ngant17

Based on what I'm reading, stepdaughter #1 will qualify for Family Second Preference (F2B) visa (over 21 years of age).

Stepdaughter #2 will qualify for Family Second Preference (F2A) visa (under 21 years of age).

I wonder if there are long wait times for these visas?

Thanks, Jim.

So let me review this for clarity.

When I married my fiancee (May 2010), stepdaughter #1 was 22 yrs. old, and stepdaughter #2 was already 18 yrs. old. So for immigration purposes, they did not meet "immediate relative" definition.

It appears that stepdaughter #1 can only be petitioned by my wife as a unconditional resident (my wife is still waiting for green card).

Stepdaughter #2 had turned 18 when we were married. She has just turned 20 (Sept. 2011). We did not want to bring her on K2 when she was under 18, because she was in university as a student. However, as she will not be 21 until next year (2012), so can I currently petition for her based on my status as US citizen? Again, as of today, stepdaughter #2 is currently under 21. If so, does that make her eligible for CR2 visa?

Some specific dates and ages would be very helpful here.

If the kids were under 21 when their mother got her K1 visa then the kids were eligible for K2 visas. They could have applied for "follow to join" K2's up to a year after their mother got her K1. That window of opportunity has expired.

If you married their mother before they were 18 then they're your immediate relatives, and you can petition for them. If they're currently under 21 then they're eligible for CR2 visas - no waiting for their priority date to become current. Their age will be frozen for immigration purposes on the day USCIS receives an I-130 petition from you. You need to submit a petition for each step-child. Barring any problems with exit visas, they should be able to immigrate within a year.

If you married their mother before they were 18, but they're currently over 21, then you could still file an I-130 for them and they'd be eligible for family preference F1 visas.

If you married their mother after they were 21 then only your wife can submit a petition for them.

Your wife can submit a petition even though she's a conditional resident. She has the same privileges as an unconditional resident. The only "condition" on her permanent residence is that she remain married to her US citizen spouse, and jointly file to remove conditions with her US citizen spouse two years after she became a conditional permanent resident.

Yes, my wife wants to sponsor them, but she said she can't do it while under a "conditional" green card status. So would it be quicker for me to try to sponsor them as I am the US citizen and they are my stepdaughters?

You can't do anything now. The k2 to follow option was only good for a year after the K1 ( not the greeb card ) And they are adult children so their mother must file for them ( as long as they aren't married ) the wait for adult children of LPR's is long but when she becomes a citizen the petition can be upgraded

I believe this is a more complicated part of immigration law, so I hope I can get some clear answers here.

I first submitted the K1 petition for my Cuban fiance (now wife), the I-129F was sent out way back in Oct., 2005. I listed her 2 daughters on the paperwork, because they were both under 18 when I began the K1 process and it was our intention to bring her 2 children to live here with us in the US ASAP once she got the K1 visa and we were married.

Unfortunately, the K1 process was an incredibly long journey in itself, as you can see in the timeline. The Cuban government delayed her exit visa for almost 5 years because of her profession (she worked as a biologist in Cuba). There were also numerous delays (i.e., "administrative reviews") on the US side. She finally arrived in Miami in April, 2010 and were married in May, 2010.

The 1st green card interview was in Jan. 2011. A very hostile office had our case. He must have tossed our case somewhere and lost track of it. I heard nothing from them after almost 9 months! After contacting local Senator, we suddenly got a 2nd (green card) interview almost immediately, which happened on Oct. 3, 2011 (we had a very nice young lady for the interview this time). But this was I repeat almost 9 months after the 1st interview. That in itself was an unusual event, as I understand green card are typically issued a few months after the first interview.

So now after all these bureaucratic delays, her 2 daughters have "aged out", which means that they became over 18 after our marriage last year. What is the best (quickest) way I can petition them to immigrate here as they are my stepdaughters and not my immediate relatives now? I originally included them on my K1 petition as minor dependent children of my K1 fiance. Does this fact give me any precedence for a new petition as the US citizen? Is this something an experienced immigration lawyer could facilitate to our advantage?

The whole thing was due to no fault of me or my wife, but solely due to sluggish governmental bureaucracies from both countries.

Technically for medical insurance, my wife's name is listed under "Dependents" category on my UnitedHealthcare card.

