AOS for Children of Green Card Holders

[carrascos25 0]

I applied for my mother and father-in-law's permanent residency about a year ago. My husband was illegal when we married and he became a Citizen last year. So we filed the paperwork for his parents and they just received green cards (yay!). Now we're wondering about his sisters...they are both here in the US and received work permits, SS# and driving privileges through deferred action. One of them is 21 and the other is 19...both are unmarried. Last I checked, we were told they would have to go back to Mexico and wait for a visa to become available, etc etc. We were under the impression that his parents could not file for their residency until they became citizens.

Is this true? Or can we file for them now? Can they continue to remain in the US while they go through the process or do they have to go back to Mexico? Just trying to clear up things before we start getting more paperwork together! If anyone can provide any insight, it would be greatly appreciated.

Shannon Carrasco

[HappyKnappy 30]

They can file the petition for their daughters, but it does make a difference what the petitioner's status is. This may help you out. See the table for:

Filing for Your Relative Who Lives in the United States

As long as they have a legal way of staying here throughout the whole process, I don't see why they would need to go back to Mexico. Good luck!

Edited August 5, 2013 by HappyKnappy

[carrascos25 0]

Ok, thanks for your help Hey, we're not too far from one another...Tampa is only an hour north of me I'll check into it some more...hopefully we can begin the process for them as well!

[KayDeeCee 4,894]

Information about permanent residents filing for relatives > http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/B1en.pdf

This is the visa bulletin for Aug 2013. For Mexico, it is a wait of 19 years for an F2B, which is the child that is 21. > http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6028.html

I do not think their status with DACA is enough to keep the 21 year old in the US legally for that long. For the 19 year old in the US, they could file to adjust now, as the priority date of an F2A is current.

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based to Bringing Family Members of Permanent Residents to America ~

[aaron2020 11,651]

Deferred Action is an executive order. It means a person in the US illegally will not be deported. It does not grant a legal status.

The parents can file. But the daughters' illegal status means they cannot adjust.

[aleful 1,905]

ditto with aaron

deferred action doesn't give pathway to residency unless laws change.

parents can file now, but for the 21 year old, whether they are only residents or citizens, the wait is over 20 years for Mexicans and they would have their interview in Juarez and need to file a waiver depending on how long they stayed prior to getting deferred action.

this is so far, law can change, the immigration reform can come. at least they have deferred action and have legal status through a work permit

[carrascos25 0]

I appreciate the responses! I know deferred action isn't at all a pathway to citizenship, but my sister-in-law came over yesterday all excited cuz she saw something about how starting in August green card holders can petition on behalf of family members. She read through uscis.gov and thought that this would help her and my other sister-in-law, but I said I would do some more checking before they got all excited. I simply mentioned the deferred action to basically state that they are legally allowed to be here and won't be deported any time soon

Again...thank you!