Dependent visa???

[marci 1]

ok

so i finally received my rfe letter in the mail!

i had been impatiently waiting for!!

i am just supposed to translate my birth certificate in

English (which is in Spanish)

Silly me i never thought of that when i sent the app!

Anyway vjrs!

I have filed a petition for my brother who is now 15

along with my mother, i know my mom's visa will come

before his but i have heard that when she goes to her

interview at the consulate in el salvador she can take my

brother and see if he applies for a DEPENDENT VISA?

he's in still in the process of his papers

so i do not know if this is possible??

somebody help??

GRACIAS

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

No it is not possible, your brother will need to stay behind until his priority date is current (11 years), or once your mom is here and has her greencard, she can file for him and it'll take about 2 years.

[Mike and Lily 13]

Yes, the petition you filed for your brother should be withdrawn when your mother gets her. Your mother should have her green card within a year. If she files for him, it's only a 2.5 year wait from the time she files vs. the 10+ years it will take if you file.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I am going to disagree with the above and say do not withdraw the petition. You are allowed to have two petitions running at the same time, so keep your own in there, just in case mom decides to move back to her country for, God forbid, dies or something.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

ok

so i finally received my rfe letter in the mail!

i had been impatiently waiting for!!

i am just supposed to translate my birth certificate in

English (which is in Spanish)

Silly me i never thought of that when i sent the app!

Anyway vjrs!

I have filed a petition for my brother who is now 15

along with my mother, i know my mom's visa will come

before his but i have heard that when she goes to her

interview at the consulate in el salvador she can take my

brother and see if he applies for a DEPENDENT VISA?

he's in still in the process of his papers

so i do not know if this is possible??

somebody help??

GRACIAS

What you're talking about is a derivative visa. There's no such thing as a "dependent" visa.

Parents of a US citizens are an immediate relative category - IR5. No derivatives are allowed. As Penguin_ie stated, keep your petition for your brother in place, but have your mom file another petition for him after she arrives in the US. Her petition will be family preference category - FB2A. As long as your mother remains a permanent resident and nothing happens to her then your brother will get a visa based on her petition within a couple of years.

[aaron2020 11,651]

What you're talking about is a derivative visa. There's no such thing as a "dependent" visa.

Parents of a US citizens are an immediate relative category - IR5. No derivatives are allowed. As Penguin_ie stated, keep your petition for your brother in place, but have your mom file another petition for him after she arrives in the US. Her petition will be family preference category - FB2A. As long as your mother remains a permanent resident and nothing happens to her then your brother will get a visa based on her petition within a couple of years.

There is no way for your brother to get a visa when your mother does. It will not happen.

Your mother can file for your brother after she immigrates to the US. It will take 2-3 years after she files.

In order for your brother to get an immigration visa, your mother must maintain her permanent residency status. This means living in the US. She cannot get her green card and go back to El Salvador to live. She must live in the US. However, your green card mother can physically be outside the US for up to two years with a valid re-entry permit.

After your mother gets her green card, she must establish ties to the US to maintain her green card. Open a bank account. Get a driver's license. Then, she can file for a re-entry permit. With a re-entry permit, she can be outside the US for up to two years. As long as she maintain ties to the US and it is considered her permanent home, she can "visit" your brother for up to two years in El Salvador. After the two years, your brother will likely interview for his visa.

P.S. Do not withdraw the petition you filed for your brother. This is VERY BAD advice. First, this is a good backup plan if the petition filed by your mother for your brother fails for some reason. Second, it is perfectly okay for you to file and for your green card mother to file separately for your brother. Third, you don't get the fee back if you withdraw.

There is nothing to gain by withdrawing the petition. There is something to lose if your mother's petition for your brother fails.

Edited June 22, 2012 by aaron2020

[aaron2020 11,651]

Yes, the petition you filed for your brother should be withdrawn when your mother gets her. Your mother should have her green card within a year. If she files for him, it's only a 2.5 year wait from the time she files vs. the 10+ years it will take if you file.

This is VERY BAD advice. There is absolutely no reason to withdraw the petition. See my previous post.

[marci 1]

thank you for all the replies guys!!!

so basically i just leave it open right until the day comes (which is kind of far)

so how come when i called immigration they said it might take 2 years for my

brother to come and not 10???

and also when i see the website for processing times at the CSC

it says

"I-130 Petition for Alien Relative U.S. citizen filing for a brother or sister February 11, 2010"

what does that date mean????

thanks in advance

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

There is a difference between processing time (which can be anything from a few months to 2 years), and the visa bulletin priority, which exists because only a specific number of visas are given out in each category each year: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5733.html

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

thank you for all the replies guys!!!

so basically i just leave it open right until the day comes (which is kind of far)

so how come when i called immigration they said it might take 2 years for my

brother to come and not 10???

and also when i see the website for processing times at the CSC

it says

"I-130 Petition for Alien Relative U.S. citizen filing for a brother or sister February 11, 2010"

what does that date mean????

thanks in advance

The processing times for the service centers is an estimate for how long it will take for the petition to be approved. After the petition is approved then it's sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) where it will wait until a visa number is available.

A visa for a sibling of a US citizen is a family preference F4 (sometimes called FB4) visa. All family preference visas are rationed - only a limited number of them are issued each year. Your petition will be placed in a queue according to the visa category and the priority date (the date USCIS originally received the petition). When it's your turn then you'll be contacted by NVC to complete processing, which includes sending the affidavit of support, agent selection, and visa application. When the required documents (and fees) have been sent, then the petition will be forwarded to the US consulate to schedule a visa interview.

Keep an eye on the following page at the Department of State website:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html

A new visa bulletin is published each month. The visa bulletin contains the cutoff dates for each visa category. When your petition's priority date is before the cutoff date for the visa category then a visa number is available, and you can finish processing and your brother can apply for the visa.

The same process applies when your mother arrives and files a petition. The only difference is that the FB2A category has a much higher quota than the FB4 category, so the waiting time isn't nearly as long.