Unmarried daughter with kid

[Done--Really 331]

This isn't too complicated, but it is a little:

1) My wife will become a naturalized USC in about 90 days if all goes well.

2) She has an adult, never been married daughter who was born in Mexico, and who now lives in Costa Rica and is a dual citizen

3) Her daughter in turn has a 5-year old daughter who was born in Costa Rica and is a dual citizen with Spain

Once my wife is a USC she would like to start the paperwork to get her daughter and grand daughter here (if it is even possible to bring them both), so what are the steps and most likely timelines, and does the dual citizenship help or hurt -- or said another way, can we pick the country of citizenship for the paperwork, or does it defaultto the country of birth.

Thanks so much

[milimelo 4,568]

Why didn't she file for unmarried daughter as LPR? F2A/F2B allows for derivatives - so the daughter's child would be able to come too.

F1 (unmarried son/daughter of USC) which is immediate relative visa does NOT allow for derivatives so the child would not be able to come.

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2015/visa-bulletin-for-january-2015.html

[Done--Really 331]

We are talking ten years for Mexico, so the bigger question is Costa Rica citizenship -- are we stuck with Mexico since that is where the daughter was born, or can we use the Costa Rica dual citizenship as the basis ??

[apple21 953]

F1 is not an immediate category. It will also allow the child to immigrate as a derivative, same as F2A, F2B, F3 and F4.

Only in the IR categories are the derivatives not allowed.

Edited January 9, 2015 by apple21

[apple21 953]

We are talking ten years for Mexico, so the bigger question is Costa Rica citizenship -- are we stuck with Mexico since that is where the daughter was born, or can we use the Costa Rica dual citizenship as the basis ??

She can have Costa Rica as her country of chargeability since she currently lives there and has citizenship. No worries about that.