Petitioning Step-Son over 21

[hopefulguy 0]

I found this site very informative. I hope someone could help me find the answer for my questions. Is there a policy EXCEPTION for USC petitioning step-son Over 21? Any further question to help you answer my concern?

I appreciate your time reading my post. Looking forward for more responses.

[hopefulguy 0]

"the first prerequisite for the step-father to be able to file any petition for the child is that he married the child's biological mother before the child was 18. Once that requirement has been satisfied then there are three options:

[*] If the child is over 21 and unmarried then they are eligible for an F1 visa. This is a family preference visa, which means there's an annual cap and a waiting time, currently about 7 years for most countries."

**is there an exception for this policy? my mom and my stepdad got married when I was only 17 and that was on the year 2000. However they didn't file my petition before I turned 21 (a letter of explanation made by my stepdad was forwarded to USCIS), petition was filed by my stepdad (USC) July 0f 2008. Luckily, petitioned was approved a month ago (May2011). Is it still under F1 Visa? Is there a fastest way to get a visa? Philippines has a long wait period for F1 visa. Please help.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

"the first prerequisite for the step-father to be able to file any petition for the child is that he married the child's biological mother before the child was 18. Once that requirement has been satisfied then there are three options:

[*] If the child is over 21 and unmarried then they are eligible for an F1 visa. This is a family preference visa, which means there's an annual cap and a waiting time, currently about 7 years for most countries."

**is there an exception for this policy? my mom and my stepdad got married when I was only 17 and that was on the year 2000. However they didn't file my petition before I turned 21 (a letter of explanation made by my stepdad was forwarded to USCIS), petition was filed by my stepdad (USC) July 0f 2008. Luckily, petitioned was approved a month ago (May2011). Is it still under F1 Visa? Is there a fastest way to get a visa? Philippines has a long wait period for F1 visa. Please help.

Is your mom still an LPR? If so, it would knock about four years off your waiting time if she submitted a petition for you. F2B's are currently faster than F1's in the Philippines.

Other than that, no - there are no exceptions. If there were then the waiting list for F1's in the Philippines wouldn't be so long.

[hopefulguy 0]

My step dad filed for it and he's a USC. If we're going to use a lawyer can we possibly remove my case under F1 category?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

My step dad filed for it and he's a USC. If we're going to use a lawyer can we possibly remove my case under F1 category?

It's possible to withdraw the petition, but you probably shouldn't do that. F2B's are currently faster than F1's only in the Philippines. They're a tad slower in every other country. You don't know what's going to happen in the future. It's possible that F1's could catch up and pass F2B's in the Philippines. If your mom is an LPR then she can go ahead and file a petition. You can have more than one family preference petition pending at the same time.