Student Visa to Green Card question

[Alonso&Sheryl 10]

Hello guys,

So this topic is about a friend of mine.

My friend came in 1999 to the U.S. on a student visa to study in a private high school in North Carolina. When he graduated, he moved to California with his family, where he went to community college. After a few years of college, he stopped, and now is just working.

His parents entered the country on tourists visas, and overstayed. His father's sister (US Citizen) petitioned for his parents, and him to become residents. At the time the paperwork was filed, my friend and his siblings were underage, so he was a part of the petition. The paperwork took about 10 years to be processed, and my friend was excluded from the petition since he became of age. His parents became residents, but he and his siblings did not.

My friend was told that there's a way to re-open the petition, and obtain his residency through his parents' old petition. If not, do you guys know if there's anything he can do with that old petition?

I know its a shot in the dark, but just wondering if anyone around here knows anything about it.

[CC90 90]

USCIS and the DOS use a different method of calculating ages for immigration purposes. The only way they can be included on the old petition is if they were within "immigration" age at the time the visa number for the beneficiary was assigned.

You'd best see an immigration attorney with all relevant information so a determination can be made. Birth dates, application dates, approval dates, etc. are all taken into account to determine the "immigration age."

[Hypnos 6,578]

It's possible that he has relief available through a 245(i) adjustment, but it would depend upon several factors including the exact date that the I-130 petition was filed by his aunt for his father (that he was a derivative of). The I-130 must have been filed on or before 30th April 2001 for him to have any hope, and even so I'm not sure how it works with regards to derivatives.

Consulting with an experience AILA immigration attorney would likely be the best course here.

[Alonso&Sheryl 10]

Cool, I'll tell him to look into an attorney.

Thanks for the info guys!