Help with tricky situation in brining parents to the US

[ckrishna1 0]

Hello VJers!

This looks like a great place to crowdsource for information, regarding a tricky situation my husband and I find ourselves in. I'm a US citizen with dual australian citizenship. Both my parents and brother live in Australia.

The easy part is that I would like to petition to bring my parents over to the US.

The tricky part is that I would also like to bring my brother - who is an unmarried adult with a developmental disability.

Here is where we are having some trouble with planning: My brother obviously falls under a different immigration category than my parents. He cannot take care of himself alone, so he needs at least one of my parents to stay with him in Australia for some time. If I were to file I130s for both my parents, and assuming they are granted permanent residency - they would still need to be able to maneuver between Australia and the US, to look after him.

So, one of them would stay in the US while the other goes to Australia. For ~2 months each year, all three of them would be in the US (my brother on a visitor visa). This way, both parents would be in the US for at least 7 months in each year.

Does anyone know (or does anyone have experience already) whether this arrangement is possible under the obligations of the parent's visa? Can they maintain this for 5 years before they become citizens and are able to sponsor my brother as a legal permanent resident?

If anyone is wondering, we aren't planning to apply directly to sponsor my brother because we have been told by various parties that this is more of a ####### shoot - and that there is no guarantee that he will get residency status. Previously, a USCIS officer told us that the government will not take his developmental disability into account (either for or against him) when processing his application.

Thanks in advance!

CK

Edited November 19, 2009 by ckrishna1

[rika60607 215]

I thought Australia is under VWP and hence no visa is needed for a visit?

[ckrishna1 0]

I thought Australia is under VWP and hence no visa is needed for a visit?

Yes, Australia is under VWP, but a visa is required if the visit is planned for more than 3 months, or more than one visit in a year.

[Cacerez 19]

I am bumping this, because I'm interested to see any more feedback you get. Interesting situation.