Disfan01

Thanks for the reply.  It’s all cleared up! They wanted proof she filed for 2020.  She went to the local office and they printed off an account transcript which showed that even though it’s not yet processed, her return was filed and payment was received. It was accepted and he just landed today! 

It sounds like the direct unaccompanied minor flight may be our best option then if we can all get on board with that.  Do you guys know what she will need as proof of being the parent of an LPR then?  Just a copy of his passport stamp, visa, and passport, and birth certificate?  Will an emailed copy of the stamp in his passport be sufficient?

We received our DQ on June 14th and got an interview letter/email June 29th for an interview on July 7th. It made it impossible for us to get the medical done as the doctors were booked until the 8th and 12th. Now we need to reschedule the interview and there are no future dates available. We're beyond frustrated!!!! 

I don’t know that DCF will be an option for you. To do so you need to be legitimately living in SA. My husband and I married in SA 04/2017 and it took 10 months to get our official marriage certificate from home affairs for us to apply for me to get a spousal visa. In that time I had to continue flying back to the US every three months. We got the spousal visa approved and continued living in SA until we decided in 2019 to move to the states. DCF was quite efficient once we filed. From initial filing to final interview was 5 months.  Unfortunately no matter which path you choose, it takes what feels like forever to get documents from Home Affairs. Plan on lots of traveling to stay together. To my knowledge, You can still file to a US lockbox while living in SA, but you will need that printed marriage certificate. 

Processing times have gotten much better, depending on the luck of which processing Center your application gets sent to. We are in the process of bringing our son to live with us as well and I sent our I-130 in at the end of December and it was approved by the end of April. We went through the Nebraska processing center.  There have been a few apparent glitches with NVC but that’s where we are now. 
 
I think waiting for your marriage certificate will be the longest part unfortunately. I don’t know if the handwritten copy from Home Affairs will be sufficient.  It would be something to look into. I found it ironic that the handwritten document was enough for me to get my drivers license and social security card changed on this side, but the SA government wouldn’t accept their own document to get my spousal visa. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve never been to any other African countries, but I lived with hubs in SA for 5 years.  Beautiful country and lovely people. 
 
thanks so much for all your encouragement!

That’s exactly what I was wondering.  If an immigration officer this side may question if she will be really leaving after dropping him off to us. (She is, but they don’t know her from Adam, as my mom used to say). I may ask her to bring proof of her job and that she owns several properties in SA, just that she has something in hand if they ask her to prove ties to SA.  Plus, we will all be at the airport waiting on him if they wanted to speak to me or my husband.  He just turned 11, so the idea of sending him on an international flight with layovers isn’t something any of us are comfortable with, not to mention sitting in that immigration office by himself. Not that the officers were horrible (at least when we arrived, the officer was very nice) but it could definitely be intimidating. 

We did DCF for my husband’s visa but since we are living in the US now so we went the traditional route for filing for our son. I’m not sure if that makes a difference in the timeframe to receiving the visa after the interview.  It would be great if it were ready and he could just fly back with my husband. Even better would be if everything were finished in time for school to start this year, lol. 

We did DCF for my husband’s visa but since we are living in the US now so we went the traditional route for filing for our son. I’m not sure if that makes a difference in the timeframe to receiving the visa after the interview.  It would be great if it were ready and he could just fly back with my husband. Even better would be if everything were finished in time for school to start this year, lol. 

Just to update, got an email that said household member was approved and could finally update forms.

Thanks for the reply.  I went on and just used the case number instead of logging in and it shows our case was approved. 😃

1) The I-130 says nothing about excluding children if they aren't immigrating. The child should have been listed. This can be updated at the interview.
2) Assuming you are a US Citizen, the I-130 for your spouse will not cover the child. A separate I-130 is necessary (no derivative beneficairies for an immediate relative of a USC). This can be filed anytime....the sooner it is filed, the quicker it will be processed.
3) If his child is under 18, has a green card, and is living in his care in the US at the time he naturalizes, then the child will derive citizenship automatically. He could apply for a US passport for the child directly at that point. An N-600 is optional as well.