appleblossom

Yes, if he's eligible (and sounds like he is if he has already been a joint sponsor). So if needed he can be added when they get to the point of the NVC side of things, which is a while away (possibly as much as a decade away, depending on the age of the kids).

Then you need to get his green card corrected, by filing an I-90.

Ideally both parents would petition them as it will take so long, so that you have a second parent application as 'back up' in case something happens to one of them. But if it's easier just your Mom could petition them, it doesn't matter that she doesn't work as long as she has a joint sponsor that qualifies. I'm not really following the name differences on each document, but if it's wrong on the green card/SSN then you need to get them corrected anyway.

Congrats! I know they say to allow a couple of weeks for passport delivery, but ours was nowhere near that, it's usually much quicker. I reckon you'll have your visa in hand by the end of the week. Not a bad Christmas present. 👍

No. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Pakistan.html

Eh?! I get that you’re annoyed with finding out how long it will take, but there’s no need to take it out on Boiler who’s just trying to help. He was only responding to your post that said you wanted your family around you. If you’d said that you have a life in the US that you don’t want to give up then I’m sure his response would have been different. Of course you can petition your brother (although there’s no ‘legal right’ to do so), it will just take a long time but there’s nothing to stop you at the moment. Good luck.

No other country that I can think of allows relatives like siblings to be petitioned for a visa, so at least it's an option in the US, albeit one with a big wait. I'd just file asap, and then get him to try and find other routes over, maybe employment based if he has specialist skills (and if he doesn't now, he could work towards it and it may still be quicker than you sponsoring him). Best of luck.

Not through you. He can look at other visa options though i.e. employment based, EB-5 investment visa, or perhaps there is another family member that could petition him and it would be quicker (i.e. a parent)??

That's only for the I-130 processing time then, so just the first step in the process. After that comes applying for a visa, and that cannot be done until the Priority Date is current on the Visa Bulletin, as you can see from that, those that applied 17.5 years ago are only just now eligible to apply for a visa.

Which website? It's wrong!

No, it gets him in the line for a visa. But it's a long wait, so if he has another route to a visa, he'd be better off trying another way as well (I'd still suggest you file for him, just as back up). File for him asap, then keep an occasional eye on the Visa Bulletin to see which filing date is eligible for visas. As you can see from this months, those that applied 17.5 years ago are now able to get visas, but that timeline is increasing as more people apply. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2025/visa-bulletin-for-december-2024.html And of course, there's a good chance Trump will try and end that visa category, so another reason to apply asap - it may be that those who've already applied are safe if he does, and only new applicants will be at risk.

20+ years as a rough estimate.

Depends on the category, as some are given priority. What type of visa?

Glad to hear it, congrats.

Every consulate will do the maximum they can, but what they can't control is the number of interviews required. CJ has a far higher demand on its time than other consulates, so there is a backlog. For instance, CJ issued over 300,000 visas in 2023 FY, Paris only issued 65,000 ish, but even with doing so many more interviews than most other consulates CJ has a backlog as many more are wanting interviews, hence the longer wait there. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/visas-news-archive/immigrant-visa-prioritization.html https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/PDF-other/NVC_role_in_IVs_for_applicants_November_2016.pdf https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/Immigrant Visa Control System_operation of.pdf I get that it's frustrating, but this is a country specific delay because of the backlog at CJ, caused because they have a far bigger caseload than other consulates. And as it fluctuates month by month, there's no way for for them to accurate predict when you may get your interview, but you can get an idea from other cases at least. Good luck.

We don’t know that’s not the case though. Pfons may be scraping together his life savings in the hope of a WOM speeding things up, so telling him that it’ll just be chucking money down the drain is pretty good advice I think. Boiler is long done with the immigration process btw.

It’s not the consulate anyway, your interview is scheduled by NVC. The whole process is very transparent and the wait for the interview is the only variable in it which is pretty good really. I remember waiting more than 5 years for a Canadian visa with no info or timescale at all for any of it! But there’s not really any way for NVC to give a timescale for this stage, unlike all of the other stages this bit varies hugely by consulate and how many people are DQ’ed each month. Good luck.

Full course and a booster within the last year. Good luck.

The post is from July so hopefully Coolkat has contacted them by now! The age your daughter was on her PD isn’t really relevant. What will determine if she’s F2A or F2B will be when her I-130 was approved and how old she is now?

It’s fairly simple, those eligible for interviews are scheduled in date order, with immediate relatives given priority. It’s just a case of waiting for your turn. Unlike all the other parts of the process that are clearly laid out step by step and timescales given for each, the stage between DQ and IL does vary depending on the consulate and their current backlog, but you can get an idea of current timescales by searching the forum. Good luck.

Not unless there's an issue/error i.e. you've been missed for some reason and people who were DQ'ed well in the same category after you have got interview dates. If you're just waiting your turn, then a WOM isn't going to help you jump the line and it'll just be dismissed.

I think your lawyer is the person to ask, possibly another lawyer for a second opinion. I thought she had to maintain status for the entire time and so if her student visa is about to end, that could be a big issue - but a lawyer will be able to tell you. And as Boiler said, her being a student for 10 years could be a red flag, as it could look like she wants to do anything she can to stay in the US and it's a green card marriage. That's assuming she's been a student in the US for all that time of course, or do you mean she was studying in her home country and only came to the US for her most recent course?

Then it sounds like you're fine for her to adjust status. As long as neither of you had the intent of her staying when she entered and there's no evidence to say otherwise (i.e. she didn't give notice on her job/house/etc before coming to the US, or sell belongings etc) then it's no issue. Good luck.

Ah that's good! Mine was only in AP for a couple of hours before it changed to issued. But we didn't have to submit any docs so there wasn't really much for them to check after the interview, yours may take a little while longer but at least it means they're now looking at it. Hopefully it's not long for you, good luck.

It varies hugely by consulate - some are as quick as 2-3 months from DQ to IL, others are 2+ years. So if you can share the consulate, then people can give you an idea of how long is likely to take.