jg121783

I cant believe no one in this group has dealt with these issues. I have contacted several attorneys. Its always the same thing. They won't answer my question without taking the whole case and charging several thousand dollars. I think what were gonna do is leave the info we dont have blank and upload a cover letter explaining why it is blank and hope for the best. What's the worst case scenario if this is the incorrect approach? Will we be given the opportunity to correct his application?

You did answer all the questions except the one about the info for his biological father. That is where we are stuck. Im thinking about typing up a cover letter explaining that we dont hwve the info abd upload it as additional evidence. Having a hard time finding an attorney that will answer my limited questions for a small fee. They all want to take the whole case for a large fee.

Unless anyone can give me a solid answer to my questions I might have to consult with an immigration attorney. We made it this far without attorneys. I hope we can figure this out on our own.

It is asking specifically for his birth fathers information. There is a separate section for my information (current spouse of mother).

"Evidence of child's US citizenship." What do we upload for this as he derived citizenship from his mother who was naturalized before he turned 18? Wouldn't his mother's naturalization certificate and proof of his birthdate be sufficient evidence?

"Provide all the dates when your U.S. citizen mother or father was physically present in the United States. Include all dates from the U.S. citizen mother or father's birth until the child's birth." Do we just leave this blank since my step son was born before my wife entered the US?

Another question. What do we do if we don't have some information about his birth father? Current address, Date of birth, ect?

We am currently working on my step sons N600. I am sure more questions will come up as we progress through it that I will ask here. The first part we are stuck on is where they ask when and where you entered the country. He entered through Ohare airport so should we select Chicago, Il for that question? The second part we are stuck on is where it asks for the date his Philippines passport that he originally used to travel to the US was issued on. He no longer has his original passport as he had to have it renewed and received a new one so we don't know the exact date his original passport was issued. Can we just put the date it was renewed? That's all I have for now. I'm sure more questions will come up as we progress through it further. Another question: "What was the USCIS office that granted your LPR status or location where you were admitted?" We are not sure what the answer to this is. Should we just put Chicago?

So doing some quick google searching it appears if my wife's brother is petitioned by my wife and her parents do not get a green card before he is 21 he would be in the F4 category. If my wife's parents petition for him after he turns 21 he would be in the F2b category. I have no idea how accurate this is but google says current processing times for F4 visas from the Philippines are 20 to 25 years while google says the processing times for F2b visas are about 13 years. Taking that into consideration does it even make sense for my wife to petition for any of her siblings? Wouldn't it be faster for her parents to do it (assuming they obtain their green cards in a reasonable amount of time). Am I missing something here?

So what you ae saying is my wife can petition him now then when her parents get here they can also petition him and change his category as a result assuming he is under 21 and unmarried?

So my wife would like to petition to bring her parents on an immediate relative visa. I think for the most part we understand how that works. She also has a 17 year old brother she would like to petition for. It is my understanding that if she petitions for him now he would be in the F4 category which takes quite a long time (about 15 years for the Philippines as far as I can tell). However it is also my understanding that if her parents get their green cards first then they petition for him before he turns 21 he would be put in a category that processes much faster. Is it better to just wait until her parents get their green cards then at that point start the process for her brother? Or should my wife petition for him right away to get him "in line" in case her parents for whatever reason don't get their green cards before he turns 21? If my wife petitions for him right away then her parents get their green cards before he turns 21 can they then petition for him and change his category or does it not work that way? This is something I am confused about. My wife has other siblings she would like to petition for but they are over 21 so they would all be in the F4 category. After we get her parents and brother taken care of we would like to file for them and get them "in line" even though it could take a decade or two.

So I emailed the Chicago consulate on Monday asking some questions about the dual citizenship process such as if my step son only having a US passport and not a naturalization certificate would be an issue among other questions. I have yet to receive a response. This is the same email address their website tells you to email the application to so they can review it and schedule an appointment. Has anyone gone through this process and actually got a response via email? It appears that you can also send the application through the mail. I'm wondering if this is the best option as it appears they don't respond to emails.

