Adopted Daughter 21 years old

[captcosmic 0]

I adopted my wife's daughter when she was 19 in Peru after her father died. I am a USC. She is now 21 now and finished her studies and would like to come live with us in the US. My wife and her younger daughter are here on CR1, CR2. My wife and I have twins (2 years old). We are currently waiting on the change to her conditional residence. I need to fill out an I-130 for her as my adopted daughter or would it be faster for my wife to do it as a lawful resident? What other forms do I need to fill out to bring her here if it is me as a USC requesting her to immigrate? Like a G-325A and a I-134? I am doing the translation of the adoption form from Spanish to English as well as her birth certificate and penal records, and judicial records. Aything else I should include when I file the I-130? She would qualify as what type of VISA?? Thanks!

By the way, I did all the immigration forms and got my wife and her daughter here without any outside help.. except HERE!! Thanks!!

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Please someone correct me if Im wrong but an adopted child is also as legal if you were her biological father. I dont think she needs any kind of visa because she IS an US citizen's daughter. In my homecountry, Venezuela, you can go to the embassy and present the adoptions papers and others forms and they will give you an US citizen passport for your adopted child. When you legally adopt a child, you are transfering her, all your benefits like your citizenship. You call the US embassy in Lima and ask this information

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

No, the adopted daughter is not automatically a US Citizen. You need to do an immigrant process for her starting with the I-130. It will be faster if you file for her, but you can check by looking up the "visa bulletin" for all the category times. Here is a VJ Guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/childpet

[aaron2020 11,651]

I adopted my wife's daughter when she was 19 in Peru after her father died. I am a USC. She is now 21 now and finished her studies and would like to come live with us in the US. My wife and her younger daughter are here on CR1, CR2. My wife and I have twins (2 years old). We are currently waiting on the change to her conditional residence. I need to fill out an I-130 for her as my adopted daughter or would it be faster for my wife to do it as a lawful resident? What other forms do I need to fill out to bring her here if it is me as a USC requesting her to immigrate? Like a G-325A and a I-134? I am doing the translation of the adoption form from Spanish to English as well as her birth certificate and penal records, and judicial records. Aything else I should include when I file the I-130? She would qualify as what type of VISA?? Thanks!

By the way, I did all the immigration forms and got my wife and her daughter here without any outside help.. except HERE!! Thanks!!

Unfortunately, you cannot file for a child adopted after her 16th birthday.

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http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=86493e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=86493e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Who is Considered to be a "Child" in the Immigration Process?

For immigration purposes, a child can be any of the following:

• A step-child, as long as the marriage creating the step-relationship occurred before the child turned 18
  
• An adopted child if the child was adopted prior to age 16 (one exception is if siblings are adopted, as long as one was under 16, the other could be older than 16 but younger than 18), AND the adopted child has resided in the legal and physical custody of the adoptive parent for 2 years prior to filing (the legal and physical custody do not have to be the same time period, but each must be met for 2 years) NOTE: Most adoption-based immigration occurs through the orphan intercountry or Hague processes. Normally, you would only use the Form I-130 process if your child did not meet the definition of orphan. See the “Adoption” link to the right for more information.
  

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However, you might be able to petition for her as your stepdaughter. Did you marry mom before her 18th birthday?

If yes, then you can petition for her. Since she is over 21, this will be an F1 family preference category case (US citizen petitioning a daughter over 21) where the wait for a visa is about 7 years.

If no, then you cannot petition for her. Mom will need to immigrate first, file for her daughter in the F2b category (LPR petitioning an unmarried daughter over 21), and her daughter will wait about 8 years for a visa.

Sorry.

