how long does a PR have to wait to become Citizen if??

[tomrein 0]

My wife has just adjusted her status after two years as a Conditional Permanent Resident. I heard someone saying that if a Permanent Resident Marries a Natural Born U.S. Citizen they can file for citizenship after obtaining their Green Card for only two years .

I am trying to bring our adopted son here, but She is the only one with two years physical custody. So if she can adjust to citizen she can put her name on my petition for our adopted son and qualify us for the physical custody requirement?

thanks in advance and if you have knowledge about adopting a foreign child I would love to be able to chat with you to help me through some very trying times. We have not been with our son for two years now.

[aaron2020 11,651]

My wife has just adjusted her status after two years as a Conditional Permanent Resident. I heard someone saying that if a Permanent Resident Marries a Natural Born U.S. Citizen they can file for citizenship after obtaining their Green Card for only two years .

I am trying to bring our adopted son here, but She is the only one with two years physical custody. So if she can adjust to citizen she can put her name on my petition for our adopted son and qualify us for the physical custody requirement?

thanks in advance and if you have knowledge about adopting a foreign child I would love to be able to chat with you to help me through some very trying times. We have not been with our son for two years now.

An LPR who marries a US citizen has to wait 3 years to become a US citizen; does not matter if the USC is natural born or naturalizes.

Is your wife the biological mom? If she is, then the child is also your step-child which means you can apply for the child without having to meet the 2 years custody requirement.

[Cino 5]

If you have gained your LPR through a marriage with USC, you have to wait for 3 years,

but of course you can apply for Naturalization 90 days before the 3rd year anniversary of Permanent residency.

GOOD LUCK !.....

[tomrein 0]

Is your wife the biological mom? If she is, then the child is also your step-child which means you can apply for the child without having to meet the 2 years custody requirement.

My wife found our son on her doorstep nearly ten years ago, she did wrong and filed a simulated birth certificate. I was not willing to petition him as her biological son at the time I filed her papers. We together filed an Adoption in the Philippines. Our son was declared a foundling, a ward of the state and then he was made our son when the adoption finalized on April 4th 2008. Which I believe is the first day Philippines became a Hague Convention Country.

Now USCIS wants me(citizen Petitioner) to have two years Physical Custody. My wife has had him 8 years, but I fail to see how I can get Physical Custody Myself. WE have missed two years of our sons childhood now and seems USCIS wants us to miss 2 more. There must be a work around this. I sent them a letter apologizing for not knowing that during the Adoption procedure I should have been doing either an I 600 or AN I 800. USCIS was just yesteday sent the best we could provide, that my wife has had him for his entire life and I have completely supported him for four years now.

If there is a moderator who could place this post where It may garner the attention of peoples knowing a good deal of foreign adoption it would be appreciated.

again thanks in advance for any and all advice you may provide.

tom rein

Edited April 17, 2009 by tomrein

[payxibka 10,045]

My wife has just adjusted her status after two years as a Conditional Permanent Resident. I heard someone saying that if a Permanent Resident Marries a Natural Born U.S. Citizen they can file for citizenship after obtaining their Green Card for only two three years .

in addition the marriage need to be ongoing and intact at the time of approval

Edited April 17, 2009 by payxibka

[lucyrich 20]

My wife has just adjusted her status after two years as a Conditional Permanent Resident. I heard someone saying that if a Permanent Resident Marries a Natural Born U.S. Citizen they can file for citizenship after obtaining their Green Card for only two years .

It sounds like your wife recently went through removal of conditions, not adjustment of status. If she had conditional LPR status, then filed an I-751, and had it approved, that was removal of conditions. Adjustment of status is a separate thing, when one goes from being a nonimmigrant to a green card holder (conditional or not).

It's important to note that, for naturalization purposes, it doesn't matter whether a green card is conditional or not. Either type is the same as far as accumulating time for eventual citizenship.

You need three years with a green card to become a citizen if you're married to a US Citizen spouse. Often, you can apply for citizenship about one year after applying for removal of conditions, but it depends on meeting a bunch of separate requirements. See the M-476 for details, or look at the sticky at the top of this forum.

I'm not sure of all the issues around the child's citizenship, but see this state department document:

http://adoption.state.gov/pdf/FAQs_Child%2...20of%202000.pdf

The child must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least one American citizen parent by birth or naturalization;

• Be under 18 years of age;

• Live in the legal and physical custody of the American citizen parent; and

• Be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence. (have a green card)

In addition, if the child is adopted, the adoption must be full and final.

It doesn't matter what order things happen in, nor does it matter which parent is the one through which citizenship is gained. It sounds like, right now, the mother isn't a US Citizen, but she's a legal parent, and you are a US Citizen, but not yet the child's legal father. The child will have a US Citizen parent when either you become the child's legal parent or when the mother gains US Citizenship. Furthermore, it sounds like the child doesn't yet have a green card.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My wife has just adjusted her status after two years as a Conditional Permanent Resident. I heard someone saying that if a Permanent Resident Marries a Natural Born U.S. Citizen they can file for citizenship after obtaining their Green Card for only two years .

I am trying to bring our adopted son here, but She is the only one with two years physical custody. So if she can adjust to citizen she can put her name on my petition for our adopted son and qualify us for the physical custody requirement?

thanks in advance and if you have knowledge about adopting a foreign child I would love to be able to chat with you to help me through some very trying times. We have not been with our son for two years now.

the rule of threes. 3 years in USA, 3 years married to the original petitioner, 3 years an LPR. Then she can apply for citizenship

[NickD 202]

The delays in bring my wife here among other things was her getting full physical custody of her daughter during the AOS stage, she just couldn't come here nor would I agree by herself leaving her daughter in the street someplace.

