Any advice on path for Minor on F1 to GC

[bzbee 93]

My nephew (13) lost his mother (in India) to sudden illness. His father happily gave us custody and promptly remarried.

We applied for and got a F1 visa for the boy. He is currently living with us in the USA and studying at a private school (SEVP Certified - wouldn't have the F1 otherwise).

 

We want to put him on a path for green card and eventual citizenship. Talked to two immigration lawyers so far. First one was useless, said there is no option other than adoption. He said that the minor child protections were only for illegal immigrants, and since the boy is legally in the US he has no path to GC. A waste of time and the consulting fee.

 

The Second Lawyer (SL) was more knowledgeable. She said adoption would have been an option if were both Indians on GC, then we could've have adopted him in India and applied for GC. But since one of us is a US citizen now, we come under the Hague Convention and it is a very lengthy and expensive process with no guarantee of success. By this point, we too had decided against adoption for various reasons. The other option she gave was to apply for a "Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS)", but apparently that is a specialized area and she doesn't handle those cases. She referred another lawyer, but he didn't inspire much confidence that he knew case law.

 

After that we called around a few immigration lawyers, and most of them don't handle SIJS cases and the few that did felt that the boy's situation does not fall under SJIS. So we went back to the SL and she said that she looked into it a bit and feels that we are going about it in the wrong way. Apparently the 'SIJ' Status has to be conferred by a Family Court and not an immigration court. So she asked us to get in touch with a Family lawyer now.

 

We've already spent quite a bit of $$ on the whole thing and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Don't mind putting in the time & money, but it seems like we are just going in circles and not making any progress.

 

So, do any of you know how to proceed in this situation? Do you know of any similar cases? Or can you refer a lawyer who worked on similar cases?

 

We are based in Dallas, TX but are ready to work with any lawyer who can set the boy on a path for his GC. 

 

Thank you.

 

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

The kid is in the US so obviously the State of Texas and immigration involved with the adoption. Get a hold of a family lawyer and ask about adoption first. It is a long process, not simple.

Once you legally adopt him, you can sponsor his immigration later.

[aaron2020 11,651]

44 minutes ago, NancyNguyen said:

The kid is in the US so obviously the State of Texas and immigration involved with the adoption. Get a hold of a family lawyer and ask about adoption first. It is a long process, not simple.

Once you legally adopt him, you can sponsor his immigration later.

It's not that simple.  The child is not an orphan.  He has a father who is alive.  

 

A family lawyer who is not versed in immigration law will do more harm than good.  Nothing worse than a legal adoption and not being able to qualify for an immigration benefit. 

[bzbee 93]

Update:

- Got a court order from the family court placing the boy with us.

- Then filed an SIJS (I-360) on the basis of the court order, and it was approved.

- Filed for AOS (I-485) on the basis of the approved I-485, under process. (Could've filed I-360 and I-485 concurrently, but opted to do it this way based on a lawyer' advice.)

 

Hopefully he'll get his GC soon.

 

[bzbee 93]

Final Update: The boy got his Green Card this week 

It took 3 years with Covid delays and all, but finally got there. 

Thank you.

[Chancy 6,241]

*** Moved from Bringing Family of USC forum to AOS from Work/Student/Tourist Visas forum -- topic is about AOS of minor child based on I-360 SIJ ***