K2 AoS question - leaving the US during the first 2 years

[hambone 0]

This wonderful site helped me to get my wife's visa, and now her (older) kids are here on their K2's. Background wise, the kids are 17 and 15 yrs. old, and they arrived (with us) last week, after we spend December in Colombia. Gina (my wife) has her green card w/ the 2 year status (issued in Oct. of 2011).

My question / concern with the AOS process for her kids is the 2 year *temporary* status, mainly because her daughter is ready to start university, and her son has one more year of *collegio*. Their english isn't good enough to go to school here, so the plan is/was to get their AoS, then have them return to finish their schooling in Colombia. Then, return in the future.

The fear I have is that they will be rejected @ the interview in 2 years, after they've had their status' adjusted, due to their passports showing they were here for the first 6-9 mos. then returned to Colombia. Part of the reason for our inquiry is that traveling / vacation visas from Colombia are (understandably) very hard to get.

Any insight or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance & GB this website.

[hambone 0]

bumping

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This wonderful site helped me to get my wife's visa, and now her (older) kids are here on their K2's. Background wise, the kids are 17 and 15 yrs. old, and they arrived (with us) last week, after we spend December in Colombia. Gina (my wife) has her green card w/ the 2 year status (issued in Oct. of 2011).

My question / concern with the AOS process for her kids is the 2 year *temporary* status, mainly because her daughter is ready to start university, and her son has one more year of *collegio*. Their english isn't good enough to go to school here, so the plan is/was to get their AoS, then have them return to finish their schooling in Colombia. Then, return in the future.

The fear I have is that they will be rejected @ the interview in 2 years, after they've had their status' adjusted, due to their passports showing they were here for the first 6-9 mos. then returned to Colombia. Part of the reason for our inquiry is that traveling / vacation visas from Colombia are (understandably) very hard to get.

Any insight or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance & GB this website.

The 2 year green card is normal for K visas. You will remove conditions in two years and they will all get 10 year green cards,

The children CAN go to school in Colombia AFTER they have their green cards. However they need to maintain US residency, refer to the USCIS website on retaining residency.

Our son attends college in Moscow, not because he cannot speak English, he speaks English very well, but because he received a paid scholarship to a very good university. He comes home for Christmas/New Years and Summer. He has a summer job, files income tax, has a Vermont drivers license, registered for the draft and uses a US bank account for all his banking needs, even in Russia. He LIVES in Vermont, he goes to school in Moscow.

MOAT IMPORTANTLY he is registered with is school as a US RESIDENT. If you make a claim of being a resident of another country you can lose your US residency immediately. You CAN do this, but be very careful. maintain good records of everything. Be VERY careful to always represent your US residence as the children's residence.

The problem I see for you is that it can be difficult with younger children to get all the things you need to prove intent to maintain residency. Our son is 20 year old so had no trouble doing all these things. Younger children may have a problem.

Not that it is my business but if the main issue is English, I strongly recommend you bite the bullet and get them educated here.

FWIW our younger son spoke very little Englsih, was in the 8th grade when he arrived and after 3 months of ESL classes in his school and playing on the basketball team he was promoted to 10th grade! He has done fine and has always received top grades and very quickly learned English and has very little accent. Much less than Alla or his brother. I worked with him 2-3 hours every night for months and we STILL give him English excercises to do every day that he turns in to Alla or I for grading. The problem we discovered was that he has missed out on a lot of the vocabulary development that younger children have. He has excelent understanding, good grammar, etc. but we are working on his vocabulary to get it up there where it should be for his age.

It is something that will need to be done now or later.

[bigdog 376]

I have noticed similarly with my wife, unfortunately this English stuff takes time, I can say her English is much better than my puny Chinese. I think I have taught her more Spanish than I have learned Chinese. At our AOS interview the officer made a point on residency, being out of the country etc, FYI.