Help Please: Bringing children over under K1 within 1 year of issuance

[puntagordabob 0]

Hi...our I-129F was approved on of March 9, 2006. Her K1 was approved April 26th,2006. Lucita has been going through the AOS status also...and from a online notice she has been approved just Friday.

We had been waiting for a land sale here in Florida before submitting the papers within the 1 year limit... Our children (I am their step-Dad which I know makes a difference in the eyes of the USCIS) are listed on the I-129F but due to our financial situation we feared complete denial if we didnt wait until the land sale was complete to file the additional papers to start their process that we have 1 year to start according to this site. My wife has been a foriegn worker in Mexico (she is from the Philippines) supporting her children (Lucita is widowed and her sister has taken care of the children) and even bought a house which is owned in Cavite free & clear on her own.... Im sure many of you know how many Filipinos & filipinas have been forced to work abroad to support their families.

NOW the land deal is closed (real estate market has been bad sadly)... and the 1 year time limit is virtually upon us....Lucita was approved April 26th, 2006 at the consulate for her K1..... we wish to file the papers for our children and would greatly appreciate any advice and the precise papers to file. We (after reading visajourney) believe the I-130 is the correct papers..... but Please help us be sure...and tell us anything that may be of help....

Thank you Kindly... Bob & Lucita.....

The names of the children and their ages:

Lea 16

Rachel 15

Russell 14

Randolph 13

Thank you much....

[raymaga 25]

If you listed all the children on the I-129F, then they would be eligible for K-2 Visas.

I listed my daughter on my I-129F, but she did not accompany me to the U.S. She came later as she wanted to finish school in Canada. We obtained her K-2 Visa within one year of my K-1 Visa.

The problem is that the K-2 Visa must be ISSUED (in hand), NOT just applied for, within 1 year of the K-1 Visa. I doubt very much that your wife would be able to finish the K-2 process before April 26th, 2007 (which would be 1 year from the date her K-1 was approved). You could, however, check with the Consulate where she was interviewed for her K-1 Visa to find out if her children's K-2 interviews could be done before the year is up.

So, unfortunately, your wife will now have to petition for her children under the "family class" of immigration. I do not know a whole lot about that process myself, but if you read the "Guides" and "FAQ" sections here on VJ, you will probably find the answers you need.

Good luck.

Edited February 19, 2007 by raymaga

[JenT 0]

When she achieves permanent residency, she can file for them:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/B1.pdf

[puntagordabob 0]

If you listed all the children on the I-129F, then they would be eligible for K-2 Visas.

I listed my daughter on my I-129F, but she did not accompany me to the U.S. She came later as she wanted to finish school in Canada. We obtained her K-2 Visa within one year of my K-1 Visa.

The problem is that the K-2 Visa must be ISSUED (in hand), NOT just applied for, within 1 year of the K-1 Visa. I doubt very much that your wife would be able to finish the K-2 process before April 26th, 2007 (which would be 1 year from the date her K-1 was approved). You could, however, check with the Consulate where she was interviewed for her K-1 Visa to find out if her children's K-2 interviews could be done before the year is up.

So, unfortunately, your wife will now have to petition for her children under the "family class" of immigration. I do not know a whole lot about that process myself, but if you read the "Guides" and "FAQ" sections here on VJ, you will probably find the answers you need.

Good luck.

What if we were to submit the K-2 papers anyways and get them into the system before the 1 year anniv? If we had submitted the papers 6 months ago there would have beena good chance they would not have been approved by then anyways!?

Also when she has her Adjustment of status completed, how long then would it take for her minor children? We dont want this to take too long...no more than at year at most (less would be better)

[JenT 0]

If you listed all the children on the I-129F, then they would be eligible for K-2 Visas.

I listed my daughter on my I-129F, but she did not accompany me to the U.S. She came later as she wanted to finish school in Canada. We obtained her K-2 Visa within one year of my K-1 Visa.

The problem is that the K-2 Visa must be ISSUED (in hand), NOT just applied for, within 1 year of the K-1 Visa. I doubt very much that your wife would be able to finish the K-2 process before April 26th, 2007 (which would be 1 year from the date her K-1 was approved). You could, however, check with the Consulate where she was interviewed for her K-1 Visa to find out if her children's K-2 interviews could be done before the year is up.

So, unfortunately, your wife will now have to petition for her children under the "family class" of immigration. I do not know a whole lot about that process myself, but if you read the "Guides" and "FAQ" sections here on VJ, you will probably find the answers you need.

Good luck.

What if we were to submit the K-2 papers anyways and get them into the system before the 1 year anniv? If we had submitted the papers 6 months ago there would have beena good chance they would not have been approved by then anyways!?

