My brother's green card expired, and father is US citizen living outside US. Can he sponsor my brother?

[courageous girl 0]

Hi all friends

Plz help me in the following scenario:

My brother's green card expired, and father is US citizen living outside US. Can he sponsor my brother?

Brother is married now and has a kid. He lived in US around 8 years back, and had green card. Then he shifted to Pakistan 8 years back, and never went to US since then. His green card is expired. Our father is a US citizen, living in Pakistan, and went to US just for 2 months 3 years back.

Plz let me know which way to consider for my brother to go to US again?

He applied for green card expiry but ISB embassy rejected application.

Can my father sponsor my brother while living in Pakistan? (In case my brother decides to let go of his expired green card and file a new application under immediate relative category?) I am asking because my father can visit US for few months for applying for my brother. Will he have to stay in US till petition is approved? Or can he come back to Pakistan? Also plz let me know the wait time for the application to be processed completely. Thanks a lot!

[Hypnos 6,576]

The father can petition his son under the F3 family preference category; it will be approximately an eleven year wait for your brother's priority date to become current.

Your father would need to show that he is resuming his US domicile before your brother would be granted his immigrant visa. If your father does not intend to permanently return to the US either with your brother or before then then your brother's visa would be denied.

Your father can file the I-130 now from Pakistan and then wait out the eleven years in Pakistan or anywhere else he wishes.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Hypnos

[Ian H. 207]

I agree with Hypnos. It's a long wait since he already abandoned his status he has to start from scratch. At least under F3 category he would be able to bring his wife and children.

[courageous girl 0]

Hi Hypnos

Thanks a lot for ur comment.

Kindly clarify following:

1- "Your father would need to show that he is resuming his US domicile before your brother would be granted his immigrant visa. If your father does not intend to permanently return to the US either with your brother or before then then your brother's visa would be denied."

By this do u mean, after my father files the Petition for my brother, he has to return to US just before my brother's case is near completion? What do u mean by "with my brother"?

2- Also, Is there any way that my brother can enter US other than the 11 years wait? For example, if my father meets any Congressman or Mayor and explains to him that my brother had to go to Pakistan because his father fell sick in Pakistan (my father is handicapped now after sickness). So is there any chance that my father can prove that my brother was out of US only because my handicapped father's help, and now he wants to return permanently to US with my father? Will any Congressman or Mayor help in this case?

[courageous girl 0]

Ian, thanku v much. Isn't there any way that my brother can get his Expired Green card renewed? Especially if my father talks personally to some Congressman/ Mayor and let them know the exceptional situation that my father is handicapped US national, and he needs to return to US, and he needs his son's presence in US? So that his son's case may be speeded up? And green card be renewed? Possible?

[courageous girl 0]

Hi all friends

Plz help me in the following scenario:

My brother's US Green card has expired since around 8 years and he lives now in Pakistan. Our father is US citizen living in Pakistan as well , but visits US frequently to visit his other US national children in US.

Is there any way that my brother can enter US again, other than the 11 years wait of my father sponsoring my brother from scratch?

For example, if my father meets any Congressman or Mayor and explains to him that my brother had to go to Pakistan because his father fell sick in Pakistan (my father is handicapped now after sickness). So is there any chance that my father can prove that my brother was out of US only because my handicapped father needed help, and now he wants to return permanently to US with my father? Will any Congressman or Mayor help in this case? To get his 8 year expired Green Card renewal? How can my brother enter US again? Kindly help!

[canadian_wife 1,791]

A mayor is local government, the won't do much. Senator/Congressman are federal so they are the ones to contact.

Now, can they actually help? I think that depends on how much you've already done. Have you contacted the US consulate in Pakistan already? That might be your first step

good luck

[nobbie 105]

sounds like a start again to me after 8 years, could be wrong though

[kzielu 1,147]

There isn't even a process that they would help with - his residence has been abandoned long ago, need to start over.

[courageous girl 0]

A mayor is local government, the won't do much. Senator/Congressman are federal so they are the ones to contact.

