Irelandliz

@SusieQQQ yes you’re so right if the agent had just told her that about looking at the visa bulletin it would have made everything more clear and certainly no big decisions would have been made.  ( I only heard about the bulletin last week when i went on the site to see if i could check on the progress of her application.  Now I hope to still persuade my sister to make the move here this year and then once settled perhaps she can apply to sponsor her daughter.  Otherwise she will give up her green card and stay in South Africa!

Yes 2016 sorry.  When the guard asked her she told them she was finalizing things in South Africa and would be back for good in April 2018.  And I’m not exactly sure if she has been out longer than six months.

Thank you so much for your advice...

10 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Always difficult with third hand information, just a few points that come to mind:

 

• You said she would be emigrating in 2018, not that she had 2 years ago.
• Unclear if she has even retained her PR status.
• US is an odd place to retire to unless you are extremely wealthy.
• Would have only take a quick google to check processing times in total
• Even now she has left it to you
• She also needs to sponsor her daughter and seemingly income is only Pensions, which may be enough, but maybe not.
• You have no right to rely on anything a US official tells you, Supreme Court said so.

I was referring to your time machine comment!

she got her green card a few years ago and still has her PR status.  She visited in November 2017 with no issue.  She is retiring here to be near me and my husband and although not extremely wealthy, she is comfortable and plans to work here.  She has not left anything to me - I want her here and am trying to find out as much info as I can.  And thank you for telling me what the Supreme Court says - I will remember that for the future.

My apologies.  USCIS agent.

10 hours ago, aleful said:

that makes 2 of us

 

how can she have filed for a petition for her daughter if she hasn't been living in the US?

 

she will be immigrating now and she filed for her daughter 2 years ago?

 

something's not right, it doesn't add up

 

 

I’m not telling a fairy story...  my sister has been back and forward to the US several times using her green card for entry without an issue.  My niece while here last year learnt, from an agent at the USCIS office, that her mom can petition for her to also get a green card.  She filled in the paperwork, paid the fee and mailed it in December 2016.

49 minutes ago, geowrian said:

INS agent? You're making me feel old! The INS stopped existing in the early 2000s.

10 hours ago, Boiler said:

She has a time machine?

And this is helpful, why!!  

My sister has sold her house, resigned from her job has sold all her household stuff and had hoped that her daughter’s green card would arrive in time so that they could leave their live in South Africa together to make a new one here.  This news although not new to you is new to us.  And it is devastating.  

2 hours ago, NuestraUnion said:

The INS agent was wrong. It will take the daughter closer to 10 years before she will get her green card. Maybe the agent thought she was an under 21 minor child (shrugs shoulders).

 

This is one of those good news/bad news situation. The good news is that you discovered you CAN petition for your adult dayghter. The bad news is that it will take a long time.

 

Best of luck to you!

My niece was sitting beside my sister in the Royal Palm Beach office when the agent asked her her age and then told her that if she applied she would get her green card in 12 to 18 months.  In hindsight we could have checked with a lawyer but you assume that they know what they are talking about. 

Thank you you for your kind wishes. 

7 hours ago, NigeriaorBust said:

  I think the green card holder entered the US to activate the visa and then filed for the daughter and is still cleaning up life full time in April .   Hopefully she has a reentry permit.   Assuming she is still a resident ,  there is a long wait for adult children,

Yes you are exactly right!!  We did not realise that she COULD petition for her daughter and only did so immediately she realised she could.  At the time the INS agent told her that her daughter  should  receive her green card in 12-18 months so my sister in the meantime has been closing up all her accounts etc and plans to emigrate in April.

Yes my sister has been in and out of the states frequently since she got her green card and she had to tidy up everything in South Africa  She rerired. She sold her house and is busy now arranging her pension, monies etc  we didnt realise initially that her daughter could petition to come with her and only did so once we realised we could,  however none of us realized there was such a long wait!!!  

My sister won her green card with the diversity visa program and is planning on emigrating to the US end of April 2018.  She petitioned for her adult daughter who is 26 to get her green card in December 2016 and received receipt of her application & fees in January 2017.  She will be emigrating from South Africa.  My question is does it make any difference what country the application is from?  Is it possible to have an I-130 approved in 12-18 months as an agent at NCSIS told us or do all of these applications take several years?  Thanks so much