ronwb

Thank you Hypnos for that clarification.

It leads me to perhaps the more precise question. I wonder if my stepdaughter can go through the interview process along with my stepson and wife, and since she must remain in Mexico for a year more - have her Visa post-dated by a year; so that as a family we won't have to journey to the Juarez consulate twice in two years.

Filing the I-130 in person in one week. Wondering IF I should file for stepdaughter who will turn 18 in 1 year and five months from now (her dad is unwilling to sign the permission for her mom and I to bring her with us). We are thinking that, as my wife will move this coming summer (assuming the DCF process works for us), my petition for my stepdaughter will allow my her to be in limbo for about a year: Just as the I-130 is set to expire we proceed with the tasks required before the Ciudad Juarez trip in the hopes of her interview being scheduled after she reaches the age of 18 (early Spring of her final year in Preparatoria) - so that she won't need her father's permission. She'll turn 18, finish 'high school,' and follow to be with us in 2018. Or, since it's a year after her mother first arrives, maybe it's less acrobatic-like to have my wife petition her daughter the moment she crosses the border as a new Permanent Resident.

I fear that a) the I-130 for my stepdaughter would expire, thus wasting the $420, and/or b) that Juarez will not be keen on our trying to delay the process regardless of our reasons/needs to do so.

Finally, what I'd hope to hear is that Juarez would be happy to see both my wife AND stepdaughter at the Interview, just with the legal understanding that her visa would not be issued until she turned 18 in 2018. It would save extended family the pains of taking a vacation simply to escort her to her medical/Interview/etc..

Am I fantasizing on being hopeful regarding USCIS/Juarez finding my scenarios plausible?