bringing mother and her new husband to USA

[cwaf 1]

Hello,

This is not about me, but my wife's niece. The niece came (with her 10 month old son) to the USA from Ukraine on fiance visa and maried a US citizen a little over 2 years ago.They were late in filing for her first green card, but that has been completed. She is currently pregnant with their first child together and is due in May 2014. (not that any of that is relative to my questions) My Ukrainian wife of 5+ years and I have tried 3 times to bring my sister-in-law over on a tourist visa, and she has been denied 3 times GRRRRRRRRR. The last time was actually for her to attend her daughter's marriage, but she was denied. Since her daughter (my wife's niece) came to the USA, the sister-in-law legally married the man whom she had been with for several years. We intend to try a 4th time for a tourist visa for a May trip so she can be with her daughter when the baby is born, as well as vacation with us in warmer weather. I hope this time she is successful!

Now for my questions: Since my wife became a US citizen in 2012, I know we could apply for my sister-in-law to come on an I-130, but I think the wait time is currently more than 10 years. The better plan is to have the niece apply to bring her mother over after the niece becomes a citizen in another year or so. However, I need some clarification/guidance (documentation) on a couple of things for this process.

1) Is the eligibility time for applying for citizenship 3 years from the date of her marriage, or 3 years from the date of her first green card? (I hope it is her marriage since they delayed so many months on getting the green card.)

1a) can she next apply straight to citizenship or must she still apply for the 2nd green card and then apply for the citizenship?

2) When I look at the guide for applying to bring a parent, the different headings cover her birth mother, but I saw no section that would include the new husband. There is a section on stepfathers, but it is required the marriage occurred before the age of 18 and this obviously did not occur in that time frame.

I know I went through a lot of this before when working through my wife's process, but I am foggy on a lot of things these days, and I do not know what immigration laws may or may not have been changed. I will also be assisting my unmarried stepdaughter in applying for citizenship in the next couple of months since she has been here for over 5 years now and her GC anniversary is in March, I have to get reading again to make sure I can get that process straight again!

thanks,

Chris

Edited January 2, 2014 by cwaf

[kzielu 1,149]

1. 3 years for date "Resident since" on the green card (which is more or less green card approval date).

If her card is conditional (CR-6 for example), she has to remove conditions 2 years - 90 days from first card date. If she doesn't do that, not only there will be no citizenship, she will loose her status and be removable from US.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

The date is 3 years minus 90 days from the residence since date the process will take about a year. The niece can not file for the new husband of her mother as he fails to be a step parent for immigration purposes . The mom could apply when she arrived for the husband but that could take a few years depending on the wait for a visa number for the spouse of an LPR at that time ( which has varied over the years since i have been around from no wait to about 4 years )

[cwaf 1]

The date is 3 years minus 90 days from the residence since date the process will take about a year. The niece can not file for the new husband of her mother as he fails to be a step parent for immigration purposes . The mom could apply when she arrived for the husband but that could take a few years depending on the wait for a visa number for the spouse of an LPR at that time ( which has varied over the years since i have been around from no wait to about 4 years )

well, that can be an issue. I know that she will not come to the USA without him. It is odd because I read about bring her over as a sibling of my wife and in that area, the instructions say she does not have to submit a separate I-130 for the spouse of the sibling. It seems there should be something that could be similar when the niece brings her mother, but I cannot find definite answers.

1. 3 years for date "Resident since" on the green card (which is more or less green card approval date).

If her card is conditional (CR-6 for example), she has to remove conditions 2 years - 90 days from first card date. If she doesn't do that, not only there will be no citizenship, she will loose her status and be removable from US.

thanks. I thought it was related to her GC date...that will slow it down some since they delated gettign that filed the first time. The worst part is that he had hired an attorney to help bring her over and to file for the first GC! Paid too much money and got poor service, if you ask me!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Here are the instructions for petitioning a step parent ( with parents / steps each needs their own petition unlike siblings ) Note the requirement that the marriage is before the 18th birthday

petition is filed to bring your step-parent to live in the United States,

• Form I-130
• A copy of your birth certificate showing the names of your birth parents
• A copy of the civil marriage certificate of your birth parent to your step-parent showing that the marriage occurred before your 18th birthday
• A copy of any divorce decrees, death certificates, or annulment decrees to show that any previous marriage entered into by your natural or step-parent ended legally

[cwaf 1]

Here are the instructions for petitioning a step parent ( with parents / steps each needs their own petition unlike siblings ) Note the requirement that the marriage is before the 18th birthday

petition is filed to bring your step-parent to live in the United States,

• Form I-130
• A copy of your birth certificate showing the names of your birth parents
• A copy of the civil marriage certificate of your birth parent to your step-parent showing that the marriage occurred before your 18th birthday
• A copy of any divorce decrees, death certificates, or annulment decrees to show that any previous marriage entered into by your natural or step-parent ended legally

yes, I had seen that, but since she was already an adult when her mother married, he does not really become a stepfather, anyway--at least in my view, since he is not active in her upbringing like a father would be. That is where I got confused since there was no definition that covered him since he was not biological nor actually a stepfather.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

He is the current spouse of the nieces mother. No relationship to the niece for immigration purposes. So the niece can't file anything for him and the mother must be an LPR before she can start the process and wait for a visa number .

[cwaf 1]

He is the current spouse of the nieces mother. No relationship to the niece for immigration purposes. So the niece can't file anything for him and the mother must be an LPR before she can start the process and wait for a visa number .

SIGH!

[aaron2020 11,651]

well, that can be an issue. I know that she will not come to the USA without him. It is odd because I read about bring her over as a sibling of my wife and in that area, the instructions say she does not have to submit a separate I-130 for the spouse of the sibling. It seems there should be something that could be similar when the niece brings her mother, but I cannot find definite answers.

thanks. I thought it was related to her GC date...that will slow it down some since they delated gettign that filed the first time. The worst part is that he had hired an attorney to help bring her over and to file for the first GC! Paid too much money and got poor service, if you ask me!

A USC child petitioning for a parent is completely differert from a USC petitioning a sister.

The niece once she is a USC can file for her mom. This would be an Immediate Relative case and only the mother can get a visa in about a year. She cannot file for her stepfather if she was over age 18 when her mom remarried. Once mom is an LPR, she can petition her husband which can take 2-3 years.

A USC petitioning for a sibling makes it a F3 family preference case. Here there is a 12 years wait and the beneficiary's spouse and children under age 21 are included.

So, 2 choices. Your wife can petition for her sister which will take 12 years and her husband can immigrate with her, or the niece can petition her mom and mom filed later for her husband.

[OKflyboy 35]

I wouldn't go the sibling route, since there's a chance that category will be abolished if/when the immigration reform passes. On the bright side, if/when it passes, immediate relatives of LPRs will become equal with immediate relatives of USCs, and there will be no visa number wait.

Unfortunately, your niece can only apply for her citizenship 3 years since her GC, not her marriage. That delayed me a lot too. I became a citizen 7 years after my husband and I got married.

No, she cannot petition for her mother's husband at all. The mom can immigrate, apply for her husband, get a re-entry permit and split her time between living here and in her country. A spouse left behind is a valid reason.

Sorry for the tourist visa denials. My mom got denied too.