#1suegra

My son-in-law would like to find out what would be involved in bringing his mother and stepfather to the US as residents.

He can only apply for his mom, as he was older than 18 when his mom and stepdad got married. I found information on the USCIS website that says:

"In most cases, when your relative reaches the front of the line*, your

relative’s spouse and unmarried children under 21 years of age can

join him or her by also applying for an immigrant visa."

So, I have several questions:

I understand that the I-130 is taking about 9 months to be approved. Would his mom be able to come to US as soon as it is approved?

Could she apply for residency as soon as she gets here? If not, how soon could she apply?

How long would it be before his mom could apply for an immigration visa for her husband?

How long before it is approved and he could travel to the US?

If anyone could send me links to any of this information, that would be helpful, also.

I thought that I would bring this up to date for anyone who might have a similar issue. I have great news! Upon advice of an immigration lawyer, my son-in-law decided to go ahead and apply for citizenship. He had his interview this past Wednesday. Everything went well, and he was sworn in the same afternoon. I hope that this will serve as encouragement to others who may be in the same situation, which their lawyer says is very common.

Does anyone know if one can do early biometrics in Baltimore. That is, can one go in before the appointment date and get them done?

Has anyone had their application rejected because they signed the application with their usual signature, rather than the format stated in the N-400 instructions(full name, cursive, no initials)? I know that there are various opinions on the right way to do this. I really only need to hear from those who have signed the application with their usual signature and either had it rejected or accepted. Thanks.

Does anyone know of Baltimore, MD does same day swearing in?

Stepdaughter also received this opportunity to study abroad, while she played around when she could finally apply, became a mad rush for her to get her citizenship and US passport. With her foreign passport, she would be required to get a visa for each country, don't need that with a US passport.

She also required a bunch of cash, we could help her with that, but with this son-in-law he may also need that US passport so he can visit his wife, but only if he has the cash to do so. Kind of puts him in a catch 22 position. In the case of my stepdaughter, with that US citizenship, no longer a worry about the residency requirements. All a question about timing and having plenty of cash.

This is all good input for them. Either decision has its merits. If they decide for the 5 year mark, they don't have the hassle of having to continue gathering documentation and proving the validity of their marriage to the interviewer, making for a less stressful interview. But if they can jump the hurdles and he is actually able to get his citizenship now, he is then free of restrictions on his travel and length of stays outside the country, the I864 is no longer in effect, and the whole application is behind them forever. Ultimately they will need to decide if it's likely to be successful now and worth all the extra efforts.

Below is information that I found from USCIC. I didn't want to load so much information on everyone, but maybe this makes it clearer why they are considering filing now rather than waiting 5 years. Citizenship would actually make it easier for them to be together, because, once he gets his citizenship, he has a lot more flexibility on when and how long he can travel to be with her.

© Involuntary separation. In the event that the applicant and spouse live apart because of circumstances beyond their control, such as military service in the Armed Forces of the United States or essential business or occupational demands, rather than because of voluntary legal or informal separation, the resulting separation, even if prolonged, will not preclude naturalization under this part.

When an applicant and spouse live apart as a result of circumstances beyond their control (i.e.) service in the military or essential business or occupational demands, the resulting separation, even if prolonged, will not preclude naturalization under this part. See 8 CFR section 319.1(b)(2)(ii)©. It is essential to determine whether the decision resulting in the separation, was driven by a true economic need or simply driven by a comfort level that the couple prefers. If the decision made was not driven by a true economic need or required military service, the applicant applying under this section may not qualify.

• Example of involuntary separation: A husband and wife met while working towards PhDs at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The USC husband accepted a tenure track position at Hamilton College in Rome, New York. The LPR wife was offered a Post-Doctorate Fellowship at the Smithsonian. The husband and wife had been living apart for most of the three years. She had telephone bills, copies of e-mails to each other, stubs from some airline tickets from vacations and school breaks, and credible testimony that her husband sometimes drove back and forth on three or four day weekends. The adjudicator approved this case at the time of the examination for having qualified the separation as an involuntary separation.

So, we know that it's at least possible, just not how likely it would be that the adjudicator would rule in their favor. I was hoping that another reader would have had this experience and could share how it went for them.

I do appreciate the input of all of the posters, though. It's good to see how this looks to other people.

she chose to accept the grant.

she chose to be outside the country.

doesn't matter that it's what she needs for her doctoral dissertation.

She chose it, so it wasn't involuntary.

Just my 2 cents.

I’m gathering information for my daughter, a US citizen who is living outside the US for this year. She is married to a US permanent resident who will be eligible to apply for citizenship in the Spring, based on the 3 year rule.

My daughter’s situation is that she needs to be outside of the US for the next year, conducting research for her doctoral dissertation. She has received a grant that will pay for her expenses for a year of research. So the timing makes it pretty important that she continue her research while the opportunity is available to her. At the same time, her husband is getting himself established in his job in the states and wanting to apply for Citizenship.

For these reason, it is necessary that she and her husband be apart for a while. They would like for him to still be able to apply for citizenship now.

I found this information on the VJ website:

“ Involuntary separation, such as relocation that becomes essential for business or occupation purposes does not preclude Naturalization.”

Has anyone here tried applying for citizenship claiming involuntary separation to explain their not living together? Does anyone know of anyone who has done this? How did that work out for you (or them)?

To complicate things a little more, they were also apart for the first 6 months of 2011 while my son-in-law was in his home country, visiting his family and most specifically a seriously ill close relative. He and my daughter were reunited in his country that summer, when she also traveled there for her research and for employment with her university. They stayed there together until late in the year, when they returned to the US.

That separation also could cause additional problems, as he was outside of the US for about 11 months and it could be seen as a break in continuity of residence (a requirement that they weren’t aware of until after the fact). His relative, sadly, did die shortly after he returned to the states, so he can provide that documentation of the reason for his long stay outside of the US.

Given all these circumstances, my daughter would appreciate any shared experiences or opinions on the likelihood of my son-in-law being approved for citizenship under these circumstances

The processing time that the USCIS website gives for processing the N400 - Does the processing time stated refer to the length of time that it takes from the time of application to the interview, or does it only refer to the length of time that it takes them to process the application? Is there then another wait for the scheduling of the interview? If so, how long is that wait?