You just basically answered all of my questions except for one. How does my step son apply for dual citizenship while waiting for his naturalization certificate? Is a US passport enough?

So I have been doing a lot of research on what it would take to bring my wife's parents to the US and so far I think I have some answers but I also have some questions. What I know is we need to do an I-130 for both of her parents. What I'm wondering is how similar this process is to applying for a spousal visa like we did with my wife. I know we will need basic documents like my wife's naturalization certificate, parents marriage certificate and parents birth certificates (I'm assuming this one). Those are the things I know. Here are my questions: What other documents that I didn't list will be needed? Does my wife need to provide proof of income like I did when petitioning for her? If so are the income requirements the same? What are the fees to file the I-130s? Can this be filed online? What is the average processing time when filing for a parent? The same as a spousal visa? Slower? Faster? My wife's brother is 17. If we file before he turns 18 (in December) can he be included with my wife's parents? How does that process work? Will my wife's parents have to go for an interview? If so can they bring someone along to translate for them as they aren't fluent in English? If my wife's brother was included in the process he is fluent in English if he was allowed to attend the interview. Otherwise would they be allowed to have someone attend to translate for them? Anyways that's all I have for now. Any help is greatly appreciated.

As the title suggests I have some questions about dual Philippines US citizenship. Our situation has a few variables at play here so I'll lay out all the details then ask my specific questions. So my wife and step son came to the US on a CR1 visa and since then we had 2 more kids who are 7 years and 18 months old. My wife became a naturalized citizen in December of last year and my step son turned 18 in April meaning he derived citizenship from my wife but we still have to file his N600 (which were starting on this weekend). My wife and I did not file a "report of birth" (think thats what it is called) with the Philippines consulate for our US born children as we were unaware at the time it had to be done before they turned one year old. So our end goal here is for my wife and all the children to have dual citizenship. Here are my questions: Wife: I think the process is fairly straightforward for her. Simply submit the requirements on the (Chicago) consulate website and schedule an appointment. Am I missing anything here? Does she need a US passport before applying? Step son: As I mentioned we are getting ready to file his N600. Does he qualify to apply for dual citizenship now by just using a US passport or will he need to complete the N600 process first. My understanding is he is already technically a US citizen. He just doesn't have the certificate yet. Can he apply for dual citizenship on my wife's application or will he have to do it separately? The end goal would be to only have to take a trip to Chicago once to complete everything but I don't know if that's possible. US born children: It was my understanding that my wife and I were supposed to report their birth to the Philippines consulate before they turned one year old which we failed to do. It was also my understanding we could fill out a form explaining why we didn't do so. I was not sure what a valid reason would be on that form. I thought a "report of birth" was the only way to get their dual citizenship until I saw this on the dual citizenship website for the Chicago consulate: "Under the principle of derivative citizenship, unmarried children below eighteen (18) years of age, whether legitimate, illegitimate, or adopted, of former Filipino parents who retained/reacquired their Philippine citizenship under this law, may also be deemed Filipino citizens, if they are included in the parent’s application for retention/reacquisition of Philippine citizenship." Does this mean we can simply include them in my wife's dual citizenship application and bypass the "report of birth" process entirely? I'm a bit confused here. Hopefully someone can clear this up for me. If the "report of birth" process is still nessasary some clarification on what I could use as a reason for not reporting them in time would be helpful. General questions: We are planning a trip to the Philippines at the end of next year. We are planning on staying for a couple months. Assuming my wife and none of the kids have dual citizenship by then would they all qualify for balikbayan visas? Would I qualify for one via my wife even if she didn't have dual citizenship yet? I assume my wife and step son would qualify based on their former Philippines citizenship. Anyways those are the questions I have in order to get this process started. I'm sure I'll have more as I dig into it deeper. Any help is greatly appreciated.