cjtowerman

I have often heard and seen on the boards here that the I-130 for stepchild requires permission from the "other" parent. I don't see this on the I-130 and wonder if it is true and is something handled later at the interview stage. My friend's case is rather complicated. He married abroad and came here 3 years ago, with his new wife. Her then 17-year old son was studying on a scholarship and stayed behind. His wife's papers are all good and they filed for conditional removal, etc. The boy has completed studies and now wants to join the family in the U.S. He is 20 now, and was never adopted by my friend (my friend can still petition him as a stepchild, correct?). The boy does not have a father listed on most Honduran paperwork. His mother was the victim of a kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder, so when a father's name was used, he later used his uncle's name for school and i.d. papers. Because the rape lead to a court case 20 years ago there was some documentation of this incident. Hurricane Mitch destroyed all such paperwork in the government building. The uncle died late 2007. Since the boy is under 21 but more than 18, he is not considered a full adult in Honduras. Usually, both parents are needed to grant a passport to a Honduran under 21 years. The boy received the Honduran passport just based on me standing there next to him and his mother, with nothing signed by me and I never said a word. At some point will the U.S. Embassy or the Honduran Government ask for parental permission and/or the name of the men (there were 3) who raped her, to grant an I130 to the boy? Is permission unnecessary if the child is over 18? We are afraid there is no way to prove the above story (short of a giant legal mess taking years) and the case will look like one parent trying to escape with a child and not notifying the other parent, but there is no other parent. How can I determine if parental permission will ever come into play, or if the boy will be interviewed regarding his father?

The US could care less. Her problems would be trying to enter Honduras on an expired passport, as they may not admit her. Her other problems will be with the airline employees who would not want to board her on an expired passport as the airline would be responsible for bringing her back to the US if she is refused admission into Honduras. Get it renewed.

If the people on the telephone are correct today, the U.S. does care, in that acording to Security at the Denver Airport, they would not pass her through using an expired passport, since it is expired, it is not a valid id for HS and others. Since she is Honduran, Honduran immigration would not reject her upon arrival since she does not need a Honduran passport to enter Honduras (not even by air), and she has a Honduran National Identity card. It is unclear if she could do as a Honduran lawyer recommended = toss out the expired passport before leaving, pass U.S. security using the "green card", board the TACA place with Honduran documentation, and pass Honduran immigration using the national i.d. and birth certificate, then get a new Honduras passport once back in Honduras. She will not be able to renew it this year, since for medical reasons she has been informed she cannot travel until 2007. She might be able to get a new Honduran passport in the U.S. in 2007, but that would come with the same insanely high costs. Personally, it all sounds too ricky to me, but she will not be able to renew it before 12/16, and will have to live with the consequences of that, assuming it is true that you cannot renew a Honduran passport by mail due to some new U.S. passport requirement, of which I cannot find any documentation - but none of the Honduran consulates will renew it by mail.

Short version: If a non-U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. visa and U.S. green card has their non-U.S. passport expire while they are in the U.S., is their visa safe, and are they permitted to go back home on a OW (or RT) air ticket, at which point they get a new passport and later return to the U.S. or does the passport itself play a role in the legality of their stay in the U.S.?

Long version: a friend’s wife is Honduran. She is in the U.S. legally on a marriage visa, has a currently valid passport with visa, and green card. The U.S. recently clamped down on Honduras for a lack of controls in Honduran passport security. As of September 2006, all Hondurans in the U.S. who need a renewed or new passport, are not allowed to do so by mail with their Embassy or Consulate. Everything must be done in person, because all applicants must be photographed & fingerprinted for passport renewals and new issuances of passports. Since Honduras is a poor country with few consulates in the U.S., this means people must travel great distances, buying air tickets and paying for hotels, to acquire a passport which is quite inexpensive in their home country. My friend’s wife is in rural Wyoming; she has medical problems which are expensive and the added travel expense would be a serious hardship. The closest/cheapest Honduran Consulate to her is Houston or Chicago. The cost of renewing her passport, with a RT ticket for her and her husband (her English is limited, and for medical problems she cannot travel alone), with hotels and taxis and the off-site passport fee, will exceed $1350.00 If she were in Honduras, the passport would cost about $65. The passport expires 12/16/06. The Honduran consulate claims she must renew the passport in person, period - no exceptions; they are unsure what happens if it expires while she is here, and she needs to go back to Honduras (they should know, but do not, and will not confirm or deny anything). She has a free trip back to Honduras in May, 2007, 6 months after her passport will expire. She is tempted to let it expire...

The questions are: (a) Can she go to her home country on a expired passport if her country/national airline does not object - or is this illegal via U.S. travel regulations? (b) Her U.S. visa is in the passport, so would that expire when the passport does, even though the visa hasn’t the same date as the passport? © Her old passport has her fingerprint in it; this was scanned by the U.S. consul in Honduras, when she got her marriage visa. At that time they then fingerprinted her with the new digital print post-9/11 technology (this was 2005). The U.S. Embassy compared the new print to the old one in the passport, put both in a State Dept. file, and approved the visa. Why does she need to be fingerprinted a third time, now, to renew a passport? Is there any chance this requirement exists only for people who got there passport before 9/11 and have never been digitally fingerprinted with the 9/11 technology? The Honduran consuls in the U.S. are morons (basic lawyers living abroad, collectively a big political salary, and knowing nothing, etc.).

Her health is expected to be vastly improved by January, 2007. She could go back to Honduras in May, and spend 6-16 weeks there, get a new passport, and have a lot money left over, rather than pay $1k+ to go to Chicago, just to take a photo and get a digital fingerprint. Anyone know what happens if the passport expires, or if she has other options which seem less risky?

Well, she does have a Mexican tourist visa, but they focused on the expired U.S. marriage visa and lack of a Green card in her possession.

After one gets the immigrant visa, and the permanent resident card, what is it exactly, which allows one to come back into the U.S. after a trip abroad? Is the passport and Permanent Resident card a tandem set for all international travel, until one becomes a citizen and gets a U.S. passport?

I ask in that a friend left the U.S. by air for Honduras, then while attempting a land crossing to Mexico from Guatemala, was asked for the permanent resident card by Mexican immigration. The card was back in Honduras for safe keeping, since it has no application to Guatemala or Mexico. There was no intention to overstay a tourist visa in Mexico, nor was there any intention of going onward into the U.S. by land. She is still a citizen of Honduras, not the U.S., so I am unclear why this mattered? Apparently, the Mexican immigration people see the expiration date for the CR1, with a IX expiration date of 4 October 2005, and nothing else, and want some confirmation (I guess)? But, this has nothing to do with Mexico, right?

Back to the original question, and more: when someone returns to the U.S., they need the passport with U.S. immigrant visa and the permanent resident card, and/or what else, if anything? And, what happens to you if you are abroad at the time you need to file to remove the conditional status (I-751), or if your permanent resident card is "lost"?