My wifes family

[TimandYasya 0]

My new question is about my wife's family. I want to bring my wife's Father, Mother and little brother to America. My wife has told me that she has read its not possible. My wife is currently in the process of changing her status to perm res. Is it true that I cannot sponsor there immigration even though they are now legally my family? I was thinking I only had to pay the $420 per person and file the paperwork. Any help would be great!!!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

She has to do it and she'll need to wait until she's a USC. It'll take a year for her parents once she's a USC but her brother will take 10+ years if she files (can be up to 23 years depending on the country). Once here parents are here they can apply for USC in 5 years and then petition the son. How long that takes depends on his age and marital status at the time they file.

Here is the visa bulletin page: http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html Click on the current one.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

She has to do it and she'll need to wait until she's a USC. It'll take a year for her parents once she's a USC but her brother will take 10+ years if she files (can be up to 23 years depending on the country). Once here parents are here they can apply for USC in 5 years and then petition the son. How long that takes depends on his age and marital status at the time they file.

Here is the visa bulletin page: http://travel.state....letin_1360.html Click on the current one.

I agree on most the info. One of the parent can petition the child if they are not married before becoming a US Citizen. This can be done the day they enter the USA.

[TimandYasya 0]

I agree on most the info. One of the parent can petition the child if they are not married before becoming a US Citizen. This can be done the day they enter the USA.

How is that possible? How can the parents come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind? Is there a way to bring them here and file of an adjustment of status similar to how my wife is doing it? I don't understand how it can take five years to reunite a family.

[aaron2020 11,651]

My new question is about my wife's family. I want to bring my wife's Father, Mother and little brother to America. My wife has told me that she has read its not possible. My wife is currently in the process of changing her status to perm res. Is it true that I cannot sponsor there immigration even though they are now legally my family? I was thinking I only had to pay the $420 per person and file the paperwork. Any help would be great!!!

While I understand your sentiments. You married your wife. You are legally obligated to care for her. You did not marry her family in the legal sense. You have no legal obligation to care for them. Legally, there is no familial connection that would allow you to make any legal decisions for them. Therefore, there is no legal family relationship that is recognized by the US government that would allow you to petition for them.

Your wife can petition for her family when she becomes a US citizen.

How is that possible? How can the parents come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind? Is there a way to bring them here and file of an adjustment of status similar to how my wife is doing it? I don't understand how it can take five years to reunite a family.

The law allows a US citizen to petition for a parent immediately. There is nothing that allows a US citizen to petition immediately for sibling. In the US, you really are not your brother's keeper. You are never legally responsible for your brother or sister.

Your wife is an adult. She married you so the two of you can establish your own family. She is not legally responsible for her brother. Her parents are responsible for her brother. It is their choice to immigrate to the US. They can come without their son, or they can choose not to immigrate and stay with their son.

No one is forcing your wife's parents "to come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind." It's a choice if they want to immigrate to the US to pursue the American dream. They can stay united in their home country. Your wife is an independent adult. She has a husband. She doesn't need her parents to care for her. She choose to leave them to immigrate to the US to be with you. If she didn't want to break up her family, then she shouldn't have immigrated to the US and you could have immigrated to her country. There are choices people make in immigrating to the US. Married children leaving their parents is natural in all cultures.

If we allow a new permanent resident to bring over their entire extended family immediately, you can image the impact on people who are similarly situated to you. Every new LPR spouse would want her/his US citizen spouse to bring over the entire family. This could create pressure in a new marriage - we see that sending money home already creates a few problems in these marriages. In addition, the incentive for fraudulent marriages to bring the entire family over would probably increase. Easier to dump the stupid American immediately if the entire family is already here.

Additionally, the US lets in 1,000,000 new immigrants every year. If we allow every new LPR bride to bring her family over, then the number would probably explode to 2-3 million. We can't absorb that many people every year economically.

Your wife can eventually bring her entire family over, she just doesn't have the option to bring them all over immediately with her.

Edited January 14, 2012 by aaron2020

[aleful 1,905]

While I understand your sentiments. You married your wife. You are legally obligated to care for her. You did not marry her family in the legal sense. You have no legal obligation to care for them. Legally, there is no familial connection that would allow you to make any legal decisions for them. Therefore, there is no legal family relationship that is recognized by the US government that would allow you to petition for them.

Your wife can petition for her family when she becomes a US citizen.

The law allows a US citizen to petition for a parent immediately. There is nothing that allows a US citizen to petition immediately for sibling. In the US, you really are not your brother's keeper. You are never legally responsible for your brother or sister.

Your wife is an adult. She married you so the two of you can establish your own family. She is not legally responsible for her brother. Her parents are responsible for her brother. It is their choice to immigrate to the US. They can come without their son, or they can choose not to immigrate and stay with their son.

No one is forcing your wife's parents "to come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind." It's a choice if they want to immigrate to the US to pursue the American dream. They can stay united in their home country. Your wife is an independent adult. She has a husband. She doesn't need her parents to care for her. She choose to leave them to immigrate to the US to be with you. If she didn't want to break up her family, then she shouldn't have immigrated to the US and you could have immigrated to her country. There are choices people make in immigrating to the US. Married children leaving their parents is natural in all cultures.

If we allow a new permanent resident to bring over their entire extended family immediately, you can image the impact on people who are similarly situated to you. Every new LPR spouse would want her/his US citizen spouse to bring over the entire family. This could create pressure in a new marriage - we see that sending money home already creates a few problems in these marriages. In addition, the incentive for fraudulent marriages to bring the entire family over would probably increase. Easier to dump the stupid American immediately if the entire family is already here.

Additionally, the US lets in 1,000,000 new immigrants every year. If we allow every new LPR bride to bring her family over, then the number would probably explode to 2-3 million. We can't absorb that many people every year economically.