[Pinkrlion 2,724]

I adopted my wife's daughter when she was 19 in Peru after her father died. I am a USC. She is now 21 now and finished her studies and would like to come live with us in the US. My wife and her younger daughter are here on CR1, CR2. My wife and I have twins (2 years old). We are currently waiting on the change to her conditional residence. I need to fill out an I-130 for her as my adopted daughter or would it be faster for my wife to do it as a lawful resident? What other forms do I need to fill out to bring her here if it is me as a USC requesting her to immigrate? Like a G-325A and a I-134? I am doing the translation of the adoption form from Spanish to English as well as her birth certificate and penal records, and judicial records. Aything else I should include when I file the I-130? She would qualify as what type of VISA?? Thanks!

By the way, I did all the immigration forms and got my wife and her daughter here without any outside help.. except HERE!! Thanks!!

You cannot claim adopted process since she was over 16 when you adopted her, you are legally her stepfather. As far as the I130 she will qualify as an over 21 relative.

[aaron2020 11,651]

You cannot claim adopted process since she was over 16 when you adopted her, you are legally her stepfather. As far as the I130 she will qualify as an over 21 relative.

No, he is not. He is legally her adopted father. For immigration purposes, the adopted father/adopted daughter relationship established after age 16 does not qualify for a visa.

If he was her stepfather before age 18, then he could petition for her based on that relationship.

Edited September 30, 2012 by aaron2020

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

No, he is not. He is legally her adopted father. For immigration purposes, the adopted father/adopted daughter relationship established after age 16 does not qualify for a visa.

If he was her stepfather before age 18, then he could petition for her based on that relationship.

aaron, is correct on this one, but I would caution the OP to think about how he handles this now. There is a poster who fell into this same situation, but now at 40 has no country to call citizenship for because when he was adopted by his USC father, his birth country now says he is under his USC country citizenship, He can not nor did he file for citizenship because as a juliv, he committed some crimes.

Following through all the proper channels are of essence in these types of situations.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The real issue to any petition is that she is 21 and is now the adult daughter and any petition will take years Current petitions from USC for adult children are processing from 2005 and from LPR'S are from 2004 so it will be 8 years at least before she has a visa number available.

Edited September 30, 2012 by NigeriaorBust

[captcosmic 0]

Would it be "faster" for us to wait and my wife apply as her daughter after she acheives citizenship? She should be able to apply for it in October 2013. We married shortly after her 18th birthday. I adopted her after her 19th birthday. But .. I think everyione is in agreement she would be in for a LONG wait of at least 7 years? Thanks!!

[aaron2020 11,651]

Would it be "faster" for us to wait and my wife apply as her daughter after she acheives citizenship? She should be able to apply for it in October 2013. We married shortly after her 18th birthday. I adopted her after her 19th birthday. But .. I think everyione is in agreement she would be in for a LONG wait of at least 7 years? Thanks!!

Waiting for US citizenship will not make it faster. It would only delay her daughter's immigration by 2 years.

It takes about 8 years for an LPR to petition for an unmarried daughter over 21.

It takes about 7 years for a US citizen to petition for an unmarried daughter over 21. Your wife has to be an LPR for 3 years before she can apply for US citizenship. That's a combined 10 years wait. So, it doesn't make sense for your wife to wait for US citizenship to petition for her daughter.

[captcosmic 0]

Waiting for US citizenship will not make it faster. It would only delay her daughter's immigration by 2 years.

It takes about 8 years for an LPR to petition for an unmarried daughter over 21.

It takes about 7 years for a US citizen to petition for an unmarried daughter over 21. Your wife has to be an LPR for 3 years before she can apply for US citizenship. That's a combined 10 years wait. So, it doesn't make sense for your wife to wait for US citizenship to petition for her daughter.

Thanks!! Does part of the LPR for citezenship include the two years as a conditional resident? Or is it three years after the conditional is changed to permanant?

[aaron2020 11,651]

Thanks!! Does part of the LPR for citezenship include the two years as a conditional resident? Yes. Or is it three years after the conditional is changed to permanant? No.

For US citizenship, time being a conditional LPR and a regular LPR are combined to meet the 3 years of being a LPR.