Whatever stack of forms we had to fill out to bring my wife here, had to do the same for her daughter, plus we needed indisputable proof that her daughter was free to come here and free of any claims from her biological father. For the I-751, only had to pay the biometric fee for our daughter, but she turned 18 due to extensive delays when applying for the N-400. No way to get around those delays, tried, and tried very hard, so daughter has to wait those additional two years before she can get her USC.

I would have a very difficult time comprehending how you and your wife could have left her son behind.

[payxibka 10,045]

the rule of threes. 3 years in USA, 3 years married to the original petitioner, 3 years an LPR. Then she can apply for citizenship

three years in USA and three years LPR pretty much the same. I think you have misunderstood one of the qualifications, that being the USC spouse must also have been a USC for three years

[tomrein 0]

The delays in bring my wife here among other things was her getting full physical custody of her daughter during the AOS stage, she just couldn't come here nor would I agree by herself leaving her daughter in the street someplace.

Whatever stack of forms we had to fill out to bring my wife here, had to do the same for her daughter, plus we needed indisputable proof that her daughter was free to come here and free of any claims from her biological father. For the I-751, only had to pay the biometric fee for our daughter, but she turned 18 due to extensive delays when applying for the N-400. No way to get around those delays, tried, and tried very hard, so daughter has to wait those additional two years before she can get her USC.

I would have a very difficult time comprehending how you and your wife could have left her son behind.

You should not assume I would leave our son in the street or the care of someone we do not trust implicitly,..My wife's sister is caring for him and he stays in the house I built in the province. I send him to private school and send money weekly for his every need. Sorry I kinda take offense when someone implies that I am abandoning my son on the street or forcing my wife to do the same. I have done nothing but fix the problems my wife has had in her life for over 5 years, and some of those problems were big! Our son is the perfect example of how taking the easy way is not always the best, we had to adopt him legally so that he can come here properly with no chance of either of them being blacklisted forever. that was a hard choice we both had to make mutually. And YES WE MISS OUR SON TREMENDOUSLY.

Your case, your life does not apply to my situation.

Edited April 19, 2009 by tomrein

[NickD 202]

No offense was intended, but you did seem weak in understanding basic immigration law regarding citizenship and will admit to being wrong in what you went through to bring your son over here at the same time as your wife.

But it never is easy, the basics are neither the country nor the biological parent give a damn about that kid, that is, until you try and bring them over offering a good home to live in. Then suddenly they really give a damn.

In our case the biological not only abandoned his daughter for six years, but moved to a different country and first had to be found. After finding this jerk, tried to blackmail us. Took hiring attorneys, the best in three different countries and also paying an "expedient fee" because the courts were so darn slow. Had to build a strong case against him and kind of counter black mail him to pay six years of child support payments, plus future child payments for the next five years. It was then we finally agreed to sign the papers. His daughter didn't want anything to do with him, was also a wife and a child abuser.

Even after all of that is wasn't over for us, our daughters' passport expired and even with all the paper work we had, Venezuela refused to renew her passport without his signature, he wanted $10,000.00 USD to sign a simple all filled out form, more blackmail. We just waited until she turned 18, created even more bitterness from her so at least she could visit her family. I pleaded with him many times to know avail, he was hurting his own daughter. But is all history now, time tends to take care of all problems. But was quite an expensive legal battle to bring her over here, with the expedient fee, managed to do that in a years time and freed him of some very expensive child support payments.

[tomrein 0]

No offense was intended, but you did seem weak in understanding basic immigration law regarding citizenship and will admit to being wrong in what you went through to bring your son over here at the same time as your wife.

I could not chance the doctors at the medical interview questioning why my wife had never given birth and yet we were petitioning a son. I felt we needed to legitimize the child's status, thus adopt him. They changed the rules on the very day our adoption case finalized. So none of this is neither here nor there as we still need a way to bring our son here.

I dont know if we can get the uscis to waive the 2 years physical custody of the Petitioner as my wife has had total custody of the child for 8 years.

[tomrein 0]

The child must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least one American citizen parent by birth or naturalization;

• Be under 18 years of age;

• Live in the legal and physical custody of the American citizen parent; and

• Be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence. (have a green card)

In addition, if the child is adopted, the adoption must be full and final.

It doesn't matter what order things happen in, nor does it matter which parent is the one through which citizenship is gained. It sounds like, right now, the mother isn't a US Citizen, but she's a legal parent, and you are a US Citizen, but not yet the child's legal father. The child will have a US Citizen parent when either you become the child's legal parent or when the mother gains US Citizenship. Furthermore, it sounds like the child doesn't yet have a green card.

I am the US citizen, my wife just removed her conditional status(ongoing). We both legally adopted out son Jade in the Philippines, so yes I am the legal father. I cannot obtain physical custody personally until he is allowed to come live with us. Yet my wife has had him since childhood. The adoption decision was granted retroactively to July 2006, the day we filed the adoption case. We went trough a foreign DSWD(social services) investigation/home study, the child was declared a foundling and ward of the state. The bio-parents were searched for via radio and print adds, Then the DSWD recommended custody for us. And the court ruled Jade is now our son.

I wish the USCIS would allow him here,ie change rules so that we can achieve the Physical Custody requirement then after two years we can complete his paperwork. I would rather live in limbo with our child then apart.