Pregnant and trying to bring my parents! Help !!!

[NuZayetsPogodi 117]

Ummm.... are you familiar with Russian visa and immigration laws?!

True, true, you're right, the US is already very generous.

I just would feel bad if some old folks got in trouble for taking care of their grand kids, seems a little bit too much. There are cultural differences between nations when it comes to grandparents, I think Russians would be aghast at the idea of grandparents being seen as "working" when it came to babysitting their grand kids!

[millefleur 5,037]

Ummm.... are you familiar with Russian visa and immigration laws?!

Very familiar. Most people who teach English here do so on tourist visas/business visas and nobody cares. I'm one of the few people with an actual work visa. So, it seems like people turn a blind eye and simply don't care what you do half the time on a tourist visa here. Hence why I really doubt if anyone would care if a grandma was helping out her grandkids on a tourist visa in Russia. Now, the whole "residency permit" thing here is a different story and really annoying and complicated....but tourist/business visas are insanely lax here. So what was your point, that they are lax or did you have a different experience?

Edited October 17, 2016 by millefleur

[abhi_meli 150]

Seriously??? Sigh, sorry guys, sometimes I just don't get our laws/visa regulations. Why don't they just make a "grandparent" visa already.

Best of luck OP. Hope you'll find a way to get your parents over there to help! At least you can petition for them.

If Donald Trump wins he will make a "grandparent" visa.

[millefleur 5,037]

If Donald Trump wins he will make a "grandparent" visa.

Donald Trump is becoming the new "Godwin's Law" in internet discussions it seems.

Edited October 18, 2016 by millefleur

[Andrea&Henry 311]

My husband filed a petition for his biological dad and his step mom (they have been married for over 30 years) and although they were processed separately, both cases had the exact same timing for everything. He filed I think on sept 2013 and they got the visa + greencard on late january 2015. It was little over a year. During that period of time they were able to visit several times with no issues.

[dawning 212]

Doing something for yourself is different from having someone else do it.

That's what I am saying. These Grandparents almost certainly wouldn't want to travel halfway around the world to spend time with/care for someone else's grandchildren. They are engaging in normal grandparent behavior for their culture, not employment as nannies.

Of course, we can't expect cbp/usics to care that much about cultural norms of the rest of the world, so there's not much chance the policy will change. But I think it's a real gray area in the "working" part of the visa discussion.

[Boiler 43,558]

US Culture and norms are the ones that count.

What they do when at home is another issue.

[Newtrends 2]

US Culture and norms are the ones that count.

What they do when at home is another issue.

I am sorry, but I have been living in the US for 10 years married for 6 with an american and I am really close to my in laws and they are as excited as my parents.

They are completely involved in the other grandchildren's lives and they "baby sit" really A LOT like in all their free time. And no its not a job and yes they really love it.

They have even been trying to get us to move closer to them so they would also be as close as I would like my parents to be

So I strongly disagree that all Americans would see this as a "job" and I refuse to think is not part of their "culture", its a person and family thing. Some families are really close and involved some are not. And mine is the whole way around the latin side and the american side .

The thing is they are coming in legally exactly to get all our families together so we can all support each other not so they can work as aupairs.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Mc850570

[millefleur 5,037]

I am sorry, but I have been living in the US for 10 years married for 6 with an american and I am really close to my in laws and they are as excited as my parents.

They are completely involved in the other grandchildren's lives and they "baby sit" really A LOT like in all their free time. And no its not a job and yes they really love it.

They have even been trying to get us to move closer to them so they would also be as close as I would like my parents to be

So I strongly disagree that all Americans would see this as a "job" and I refuse to think is not part of their "culture", its a person and family thing. Some families are really close and involved some are not. And mine is the whole way around the latin side and the american side .

The thing is they are coming in legally exactly to get all our families together so we can all support each other not so they can work as aupairs.

I don't think Boiler mean "all Americans" when he said "they".....I think he meant the immigration officials who look at cases/make decisions about if someone is doing something illegal on their visa or not. A huge, tight family like yours who all live very close to each other is really not the norm in the US anymore. That doesn't meant that Americans don't want that or don't value it, it's just not that common anymore.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

******* Mod note: Working on a tourist visa, including babysitting, is illegal. If you wish discuss different cultures, or whether US immigration law is correct in saying babysitting is illegal, please create your own thread. ********

[Newtrends 2]

How can visiting and spending time with your grandchild be constructed as baby sitting ??

The whole point of this discussion was if the parents could come and visit while awaiting for the process to finalize. The whole other part of child care was already clarified as I do have childcare provided by my employer.

What is getting "scary" is the fact it seems like my parents will have issues visiting the baby because they might think they are working illegally while on short visits.

I have always done everything within the law and plan on continuing to do so (hence why we came to clarify things here ) and the shadow that we might be under "suspicion" is really upsetting and slightly prejudicial

Edited October 20, 2016 by Newtrends

[Unlockable 7,306]

Visiting a grandchild is certainly acceptable. None is arguing that. But there is difference between coming to see you grandchild and helping out by watch the child every now and again while the parents go to the store or need time to relax and coming to the US and staying for months and caring for the child daily while the parents are at work. The latter IS babysitting and is frowned upon. And many relatives (not just grandparents) have been denied for it.

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2015/08/babysitter_versus_the_border_p.html

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110531144228AA4I4jZ

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/339529-tourist-visa-denied-was-in-usa-1-year-back/page-4?hl=%20mother%20%20denied < In this case this poor guy's wife passed after birth and he was relying on his MIL to come and help care for the child. Eventually the MIL had her visitor visa revoked.

Edited October 20, 2016 by NuestraUnion

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

You are correct; visiting and spending time with the grandkids is just fine. The difference is both terminology, and what exactly the grandparent does while here.

So coming here to be around for the birth of a grandkid, a birthday, or just vacation is totally fine. But something that otherwise a US citizen might be paid for, such as anything that is effectively babysitting (looking after kids while the USC parent is at work for example, or abroad themselves for work or family matters) is NOT ok per immigration rules.