Petioner dies after filing

[jason&Marla 0]

I have a freind who has been a permanant resident for over 20 years now. Her father who is also a permanant res. has filed for his daughter to come to the US. He filed about a year ago and the petion has been approved and on its way to the foreign embassy. Well 1 month ago he has died. My question is? -- What must they do since the petioner has died? Must they re-file or can they change the petioner to the wife of the deceased? Which is the mother of the benef.

[sus 70]

I just heard a similar case on the radio the other day - This attorney does an immigration link on Irie FM

http://www.ireport.com/people/USVisaLawyer...1EE679DB68C6286

I believe that they can substitute the mother -

[Skeeter211 2]

I have always heard that the petition dies with the petitioner and if no visa is issued before the petitioner dies, then a new one must be filed. I am certainly not an authority on this matter, but that is what I have heard before on the TV show Citizen Pinoy with Atty. Michael Gurfinkel.

Scott

[sus 70]

from the link I posted:

Death of petitioner Print

The very first step toward acquiring your green card through family sponsorship is for your immediate relative to file an Immigrant Petition on your behalf. An �immediate relative� is a child, spouse, or parent of a U.S. citizen. Unfortunately, this world is not perfect and people do not live forever. What happens when your relative filed that petition and then passed away? There are several scenarios.

One scenario is when the Immigrant Petition (Form I-130) was filed and not yet approved at the time your immediate relative (not spouse) passed away. In that scenario, the petition is lost and you have to find another way to obtain your green card.

The second scenario is when Form I-130 was filed and approved, and after the approval, your petitioner (your immediate relative, not spouse) passed away. In this scenario, all is not lost. The law allows a substitution on that approved I-130 petition of a qualified relative when humanitarian reasons exist. The law that allows this substitution is the Family Sponsor Immigration Act, which was enacted March 13, 2002. The new sponsor must be at least 18 years of age, living in the United States, meet all financial requirements for the Affidavit of Support, and be a close relative of the person seeking a green card. The substitute sponsor must be related to the sponsored alien in one of the following ways: as a spouse, parent, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sibling, child (if at least 18 years of age), son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or legal guardian.

The government is not required in any given case to reinstate approval of a visa petition, thus reinstatement is a matter of discretion based on the facts of each individual case.

The important factor to remember is that there must be humanitarian reasons that would allow the Attorney General to sustain the I-130 and not revoke it. The humanitarian reasons may include: 1) disruption of an established family unit, 2) hardship to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; 3) hardship to the alien�s relatives abroad; 4) lengthy residence in the United States by the alien, etc.

The third scenario entails unexpected the death of a U.S. citizen spouse. A widow(er) of a U.S. citizen, if married for at least two years, can file a petition within two years of the spouse�s death. They may not re-marry during this time, and they must not been legally separated at the time of the spouse�s death. Children of the widow(er) may be included in that petition, but cannot file a separate petition. For example, your spouse filed an I-130 petition together with your adjustment of status application and then passed away in the middle of the process. In this situation, the I-130 petition that had been filed earlier must be withdrawn, and the widow(er) can now file for him or herself if the requirements listed above are me. This is done using Form I-360.

[Mononoke28 135]

Great info! Thanks for posting it.

Diana