20 year old child of US Citizen

[apple21 953]

I'm asking on behalf of my friend Ann: Filipino, currently 20 years old, single (unmarried) and with a baby.

Ann's father is a naturalized US citizen (by marriage to his US citizen wife) and is planning to file a petition for her this coming October 2012.

Scenario is: Ann's turning 21 on February 2013. If her father was able to file a petition for her this coming October, by the time its approved she'll be 21. Will that push her to the F1 category instead of IR?

And in case she gets retained on the IR category, will her baby be considered as her derivative?

Thanks in advance.

[Boiler 45,651]

The latter would be a no so better to for for F1.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Under the Child Status Protection Act, the processing time for the I-130 can be deducted from her biological age to arrive at her "CSPA age". Provided her CSPA age is under 21 then she will qualify as an immediate relative and a visa number will always be available for her.

I do not believe immediate relative petitions can include derivatives.

[apple21 953]

The latter would be a no so better to for for F1.

Sorry, please be more specific?

[Hypnos 6,576]

He meant that her child cannot be a beneficiary on the parent's I-130.

[Boiler 45,651]

No point her coming and leaving the child behind.

[apple21 953]

Under the Child Status Protection Act, the processing time for the I-130 can be deducted from her biological age to arrive at her "CSPA age". Provided her CSPA age is under 21 then she will qualify as an immediate relative and a visa number will always be available for her.

I believe processing time for I-130 could be anywhere between 10-12 months. Does that mean there's a chance she can be admitted to IR?

I do not believe immediate relative petitions can include derivatives.

So Ann has to be the one who would file for her baby's petition after she gets her green card? Baby would be under F2A, right?

[Hypnos 6,576]

As long as the petition is filed a reasonable amount of time before her 21st birthday then under the CSPA she will be fine.

Her child would have to have a separate I-130 filed on their behalf, by the mother, once her green card is approved. This would be under the F2A category and it would be an approximate two year wait until the child's priority date would become current.

Logistically, I'm not sure how she would be intending to do this. She would have to be separated from her child for two years, since she would have to live in the United States a majority of the time in order to maintain her green card.

Edited September 26, 2012 by Hypnos

[Boiler 45,651]

So she would abandon the child?

[apple21 953]

No point her coming and leaving the child behind.

yes I get your concern, but there's also a 16-YEAR waiting period on the Philippines' F1 category.

if ever granted IR visa, the baby will be in the care of Ann's boyfriend (the baby's father) and Ann's mother.

Edited September 26, 2012 by apple21

[Grant PDX 183]

It's extremely common in the Philippines when young single women have children for the grandparents of the baby to do a lot, if not a majority, of the raising of the baby. In my experience (20+ trips there) it's more common for the grandmother to raise the child than the mother, if the mother is relatively young and single.

Ann would not be "abandoning" the child. Although the US culture might see it this way, it's not the way the culture in the Philippines works. Ann, the baby, and Ann's mother and the rest of the family would see it as normal for grandma to do the primary job of raising the baby.

Many people I know who have come to the US do so without their children and later return for them. My now ex-wife came to the US with her 18 month old son when she came on her K-1 visa but that was against the wishes of my son's grandma and not the preference of my fiancee. It was only my insistence that made her bring him.

Different cultures have different cultural norms. We shouldn't judge others based on our norms if what they are doing is the norm for them.

[apple21 953]

It's extremely common in the Philippines when young single women have children for the grandparents of the baby to do a lot, if not a majority, of the raising of the baby. In my experience (20+ trips there) it's more common for the grandmother to raise the child than the mother, if the mother is relatively young and single.

Ann would not be "abandoning" the child. Although the US culture might see it this way, it's not the way the culture in the Philippines works. Ann, the baby, and Ann's mother and the rest of the family would see it as normal for grandma to do the primary job of raising the baby.

Many people I know who have come to the US do so without their children and later return for them. My now ex-wife came to the US with her 18 month old son when she came on her K-1 visa but that was against the wishes of my son's grandma and not the preference of my fiancee. It was only my insistence that made her bring him.

Different cultures have different cultural norms. We shouldn't judge others based on our norms if what they are doing is the norm for them.

THANK YOU sir!

[bigdog 376]

Good Luck.

[Tahoma 2,292]

Grant PDX...+1...

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The information in this thread about the CSPA is inaccurate. The beneficiary must be under 21 on the DAY THAT A VISA NUMBER BECOMES AVAILABLE. They can deduct any time that the petition was pending with USCIS; i.e., the difference between the priority date and the approval date, in order to determine their CSPA adjusted age ON THE DATE THAT A VISA NUMBER BECOMES AVAILABLE.

For family preference visa categories, a visa number becomes available when the priority date is current. For immediate relative visa categories a visa number is available the day the petition is received. This means that the beneficiary of an immediate relative petition effectively has their age locked on the day that USCIS receives the petition. It won't matter how long it takes for the petition to be approved, or when the beneficiary turns 21. They were under 21 when the petition was received so they retained their eligibility under CSPA.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that immediate relative categories do not allow for derivatives. Her child won't get a visa based on that petition.