IR5 Question - Bringing Mother from Austrialia

[gpalmer77 0]

I-130 submitted in November, received approval in early April - just getting into the NVC application. I am a US Citizen of two years, through naturalization, my Mother is English but now an Aussie citizen through naturalization there.

There is some confusion on how we also bring my Mum's husband..... based on language on the NVC website in numerous places throughout the process, it states that spouses and children are able to apply for visas at the same time as my Mum. For example, I read that "Based on your approved petition, your spouse and minor unmarried children, younger than 21, may apply for immigrant visas with you. Like you, they must also fill out required application forms, obtain required civil documents, pay the required fees, and undergo medical examinations." This was on the NVC website as part of the application instructions.

However, other than simply checking a box on DS260 to say you have a spouse who is either traveling with you, or traveling later, there seems to be no way to make this apparent. When I called NVC, although very helpful (she reviewed the DS-261 for me and pushed it through) the girl did not seem to know for sure how this would be done. I've read elsewhere that my Mum would need to wait for her Green Card and then submit an I-130 herself to sponsor her husband, which could take another 1.5 years and isn't guaranteed? That would really throw a wrench into the works as I thought they tried to promote family unity as part of the immigration process. FYI, they married after I was 18, so I could not directly petition for him to come here.

1) Does anyone know the right answer?

2) Can anyone elaborate on the exact steps, maybe even for Australia where there is no USCIS field office (can Embassy possibly process I-130 for an outside the US submittal?)

3) How could we keep my Mum and her husband together during the (now possibly much longer) process? Can she come on her visa and then go back to Australia and wait for his approval, can he come to the US somehow?

4) If the 1-130 has to be submitted, do you have to wait for a green card to physically show up in the mail, or do you technically have it on approval, or when you arrive in the US?

Thanks in advance, I wish I'd known about this site when I came over from the UK.

Gavin.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

No derivative beneficiaries on immediate relative petitions. You need to file for your mother and once she gets here she can file for her husband. There will be a waiting time involved for the priority date to become current so a visa will be available. I believe it's about 1.5 years for spouses of LPRs right now.

Edited April 21, 2016 by EM_Vandaveer

[aleful 1,905]

hi

nope, doesn't work for parents, since parents are filed separately

that's for petitions that have derivatives, such as married children or married siblings

you file an i130 for each parent, parents aren't derivatives of each other

the only way you could have filed a separate i130 for your stepfather, is if the marriage took place before you turned 18

then you can file a separate i130 for him

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

hi

nope, doesn't work for parents, since parents are filed separately

that's for petitions that have derivatives, such as married children or married siblings

you file an i130 for each parent, parents aren't derivatives of each other

the only way you could have filed a separate i130 for your stepfather, is if the marriage took place before you turned 18

then you can file a separate i130 for him

OP already said they were not married before her18th birthday.

[JFH 12,191]

To answer your other questions...

2. The embassy cannot accept the I-130 and process it there. The only way to file a petition for someone in Australia is via the lockbox in the US which then forwards to the relevant USCIS service centre.

3. Likely they won't be able to stay together through the whole process. Once your mother has her visa approved, she has 6 months from the date of medical to enter the country and activate it. She can then come and go as she pleases but she won't be able to stay out of the country for the length of time that a spouse visa for an LPR takes (close to 2 years). Her husband can come to visit her subject to the usual requirements for visitors. So inevitably there will be some time spent apart. Just the same as spouses of US citizens (like me) have to be apart during the process.

4. The I-130 is just the petition. Once that's approved then your mother has to apply for the visa via the NVC, have a medical and attend an interview in Australia. Once that's all done, the visa is put in her passport and the visa, once stamped upon arrival into the country, serves as a green card until the physical green card is delivered by mail to the address she provided in the USA. You don't get a physical green card before you enter the country.

Edited April 22, 2016 by JFH

[gpalmer77 0]

Thank you everyone, looks like we have some work ahead of us.

My thought right now is to get my Mum's paperwork processed as fast as possible, and have her travel here on her visa and claim her green card. If we can file her I-130 for her husband to follow her as soon as she is here (do I have to wait for the actual green card to physically arrive or is her A number good enough?), I assume she is then allowed to return to Australia for up to a year without losing her permanent residency status, correct? The hardest part of this process will not be the waiting, but figuring out the logistics of keeping them together for as much of the 1.5 or 2 years it will likely take to get him over here permanently. Any advice on how we can manage that would be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Gavin.