Likewise for auto insurance, she definitely "depends" on me for that perk. I list her name and her car in Miami directly on my policy, I am footing the bill for her.

OTOH for tax purposes, you are correct. A spouse is not a dependent. An exemption but we file separate returns. Exemptions for non-resident alien/spouse are allowed under specific conditions.

Small point but she's your spouse, not your dependant.

Yeah, I can read about "marriages of convenience" all over the internet – students who married a classmate whose visa is about to expire; a gay person getting hitched to a straight friend without proper immigration papers; or an immigrant who's paid a broker to arrange a marriage with an American. Getting married 20 times in five years.

OTOH INS sent terrorists their visas with letters of welcome to the US 6 months after they flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Then you get of cases the foreign-born spouse using her status to milk credit cards of the victim, stealing thousands of dollars and INS can do nothing about it. INS threatens prosecution but it never happens.

Married but living in different cities, yes, it is uncommon but that is not by itself prima facie evidence of an immigration crime.

If any USCIS agent is going to charge me with a felony of marriage fraud, he/she has absolutely no evidence. Nada. It does not exist because we are in a bona-fide relationship. My documentation of a real, ongoing relationship with the same woman extends back to 2003, almost a decade. This can and has been verified in the paperwork. I have medical and auto insurance policies in our names, she is after all my dependent. Records of regular financial support for many years. Documented. Photos of us together over the years. This all is documented. Try to get a conviction on that. This wouldn't get anywhere and no one would waste their time on it.

As far as the politics goes, I would say that my wife is much closer to a rightwinger then I will ever be. A typical Cuban in Miami. Deportation would be pretty cruel, sending her back to Cuba based on flimsy, circumstantial evidence. Someone who probably would be inclined to vote for a Republican here if she had the chance. She has already officially been denounced for "abandoning the Revolution". That is what often happens to Cubans when they finally get their Cuba exit visas (carta blanca). I would hope the USCIS has better intelligence these days.

It's sad to know about all the unnecessary stress and anxiety they are creating for my wife. She is quite depressed right now, especially being separated for so long from her 2 daughters. As anyone would feel the same.

Second interviews are not common. I'm not saying you guys are committing fraud , but I. USCIS defense, you have to admit that married people don't often live in different cities. That is definitely a red flag and they are required to investigate it. I wish you guys good luck

My Cuban wife's full name is Vilma Ferrer Garcia. After we were married, she never wanted to add my last (paternal) name and she is now just Vilma Ferrer (maternal surname dropped out, paternal surname is now the last name). It's exactly that way because it will create a lot less confusion going from Latin to Anglo culture. Her SS card, drivers license, work permit, insurance, ect. all use the shorted version. If you continue to use maternal surnames, it will cause confusion because in Anglo culture, paternal surnames are always last. It works fine for us.

Actually, I think you legally could use any name you want as long as you will be consistent about it.

I know in the FAQ it suggests using both; however, as we only use one surname in the United States and the "father" of my step-daughter abandoned her, understandably my wife was asking if she on the AOS forms if we can only use the maternal apellido, especially as strictly speaking it IS the last name. Thanks

Excellent diagnosis of the situation, JimVaPhuong. I believe you have hit the nail on the head, to use a common English saying.

My wife was trained as a biologist, whether PCC membership was mandatory to be a biologist, I don't think so. In any case, I have no knowledge of my wife's membership in the PCC (Cuban Communist Party) and I don't think she was ever in it. Generally speaking, PCC simply members do not emigrate to the US. And if somehow they were magically transported to the US, my guess is that they would try to find a way to get back to the island ASAP. They simply would not want to live in a capitalist country and they are perfectly happy in a socialist economy.

BTW I just read a recent article in the Miami Herald about this issue you bring up.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/23/2182407/newly-arrived-cuban-doctors-face.html

If there is a remote possibility that someone in her family (cousin, half-brother, half-sister, ect.) in Cuba may have been or may be in the PCC, that should not be her problem nor should it be my problem.

As for me, I have in the past subscribed to all sorts of left/progressive newspapers in the past, but politically I have never joined and worked for the CPUSA. Lots of Americans have done more that that, even the famous nuclear scientist Oppenheimer was associated with the CPUSA during the '50's which brought him a lot of flak from HUAC.

So I am passing your excellent suggestions onto my Cuban wife and hopefully her fiery Latin emotions will not become a problem at the next interview.