Also when she has her Adjustment of status completed, how long then would it take for her minor children? We dont want this to take too long...no more than at year at most (less would be better)

She will have to wait until she acieves permanent residency to petition for her children.... if anyone knows whether someone who has conditional permanent residency can file, please jump in. Otherwise, it will be 2 years from when her conditional green card is issued before you can file to remove conditions.

[payxibka 10,044]

What if we were to submit the K-2 papers anyways and get them into the system before the 1 year anniv? If we had submitted the papers 6 months ago there would have beena good chance they would not have been approved by then anyways!?

Also when she has her Adjustment of status completed, how long then would it take for her minor children? We dont want this to take too long...no more than at year at most (less would be better)

Children of a K-1 recipient gain K-2 derivitive status with follow-to-join benefit. Their is no K-2 paperwork per se (at least in the eyes of the USCIS). You will need to file the DS series of forms with the consulate that approved the K-1. The consulate website may have the information you need. I would e-mail the consulate directly to see what the local procedure is.

As far as the 1 year clock is concerned, it means that the visa must be issued (not simply applied for) so you should get "hopping" on this before the clock strikes midnight.

[sunandmoon 450]

I would suggest calling the Embassy. 011-63-528-6300 I don't know if it's possible to arrange interviews for the children with enough time before the K-2 benefit expires, but I'd at least give it a try.

[puntagordabob 0]

well Lucita was approved in Juarez Mexico Consulate where she worked for many years.... her children live in Cavite City, Philippines.... so which consulate do we contact?

Also what forms do we fill out? I cannot find a list or help on this anywhere on the internet....

[sunandmoon 450]

another option is for you to petition the children as a stepchild. a US Citizen can petition a stepchild as long as the marriage took place before the child reach their 18th birthday. you would have to file a separate petition, I-130, for each child.

http://www.workandliveabroad.com/article_i...p;articleid=180

[Yodrak 7]

puntagordabob,

The children live in the Philippines, they will apply for their visas in the Philappines. They will need DS-156 at a minimum, perhaps DS-230 since they did not apply with their parent. Medical exams. Financial support documentation.

Best to talk with the consulate and get started quickly - as others have pointed out, you may already be too late.

It needs to be asked - how old are these children?

Yodrak

well Lucita was approved in Juarez Mexico Consulate where she worked for many years.... her children live in Cavite City, Philippines.... so which consulate do we contact?

Also what forms do we fill out? I cannot find a list or help on this anywhere on the internet....

[rebeccajo 14]

It needs to be asked - how old are these children?

Yodrak

He's got them listed above in the first post. I believe eldest 16.

[raymaga 25]

To get my daughter's K-2 process rolling, I emailed the Vancouver consulate (which was where I interviewed for my K-1 Visa) to ask what I needed to do. They wrote back that I needed to fax in the DS-230, Part I and start gathering some documents, such as her long form birth certificate, her police certificate, her medical exam and passport photos.

Then, once I had all the necessary documents, my daughter had to be interviewed at the Vancouver consulate and received her K-2 Visa the same day. She was 17 at that time and I accompanied her to the interview (I was already a Permanent Resident at this point, so I was able to travel freely back to Canada).

I believe every consulate has it's own requirements for issuing the K-2 Visa, so you should contact the Consulate you will be going through to find out the procedure they use for the K-2 Visa.

[1HappyGuy 45]

You need to get moving on this now. The one year issuance date is pretty firm. Contact the U.S. consulate in the P.I. immediately. The K-2 is pretty easy to get, but the time frame for getting a visa appointment varies from embassy to embassy. Despite the income problems, you should have been working on this earlier. Now, don't waste another day without doing something towards this. When my wife's son got his K-2 the embassy people told him to file for AOS within 90 days of arrival. We have his green card interview on the 14th of March. We almost missed our window because we didn't think he wanted to come.

Email the embassy as soon as possible. Describe the situation fully with case numbers of your wife's application, why she was in Mexico and everything about the kids. Be very accurate, detailed, concise and to the point. It may take the embassy a week or more to get back to you.

Now it the time to get cracking on this. You don't want to miss that window of opportunity.

[Boiler 43,576]

Tring to work out what the sale of land has to do with any of this.

None that I can think of. An asset does not need to be realised to count as far as an Affadavit is concerned.

[raymaga 25]

Tring to work out what the sale of land has to do with any of this.

None that I can think of. An asset does not need to be realised to count as far as an Affadavit is concerned.

I was actually wondering about this as well. I hope this won't cause them great difficulty now in getting the K-2 Visas in such a short window of opportunity.