cdy

Interesting idea but now too complicated - the oldest stepdaughter now has two kids - and the father is a part of the grandson's life - and she would not leave him behind - plus I would take on the responsibility of one more kid- the granddaughter - but not the step daughter and another grand kid on top of that- got to draw the line somewhere

We already support her - so that won't change - we have attorneys both in Colombia and US that we trust - but sounds like its not a viable option - in the next 5 years we will be spending more time in Colombia - possibly up to half the year - so we hopefully will provide stronger guidance for her - we have tried in the past to get her ( and her mother ) a tourist visa - turned down both times - possibly we can try to get her one solo. Life would be better if her mother stepped up and was a better parent - but she had her when she was 16 and was not ready to be a parent. Luckily the granddaughter is a great kid but we worry about her future opportunities in a small town in Colombia, we have an apartment there and a business - but the local school just is not very good.

We have attorneys in Colombia that can help with the adoption - its not an easy path but can be done - while we now live in US - we spend 2 -3 months a year in Colombia and can handle things on that end, I am a little confused as to the living with the child statement - is that a US immigration requirement? No she is not an orphan - but once we adopt her - does US immigration care that her natural parents are still alive? We handled our move to US without an attorney - in this case it might be best to get one - at least to sort out the details from the US end. Open to any other ideas on how to get a granddaughter to US for a better education - she is almost 7 - have no clue as to a student visa - age requirements those sort of things - if it is even possible.

My wife ( fiance at the time) and 2 stepdaughters moved back to US with me 6 years ago - everything went fine, they are not citizens yet -maybe later this year. However the oldest daughter stayed behind in Colombia - she was young and just had a baby - now a 6 year old and for various reasons both parents in Colombia have agreed to either let us adopt her or be named guardian - we have been supporting her since birth and see her about 4 times per year when we are in Colombia. The question I have is how does immigration in the US look at a grandchild if we are now her legal guardian or parents - does it speed up the process? I know if she just remained as our granddaughter the process would take years - but as our daughter?