Auntie trying to petition her Niece

[SuperDuper! 230]

I know this is a rare case and likely not many will know from experience, but...

If auntie is trying to petition her 12 year old niece to the US from the Philippines, how long might that take?

Anybody ever try to petition a niece?

Thx!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

An aunt can not petition for her niece. The only relationships that are valid are spouse/fiance, parent, child, sibling

[SuperDuper! 230]

An aunt can not petition for her niece. The only relationships that are valid are spouse/fiance, parent, child, sibling

Aunt is a US citizen married to a USC. ?

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

As PP said, she cannot petition directly.Only options are adopt the niece (I think she needs to be an orphan to be elligible for a visa though,not sure), or for the aunt to petition her sister/ brother, ie the child's parent.

[Anh map 2,098]

Another person recently asked the same thing here on VJ regarding a niece from the PI. It can't be done.

IF the child was an orphan then the aunt could adopt the child and then petition. With a living parent the child cannot be petitioned for. From what I understand, the international adoption treaty/agreement/guidelines that the US abides by doesn't allow for it.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Well, there seems to be a consensus here. Even without the amazing Otto chiming in, all others seem to agree that an Aunt/Niece relationship petition and visa from the Philippines to US is just not allowed. I do thank you for your responses very much. If anyone else has a say, please comment as well. Thx, Hopp

[sachinky 465]

An USC aunt even if married to a USC cannot petition for a niece, especially if the niece is not an orphan. Other options are petitioning the aunt's sibling's or through adoption.

[SuperDuper! 230]

An USC aunt even if married to a USC cannot petition for a niece, especially if the niece is not an orphan. Other options are petitioning the aunt's sibling's or through adoption.

Thanks for your input. And one big restriction on adopting from the Phils is that the DSWD requires that the couple be married for at least 5 years.

[Darnell 8,479]

Hopp - there is other option, not need to adopt - and that is -

Come in on Student Visa.

No adoption required.

You'll need to find a private school (cause public schools mostly don't handle age 10 to 17) that has prior experience in student visas, then ask about the costs. The Aunt would then be her SPONSER in the USA for school purposes. It's usually not cheap to do this - requires some advanced planning and a bankroll .