Now, can they actually help? I think that depends on how much you've already done. Have you contacted the US consulate in Pakistan already? That might be your first step

good luck

Yes, my brother contacted the embassy in Islamabad but they refused to renew the expired Green card.

So do Congressmen help in such cases where request is made to make an exception to the general rule of rejecting an expired green card application?

Should my US national father meet a congressman to explain his medical condition and request to make a special exception for my brother to get his green card renewed? (Please note my other siblings also live in US as US nationals. But no one can sponsor my brother due to financial limitations.)

[courageous girl 0]

There isn't even a process that they would help with - his residence has been abandoned long ago, need to start over.

Hi Kzielu

Thanks! So that means no Congressmen would accept such a request from my US national handicapped father for his son? Only the long route of sponsoring the son from scratch has to be followed?

1- Also plz tell: in case my father wants to start my brother's process from scratch by filing Petition 130, will my father have to move to US? or can he do while staying in Pakistan? Also, what financial resources of supporting my brother do my father have to declare? My father has no property in US. But only in Pakistan.

2- Also my father's other children are US nationals in US. Which is faster process? My father sponsoring my brother or other siblings in US sponsoring my brother? My brother is married with a kid.

[Phillip Kazuto 28]

It is no use to contact the congressmen for help , it needs to start over.

To answer your question ,

1. Your father don't have to be in US to petition him but he must show that he is tied to US.

A U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident petitioner who is not domiciled in the United States can not sponsor. The law requires that sponsors be domiciled in any of the states of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States.

He can show that by declaring that he has properties and he is temporarily in Pakistan, etc.

I'm afraid that he will have to be in US in this situation , please provide more info so we can help like his Employment status , properties..etc

2. IF he is over 21 then the processing time will be long and as you mentioned he is married and has a kid. Having your father petition him will be marginally faster ( slightly faster ) but still it will take around 10 years.

He can get his wife and his kid with him to the US , make sure to add them to the derivatives so they can get follow to join benefits.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Phillip Wu

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

You father must also be filing US income taxes. If he isn't it may just be better for a sibling petition.

[kzielu 1,147]

Hi Kzielu

Thanks! So that means no Congressmen would accept such a request from my US national handicapped father for his son? Only the long route of sponsoring the son from scratch has to be followed?

1- Also plz tell: in case my father wants to start my brother's process from scratch by filing Petition 130, will my father have to move to US? or can he do while staying in Pakistan? Also, what financial resources of supporting my brother do my father have to declare? My father has no property in US. But only in Pakistan.

2- Also my father's other children are US nationals in US. Which is faster process? My father sponsoring my brother or other siblings in US sponsoring my brother? My brother is married with a kid.

First there is no request to make. Second, congressmen sometimes can speed things up, but not help with the case when person is not eligible for a benefit. Your father being handicapped here does not matter at all, even less if he doesn't live in US. If embassy already refused, there is nothing that he can do - rules for maintaining residence are pretty clear.

1. Family petitions are to unite family. If your father does not live in US, there is no family to unite sending petition in this case is kind of pointless. Your father would have to have US domicile, has to prove he has filing US taxes with IRS (as any US citizen is supposed to regardless of where he/she lives) and have sufficient income to sponsor him (or find a cosponsor).

2. Sibling petitions are definitely slower, although visas for children of US citizens aren't fast by any means.

[Hypnos 6,576]

1) These types of immigrant visa are for the purpose of family reunification inside the US. If your father remained in Pakistan whilst your brother went to America, that wouldn't be family reunification. As I said, your father would need to be able to show that he has or will have resumed his US domicile before the embassy would issue a visa to your brother.

2) Your brother could apply for an SB-1 returning resident visa, but these are extremely difficult to obtain. He would need to be able to demonstrate that not only was it always his intention to return to the US, but that the reasons that prevented him from doing so were beyond his control and could not be anticipated. If his SB-1 was somehow approved he would be able to enter the US and would receive a new green card automatically. As I said, an SB-1 is extremely difficult to obtain, and the vast majority of applications are denied.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Hypnos