Your wife can eventually bring her entire family over, she just doesn't have the option to bring them all over immediately with her.

ditto, well said.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

How is that possible? How can the parents come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind? Is there a way to bring them here and file of an adjustment of status similar to how my wife is doing it? I don't understand how it can take five years to reunite a family.

One option is for your wife to petition for her brother when she is a USC, and only to petition for the parents when the brother's petition is almost ready. That way brother and parents can stay together, and immigrate together. But it does mean the parents will have to wait a long time for their American dream. A hard choice to make, for sure.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My new question is about my wife's family. I want to bring my wife's Father, Mother and little brother to America. My wife has told me that she has read its not possible. My wife is currently in the process of changing her status to perm res. Is it true that I cannot sponsor there immigration even though they are now legally my family? I was thinking I only had to pay the $420 per person and file the paperwork. Any help would be great!!!

Your wife can sponsor her mother and father when she becomes a citizen. She can also sponsor her brother. Her mother and father should eb abel to come within one year of when she files for them but her brother could end up waiting 5-7 years for a visa number. Your wife will be able to become a citizen about 4 years from when she arrives, maybe a little sooner depending how prompt you file everything.

they are NOT "legally your family"

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

How is that possible? How can the parents come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind? Is there a way to bring them here and file of an adjustment of status similar to how my wife is doing it? I don't understand how it can take five years to reunite a family.

I guess they cannot. That is their choice. They are not entitled to any immigration benefits from you, ever, and typically when parents are petitioned it is long after children are an issue.

My wife will be a citizen next month and will petition her mother after that, her mother is in her 70s. No children to leave behind by that time.

there is no family TO "reunite" your wife is an adult and the US government is under no obligation to allow her to reunite with her family after she made a deision as an adult to leave them in Ukraine. Adults make their own decisions and live their own lives.

If you were under some impression that your marriage allowed you to bring all of them, you were wrong.

[bigdog 376]

Unfortunately you do not get all the immigration box of toys at one time. Everyone has a waiting period, the government schedule is not our schedule, ever.

[easyriders2011 14]

Your wife could also petition both parents and then have them return individually to be with their son for intervals of several months and then swap out so they retain their 'in country status' for counting the number of months the parents have been LPR's. They can be gone out of the country for up to a year I believe, but I may be wrong on the exact time amount and still have the total time count towards their USC eligibility.

More expensive but it gets the parents here and their USC clock countdown started, who can then petition their son sooner within a few years of their arrival. Or she could just petition one of them allow the mom to get her USC then she could petition both of them simultaneously.

All of these are much faster options than the wife trying to bring over a sibling.

Edited January 15, 2012 by easyriders2011

[ceadsearc 516]

Going back and forth like that for years would make it hard to maintain residency as it is not only about time out of the country.

Allowing family members of USCs to immigrate is a favor to the USC, not the immigrant. Your wife can come as a favor to you. When she is a USC her parents can come as a favor to her. When they are USCs their kids can come as a favor to them.

[scotinmass 588]

My USC wife brought me here. Imagine if I could bring my family. I might bring both my parents and my sister and her husband and their 9 children. The older children might bring their girlfriends over and then they might want to bring their parents and siblings and so it goes on. Then from one immigrant it increases to 20 or 30 people. There isn't room for everyone so they have to draw the line at immediate family members of USCs.

If there is a cultural thing in some countries where families stick together and support each other then the USC should immigrate to their spouse's country and keep the family together that way.

[scotinmass 588]

Going back and forth like that for years would make it hard to maintain residency as it is not only about time out of the country.

Allowing family members of USCs to immigrate is a favor to the USC, not the immigrant. Your wife can come as a favor to you. When she is a USC her parents can come as a favor to her. When they are USCs their kids can come as a favor to them.

Yes it's a privilege not a right. I am grateful to the US government for allowing me to live in this country with my wife. I'm not bitching that my family is on the other side of the Atlantic. It was my choice to come here.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

How is that possible? How can the parents come to America and have their 9 year old son stay behind? Is there a way to bring them here and file of an adjustment of status similar to how my wife is doing it? I don't understand how it can take five years to reunite a family.

It is not possible to get both parents and children here at the same time since the visa category does not allow it. There is not a way to bring them here and then have them adjust their status .. maybe in years to come.

IT does NOT take 5 years to reunite a family. Once your mom is here she CAN file the petition for the 9 year old child. The process will take 2-3 years which is 1/2 the time you were expecting. I know that no one is forcing your parents to come here and I hate when some of these hard @ss headed people say that as if it is Not obvious. That is why a case is created, a petition is filed because it is optional.. unnecessary comments i call it.

My mother has came and have filed a visa petition for her son, my brother (F2A). The petition was filed 1 year and 1 month ago and I'm sure that he would be interviewed and be given a visa in about 8-10 months time. The current processing cut off dates for the said category is June 8, 2009 and have been the preference category with the MOST consistent move for years.

If I had to make a suggestion i would file a petition for your MOTHER and when she gets here submit the case for her husband and child which could be processed together. Like my parents and many other who had green cards she can travel for a certain length of time to her country if she wants to be around her family.

If what I said was not clear and you have other questions.. please do not itch to ask a question.

Your wife could also petition both parents and then have them return individually to be with their son for intervals of several months and then swap out so they retain their 'in country status' for counting the number of months the parents have been LPR's. They can be gone out of the country for up to a year I believe, but I may be wrong on the exact time amount and still have the total time count towards their USC eligibility.

More expensive but it gets the parents here and their USC clock countdown started, who can then petition their son sooner within a few years of their arrival. Or she could just petition one of them allow the mom to get her USC then she could petition both of them simultaneously.

All of these are much faster options than the wife trying to bring over a sibling.