haven't been pointed out are those that have very little chance of success, such as a refugee/asylum application or a private relief bill filed by a US Senator or Congressman.

There's no harm in the OP consulting with an immigration attorney, but they shouldn't get the impression that this is something that an immigration attorney can fix (even a very good immigration attorney), and there are many attorneys who would be happy to promise them the moon and stars while separating them from all of their savings, and in the end deliver nothing.

[/quot

I agree lawyers can't change the law but they may be able to do all the research this case may need to sort through the legalities of possibilities. That's what I meant.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Thank you for taking the time to write a thoughtful reply. I do understand the guidelines and principles behind the US immigration law, but it does't make it any easier to accept. Fundamentally, the US immigration policy seems flawed. And while I understand your case based on "millions of starving" people, this is not the same case. As a USC, and a business owner and relatively "successful" citizen of this country, anyone I bring here would not be a burden on the society. Would they be "contributors" to a greater America? Who knows... but Americans are not limited to the number of children they have if they are born here. There is no means testing for child birth. It seems restrictive that a capable family could not bring additional family to this country.

Of course we won't solve the immigration issues here, and we will need to live within the laws as they are set. But boy, oh boy... our country seems to have made a mess of this entire process! Thanks again for your thoughts.

Charles... more and more a libertarian every day...

I understand your frustration.

The government is walking a tightrope when it comes to financial ability to sponsor immigrants. They don't want to be accused of favoring the wealthy. On the other hand, the taxpayers deserve a guarantee that they won't be footing the bill to support other people's immigrant family members. They set the threshold at 125% of the poverty guidelines, which is sufficient to provide the guarantee the taxpayers require. They don't provide any additional benefit to people who exceed the minimum threshold, regardless of how wide a margin they exceed it by. This satisfies the requirement that the system does not unfairly favor the wealthy.

No man-made law is perfect, but we continue to revise it in an attempt to make it so. In a democratic republic we, the people, have some influence over how those laws are revised. It's taken 55 years for our immigration law to reach the state it's currently in, and yet it's far from perfect. Some people (like you) believe it's too restrictive because it won't accommodate your particular situation. Others (like myself) believe it's not restrictive enough because it sets limits to try to prevent fraud, and then provides numerous loopholes to circumvent the limits which fraudsters exploit to their benefit. Anyway, the current state of things is that a green card holder can petition for a spouse or children, subject to the annual numerical limits. A US citizen can petition for a parent, spouse or minor children without being subject to the annual numerical limits. A US citizen can also petition for adult children and siblings, subject to annual numerical limits. This is pretty much the extent of family based immigration.

Immigration law is very strict about who qualifies as a child for the purpose of immigration. A biological parent relationship is certainly enough to qualify a child. A step-parent lawfully married to a biological parent also qualifies a child, with the prerequisite that the biological parent marry the step-parent before the child is 18 years old. Beyond that, only an adoption which meets the criteria spelled out in the law would be sufficient to qualify the child. Being financially responsible for the child is not enough. Having been a proxy parent to the child, even for many years, is not enough. The law requires the parent to have absolute, irrevocable, and legally binding parental connection to the child. If there was an exception to this law then I personally know at least half a dozen immigrants who would have brought all of their nieces and nephews with them from Vietnam, and Vietnamese people tend to have large extended families. Heck, my own wife could have brought another dozen people with her.

Children born in the United States do not even deserve to be mentioned in this conversation. They are not immigrants. Their right to be here is covered by the US Constitution, and not immigration law.