bringing my wife's child to U.S.

[Boiler 45,516]

With these sort of applications, file it, diary it for say 5 years, see how processing times are then.

[Chris&Angel 5]

Again, no. Your wife has to file the I-130 petition. Her daughter as an unmarried under-21 child of a permanent resident would be in the F2A category, which has a wait of 1-2 years for visa numbers. They need to wait 1-2 years for a visa number to become available.

However, because she is so close to turning 21, there is a good chance she may "age out" into the F2B category (unmarried over-21 child of permanent resident), which has a wait of about 6.5 years. For the purposes of determining whether she ages out, the length of time the I-130 petition is pending is subtracted from her age. But the petition doesn't take that long to be approved (shorter than the wait for visa numbers). So basically, her age will "freeze" at the time the petition is filed, but "unfreeze" a few months later when the petition is approved, and her age will continue counting from that point until a visa number is available. There is a good chance that her "age" (even with the period of "freezing" described above) would hit 21 before a visa number is available in F2A, in which case she would automatically be converted to F2B and require several more years of wait.

When a visa number is close to being available, they will contact her and her daughter for the next steps for consular processing in her home country. At that point they will ask for an Affidavit of Support and the consulate will ask for a medical. Again, I-485 is not involved.

The wife cannot file for the daughter, she's an LPR, only the USC can file for the daughter, but in this situation of the daugther being 20, she will "Age-Out" before the visa would be issued. If she did get manage to ge the visa before her 21st BD, she needs to enter the USA prior to turning 21.

[Boiler 45,516]

The wife cannot file for the daughter, she's an LPR, only the USC can file for the daughter, but in this situation of the daughter being 20, she will "Age-Out" before the visa would be issued. If she did get manage to ge the visa before her 21st BD, she needs to enter the USA prior to turning 21.

Wrong way around.

[newacct 688]

The wife cannot file for the daughter, she's an LPR, only the USC can file for the daughter, but in this situation of the daugther being 20, she will "Age-Out" before the visa would be issued. If she did get manage to ge the visa before her 21st BD, she needs to enter the USA prior to turning 21.

The wife, as an LPR, can file for her unmarried daughter.

The USC cannot file for the step-daughter, because as she was over 18 at the time they married, she does not count as a child of the USC for immigration purposes.

Edited February 22, 2016 by newacct

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If the fund allow a student visa may get her here for most of the time. There is still the same hurdle of showing she doesn't plan to immigrate.

[tine71 12]

So why are you filing for her to immigrate?

He said it before, because of the conflict in the Ukraine, I guess it's a good reason for her to want to be safe, I am not sure how much you know about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

[Boiler 45,516]

He said it before, because of the conflict in the Ukraine, I guess it's a good reason for her to want to be safe, I am not sure how much you know about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

I know a lot about the conflict, but sounded like she needed to look after her Grandparents? And she has her flat.

But you raise a valid point about the difficulty in getting a B if she does not have one.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Boiler

[aaron2020 11,651]

The USC can not file for the daughter since the marriage occurred after the daughter's 18th birthday.

The LPR mom can file for her daughter. Her daughter will age out of the F2a category into the F2b category when she turns 21. CSPA may help her retain the F2a category depending on how long it takes USCIS to approve the I-130. The longer it takes to approve the I-130 will only help.

It's 2 years in the F2a category for a visa.

It's 7-8 years in the F2b category for a visa.

There is nothing that the OP can do to change any of this. File ASAP and hope it takes a long time to approve the I-130 so CSPA can help.

The war in the Ukraine does not matter for immigration purposes. The daughter waits like everyone else all over the world.

Edited February 22, 2016 by aaron2020