Thanks again!

CIS doesn't have to manufacture evidence of anything. Adjustment of status is discretionary. They can deny if they don't believe the relationship is genuine.

Your wife is from a communist country, so political views can be very relevant. If they suspect you were a communist or communist sympathizer then they would suspect your wife was the same. Someone who is or was a member of the communist party is inadmissible to the United States. My wife is also from a communist country, and I've seen people from her country put through the grinder at the consulate because they had a brother or cousin who was a party member. It's very common for USCIS to assign IO's who are from the same part of the world as the beneficiary because they would understand the culture, and they would be able to "read" the beneficiary in a way that someone born in the US would not.

Try to put your emotions on the back burner while you go through this process. The IO knows he holds all the cards in this game. If they detect any attitude from you or any sense of entitlement then they'll put you through hell and ultimately deny you. You need to approach this with the attitude that you're asking the US government for a favor, and you need to convince them that you deserve to have this favor granted. If you act like you're demanding your rights (you have no rights in this situation) then they'll drop the hammer on you. Cool. Calm. Collected. Determined.

Actually I think the whole thing has been politically motivated.

The CIS interviewer in the first interview in Jan. 2011, we were fairly sure he was a 2nd or 3rd generation Cuban-American, he was a younger man, spoke Spanish fluently and my wife has a good sense of the nuances of Cuban dialect and words which are used more by Cubans. My wife is not hostile to the island government (nor am I), although she is critical of some of its legal policies (i.e., delaying her exit visa for 5 years due to the law on emigration of certain job skills).

As for the "Stokes interview", we were questioned at length separately on the first interview. And whatever he said in Spanish to Vilma, it made her very mad! I never asked her all the details of that. But I also resented his questioning my politics when he interviewed me separately, as this had nothing to do with determining evidence of a bona fide marriage to a foreigner. I suppose he wanted me to be an enemy of his country(Cuba). I'm sure that would have made an automatic approval!

Obvious to me, the CIS guy was a Cuban-American Republican who decided to inject his political views into the process. Lack of professionalism here. Contacting my local (Dem.) Senator has pushed the CIS into quicker action for the 2nd interview, although 'quicker' is not exactly the best word I could use.

I'd hate to throw money on a lawyer for something like this. It's clear to me that this is not about immigration fraud, as we have nothing to hide and the CIS would have to manufacture evidence to prove anything to the contrary.

If you have been called for a 2nd interview, you should research and be prepared for a Stokes interview. USCIS suspects something is not right with your relationship, or they wouldn't have had you wait so long after your 1st interview and then call you for 2nd one.

My wife and I are still waiting for her permanent residence (green card) status. We were officially married in May 2010, we went to the I-485 interview in Jan. 2011, and now the word I'm getting is that we have to go back again for a 2nd interview. This is getting a little tiresome.

I don't know why there is so much delay, our marriage is legit, although employment and economic circumstances have dictated that we both work in different cities at this time. This is not a problem, we see each other on days off, I pay some of her bills (car insurance, health insurance, ect). I don't believe my wife wants to divorce me for any reason as I am respectful of our situation and she trusts me to

be faithful, too.

Are 2nd interviews a normal process or has USCIS just decided to single us out and waste their time investigating a legitimate marriage? We've already answered all the questions in the first interview.

I'm sure there is fraud in immigration but we aren't worried because we aren't the ones doing any of that. It's just an extra hassle that we don't need.

Visa journey it is, but no one said it would take us this long to get to a green card!

Thanks for the great advice! I will contact local immigration office and arrange an infopass appointment for the both of us. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this delay.

My wife (Vilma) and I went to her permanent residence interview (green card) on 11 Jan. of this year. We answered all their questions and the officer told us that the card would be issued to Vilma in "a few weeks". It has been almost 2 months and we have not received any notice of action. The USCIS website doesn't give much info other than the same story, it is being processed.

Is this normal to wait for several months? Where can I go to get more specific information on the hold-up for her green card? We've already paid the fees and sent in all the paperwork they asked for. My wife already has been issued her work permit from DHS, which is valid for one year.

