Adopting my Spouse's child who was over 18 when we got married

[RaviC 2]

 

Hello

 

I married my Spouse in India during February 2020 .  Her Child was more than 18 during our marriage and less then 21 of course.  SInce he  was over 18 , I could not include him in my I -130 .  Can I legally adopt him and use the below under 21 law and  get him immigrated ?  My spouse and her son are in India.  My Spouse visa is in Progress CR1.  

 

How and when I can start adoption proceedings and try to bring my Spouse to the USA?

 

(v)     any alien who is under 21 years old and is the child of a United States citizen, or who is a prospective adoptee seeking to enter the United States pursuant to the IR-4 or IH-4 visa classifications;

 

[payxibka 10,048]

No, i believe the adoptions need to occur before the age of 16.  

[Just Paul 4,595]

58 minutes ago, RaviC said:

 

Hello

 

I married my Spouse in India during February 2020 .  Her Child was more than 18 during our marriage and less then 21 of course.  SInce he  was over 18 , I could not include him in my I -130 .  Can I legally adopt him and use the below under 21 law and  get him immigrated ?  My spouse and her son are in India.  My Spouse visa is in Progress CR1.  

 

How and when I can start adoption proceedings and try to bring my Spouse to the USA?

 

(v)     any alien who is under 21 years old and is the child of a United States citizen, or who is a prospective adoptee seeking to enter the United States pursuant to the IR-4 or IH-4 visa classifications;

 

This is a case where the K1/K2 would have been a better process to get him here.

 

Once she is a LPR she can petition him.

[Unlockable 7,322]

1 hour ago, RaviC said:

 

Hello

 

I married my Spouse in India during February 2020 .  Her Child was more than 18 during our marriage and less then 21 of course.  SInce he  was over 18 , I could not include him in my I -130 .  Can I legally adopt him and use the below under 21 law and  get him immigrated ?  My spouse and her son are in India.  My Spouse visa is in Progress CR1.  

 

How and when I can start adoption proceedings and try to bring my Spouse to the USA?

 

(v)     any alien who is under 21 years old and is the child of a United States citizen, or who is a prospective adoptee seeking to enter the United States pursuant to the IR-4 or IH-4 visa classifications;

 

You can adopt but it will NOT lead to immediate immigration benefits. Adoptions of children for immigration has to be done before the child is 16 years old.

 

Link:

 

https://www.uscis.gov/adoption/immigration-through-adoption/other-adoption-related-immigration

 

 

Quote

 

Under this process, an adopted child is considered to be the child (or unmarried son or daughter under the age of 21) of the adopting parent for immigration purposes if:

• The adoptive parent adopted the child before their 16th birthday (or before their 18th birthday, under certain circumstances as described below) and provides evidence of a full and final adoption; and
• The adoptive parent had legal custody of and jointly resided with the child for at least 2 years while the child was under age 21.
  • The legal custody must have been the result of a formal grant of custody from a court or other governmental entity.
  • The legal custody and joint residence requirement may be met by custody and residence that preceded the adoption.
  • The 2-year time period does not need to be continuous and may be counted in the aggregate.
  • If both parents adopted the child, the 2 years of legal custody and joint residence cannot be split between the adoptive parents, but only one adoptive parent needs to meet them.
  • The 2-year legal custody and joint residence requirements are waived for certain abused children.

A child is still considered to be an adopted child if they were adopted after their 16th birthday, but before their 18th birthday, if:

• The child is the birth sibling of another child who was adopted by the same parent(s) before the other child’s 16th birthday and immigrated through the family-based petition process; or
• The child is the birth sibling of another child who was adopted by the same parent(s) before the other child’s 16th birthday and who immigrated as an orphan based on an adoption by the same parent(s).

 

•  

[Boiler 47,502]

When did you file for your Spouse, exactly how old is the child, could make a difference in how long it will take.

[RaviC 2]

My' spouse's son was 18 Years and 8 months when we got married in February 2020. SInce I can only adopt if the child was less than  18 , would K1/K2 Visa made any difference?

[Boiler 47,502]

11 minutes ago, RaviC said:

My' spouse's son was 18 Years and 8 months when we got married in February 2020. Since I can only adopt if the child was less than  18 , would K1/K2 Visa made any difference?

It would but too late now, so let us say he will be 20 when his Mother gets here, and she files immediately for him then he could make it before he hits 21 and goes into a much longer processing period.

[Just Paul 4,595]

25 minutes ago, RaviC said:

My' spouse's son was 18 Years and 8 months when we got married in February 2020. SInce I can only adopt if the child was less than  18 , would K1/K2 Visa made any difference?

FYI K1s are running 5 to 10 months.  So if you had filed the K1/K2 instead of getting married then chances are good he would have been here in time.   But there are also reasons not to do a K1. Unfortunately that all needed to occur before the wedding happened.

 

The only real option is to have him petitioned by his LPR mom and the sooner the better.  Unfortunately getting her to LPR status will probably take over a year. And then the same for him, via mom, assuming that the State Department Visa Bulletin stays current for children of LPR.

[Ryan H 3,897]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.

[geowrian 22,339]

Adoption isn't going to work here for multiple reasons. Age is just one disqualification here.

 

There's really 2 possible paths for him to immigrate in the "near" future from a technical standpoint:

1) She enters on the CR-1 visa and immediately files for him. If he is under 21 still he may be able to qualify under F2A. ETA: ~2 years currently (and certainly may change by that time). If he ages out into F2B, expect closer to 5-7 years.

2) Divorce (it must be finalized and both be free to marry) and do a K-1 visa. He qualifies as a child still so long as the visa is issued before he turns 21.*

 

*this a very highly irregular path, let alone all the disadvantages of K-1 and any possible questions that may arise about the relationship (although personally I'm not as worried about that...the circumstances can be explained).

The main issue here is a quick google search implies the timeline for a divorce in India would likely mean he turns 21 before the K-2 visa would be issued. If so....or if that is even a reasonable possibility, then this option is moot.