I probably should add that my wife Vilma and I have voluntarily been separated due to employment and some personal matters(she is working in Miami now, and living with her sister, who has been undergoing chemotherapy and needed some assistance getting to the hospital herself). I don't have a problem with this, we both agreed to it because for one thing, the economy is not so good, she needed to find honest work as soon as possible, to help pay for some of these immigration expenses, and it was easier for her to work in Miami at this time. Also Vilma's family in Miami has been a great help and support for her, as the culture shock is very hard for her at this moment in her life. She says she feels like a fish out of the water when she leaves Miami for any length of time. She also doesn't have her drivers license yet, so she depends on family for getting to and from her workplace. I am almost part of her extended Cuban family, and we do manage to visit each other in spite of the distances (I am working in Orlando). We are both mature adults, and we have complete trust in each other.

Of course, I do know that marriage fraud is big business in the US, and this is a priority for the immigration officers to detect this. However this is not our case and we are not worried about this, though I'm sure that immigration might have some additional questions when we explain our specific situation. Hopefully we will not have to wait much longer for the green card, as she needs to bring her two daughters here once we can get a bigger income to support that household size.

well yeah, if it was like russian or something i'd understand, but for spanish they don't have bilingual interviewers? i find that odd when i have to hit a button to get english instead of spanish for most anywhere i call anymore, lol

When we went for her biometrics (in Orlando office, Florida), she did not have much of a problem with her limited English. There was not a bilingual officer present there, to my knowledge.

Yes, I would think that Spanish (her native language) would not be a big obstacle for immigration offices in Miami, Florida, but we are scheduled for this interview in Orlando in the approx. location as before (almost same address). I guess I should try to get her to bring someone in her family from Miami or S. Florida to help her for the interview in January.

My fiancee (now wife) entered the US on a K1 visa in April 2010. We were married the following month. We have completed the final paperwork(I-864) and we are awaiting an interview for her (conditional) permanent residence (green card). Her work permit was recently issued to her, it is good for one year. The interview (Application to Register Permanent Residence) is scheduled in Jan 2011. My wife is not fluent in English yet, and I think that for this interview, it might be helpful to hire a translator who is fluent in English and her native language(Spanish). I asked an immigration attorney about this process, and I was told that this interview will probably not be short, because marriage(K1-based) interviews these days often take hours. And if we go without an attorney, my wife and I will be probably separated and each of us will be asked a long string of questions. Is this realistic these days? What kind of interview should we expect in this part of the process? Is a translator necessary in our case?

Lots of people try to use home equity for the affidavit of support. Most fail. More so recently. Firstly, because in the current housing market there is no guarantee that you would easily be able to access that equity. (I guess you could via a loan, but they don't seem to take that into account.) Secondly, because it is where you live. They don't let you use your primary car as an asset because apparently you "need" the car to survive. Similar thing with your primary dwelling.

So, you can certainly try to use your house equity. You might succeed. But be prepared for it to fail. If you and your mother have enough income to file the I-864 then this doesn't matter. But if not, then you might want to try to find another co-sponsor which you could use if they didn't accept the house equity. (If they deny the house equity then you would have to find another sponsor. Best to find one now that you can produce just in case so that if they do deny it there will be no delay.)

I guess, in the worst case scenario they would deny the home equity and you wouldn't be able to find another sponsor. But you could take the equity out of the house, use that as cash in the bank, then pay it back as soon as your wife has her visa.

But hopefully it won't come to that. Get proof of your mortgage payments, current appraisals of your house, and ideally something showing easy access to the equity: for example, proof that you could get a home equity line of credit if needed.

Thanks for the comment, it sounds realistic and plausible. I've talked with my newly-married wife, Vilma, and she seems to think it would be better to just include her on the I-864 application. She thinks it would be better sponsor her 2 daughters later. To sponsor only Vilma for her permanent residence, our combined household income (me & my mother), plus my titles to 3 cars in good condition (2 vans and 1 truck) of which I will include 2 of the cars as assets on the I-864, all of that will put me over the 125% poverty line. My mother also has a car, but I am the designated driver as she does not drive anymore. Financial papers (bank statements, mortgage docs, ect.) are ready to send.

Because it took so long for Vilma to get here on the K1 visa, her two daughter are no longer under 18, they are 22 and 19. Would it be possible to include the youngest daughter (age 19) on the paperwork, as I understand there is a legal exception for allowing immigrant children from Cuba if they are 19 instead of 18. If I don't include them on the paperwork now, how long will we have to wait to sponsor them as family members to come here and live with us? I've heard that it can take as long as ten years to bring them here? My wife doesn't think this is accurate, and it should not take more than a year.

I doubt very much that they will take it into account, see the I 864 instructions.

I also asked this same question on avvo.com/ask-a-lawyer, a lawyer referral site. An attorney who specializes in immigration law (38 years experience) replied to my question, and he only stated that it was necessary to have my mother sign the co-sponsor form, I-864A. He stated nothing about the probability of denial, as you are stating. On what basis are you claiming that this application would be denied by the immigration office? You sound very sure about this. How much experience do you have in immigration law?

I doubt very much that they will take it into account, see the I 864 instructions.

Well, I do read that the I-864 form states that property converted to cash value could be used as long as there is "no undue harm to the sponsor or his or her family members". At the same time, the instructions on form I-864A clearly states that I can use assets from a relative, including a parent who resides with me. So I don't see why there would be a problem on I-864 when it expressly permits this on I-864A, as long as my household co-sponsor/relative is agreeing to the conditions.

Are you saying this is standard procedure for I-864 applications? What are the statistics for parent who are household members and wish to help sponsor the immigrant and family?

Is this your or your mothers principal residence?

Yes, the property is my principal residence and it is also my mother's principal residence.

I am the principle sponsor for my spouse for her permanent residence (I-864). I am also planning to include her 2 daughters for green cards. My mother has agreed to be co-sponsor (I-864A). My mother and I both are owners of a home which has an equity of approx. $50k, and both our names are on the mortgage. Can I list this entire property asset (appraised value less mortgage debt) for myself, or do I have to split it in two on my I-864 paperwork, and list the other half on my mother's I-864A form? It would not seem to matter to me, as we both are agreeing for the sponsorship.

My fiancee entered the US on a K1 visa on 20 April 2010. Is it necessary to have a medical exam prior to the appointment to receive the green card (21 Jun 2010)? What if my fiancee is unable to schedule the medical exam prior to her appointment on 21 June? Also the medical exam cost almost $500 dollars so will I have to pay all the money before the medical exam is completed?

My fiancee entered the US with a K1 visa on 20 April 2010, the K1 visa has an expiration date of 15 May 2010 (it was issued in Nov. 2009). We will plan to be married within the 90-day period of entry into the US, but will there be any problem after the expiration of the K1 visa on 15 May? Do we need to apply for a visa extension? What will happen to her status after 15 May?

Does anyone who has a Cuban spouse or Cuban fiancee, especially someone who has went thru the K1 or other immigrant visa process, does anyone know how long it typically takes to get the "carta de liberacion" issued from the Republic of Cuba? This seems to be a complete mystery and it is stalling everything for us.

If the Dept. of State will freely issue a tourist visa to young unmarried girls, it would be predictable that in many cases, such 'tourists' could meet a wealthy US citizen while visiting and fall in love and want to get married. Nothing is wrong with that.

However, I think the process is not so simple. A young unmarried foreign woman with steady employment history and with an advanced educational background would better qualify for the tourist visa than, say, a poor, uneducated peasant-girl with no employment history. And in the former case, the chances of wanting to stay in the US would be less than the latter case.

Getting the tourist visa for the intended purposes of bypassing immigration laws is prohibited, likewise engaging in marriage fraud to facilitate entry into the US is also a serious crime. Both of these scenarios have been known to happen, and it would be in the interest of the US government to try to prevent this by being more strict on the issuance of visas to foreigners.

OTOH, I don't see the illegality of a tourist falling in love with a stranger while on vacation, and wanting to make a permanent relationship thru marriage. Convincing the immigration people of those facts might be the more difficult task.

Hi, I was wondering if it's possible for my fiance to come to the states on a visitor visa, and we can register here without going through with K1? Anyone know anything about that.

From the grapevine, it is my understanding that all requests for visas with Cubans are being forwarded directly to Washington at this time (June 2007). Somebody is becoming paranoid against Cubans, someone up there in Washington DC. Someone in an official capacity who is mentally unstable or delusional thinking, I suppose.

Hopefully they won't be labelling Cuba as a terrorist nation again. That would really set the clock back a lot.

This is strange because over the past 6 months there have been a number of Cuban fiancee/fiance who have received an NOA2 within days of being checked in at CSC. It seemed like they were given special processing for what ever reason.