Wife came on a K1 2 years ago, now want her mother to come.

[LoveinUganda 20]

Can someone please point me in the right direction.

 

I married me wife who is from Uganda about two years ago. She is still a permanent conditional resident and we will be applying soon for conditions  to be dropped. My wife is now pregnant with what will be both of our first child. 

She would like to petition to get her mom here ASAP, what is the quickest way to get her mother to be able to join us here in the USA?

 

Once her mom is here what would be the process in getting her sister to come?

 

Does anyone know time frames of each (her mom/her sister)

[Crazy Cat 41,887]

" To petition for your parents (mother or father) to live in the United States as green card holders, you must be a U.S. citizen and at least 21 years old. Green card holders (permanent residents) may not petition to bring parents to live permanently in the United States "

 

She can not petition for her mother until she becomes a citizen.

 

EDIT:  The same applies for her sister.

Edited April 22, 2018 by missileman

[LoveinUganda 20]

Is there anyway she can come for an extended visit?

[Crazy Cat 41,887]

2 minutes ago, LoveinUganda said:

Is there anyway she can come for an extended visit?

She can apply for a B2 tourist visa.  If approved, she can stay only as long as the time given to her by the CBP officer when she arrives.

 

EDIT:  In FY 2017, Uganda had a 42% refusal rate for B visas.

Edited April 22, 2018 by missileman

[Crazy Cat 41,887]

I should have stated that the quote in my post was from the USCIS web site.

[LoveinUganda 20]

So that means roughly a 58% chance of her being allowed ?

[Crazy Cat 41,887]

3 minutes ago, LoveinUganda said:

So that means roughly a 58% chance of her being allowed ?

Every case is different.  She must provide strong and compelling evidence to the Consulate Officer that she WILL return to Uganda at the end of her authorized visit.  She should be prepared to show evidence of strong ties.

 

Edited April 22, 2018 by missileman

[geowrian 22,337]

As stated, she must become a USC before she can start the petitioning process for her mother or a sibling. The mother's petition will take ~1 year or so. The sister would take ~15-20+ years...although if the mother comes first, the mother could petition for her if your sister is (and remains) unmarried. ETA: ~7-10 years. This is assuming she is 21+...if she's a minor, the wait is considerably shorter so long as she doesn't age out.

 

The mother can apply for a tourist visa to visit. The CBP officer will determine her maximum stay at POE. Typically this is 6 months, but could theoretically be anywhere from 1 day to 1 year. Spending too much time in the US (even without an overstay) makes future visits more difficult...so be sure to spend at least as much time outside the US as in it (twice as much preferred). As for her chances, it depends entirely on her circumstances. Really she just needs to apply and find out. The 42% refusal rate is very high....so while 58% are approved, I would also argue that the majority of applicants approved have good cases. For comparison, the Philippines has around a 25% refusal rate and it's generally considered pretty difficult to get one. This isn't to discourage you...just setting realistic expectations.

 

Also, while it's completely normal to visit and celebrate the birth of your child (congrats!), a tourist cannot be providing childcare/babysitting/etc. This is considered work, which is not permitted on a tourist visa.

The reason I bring this up is it's pretty common in many foreign cultures for a family member to take care of a newborn while the parents work, and it sounds like you want them to immigrate to the US, so it does sound like this may be the case here. Or maybe not...it's just a point I felt worth raising as it does pop up here pretty often.

Edited April 22, 2018 by geowrian

[Unlockable 7,314]

2 hours ago, LoveinUganda said:

So that means roughly a 58% chance of her being allowed ?

That depends on the mother's situation. If your mother-in-law can show strong ties to her country, she may fall into the side of a good chance of her getting a tourist visa. Examples of strong ties are things like a good long standing job, home and/of business ownership, history of travel to other countries, good income and assets, immediate family in need of her care.

 

If your MIL don't have strong ties, then she would likely fall into the side of visitor visa refusals.

 

Just a quick note. As already mentioned.... babysitting or helping with child care is not allowed on a B2 visa. So if immigration sees this is the reason for the visits, they could deny her a visa or even deny her entry in the US if she already have a visitor visa.

 

Best plan is to have her apply and see but be prepared for a denial just in case. We know this is both an exciting and scary time for your wife and having family like her mom with her will help. But unfortunately, not having family here during times like these are some of the sacrifices many face when they choose to immigrate to another country.

 

Keep us informed on how it goes.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Re immigration, also as an aside be aware that this is the type of chain migration the current administration wants to stop. Your wife should factor in some possibility (I don’t know how big) that the ability to sponsor parents and especially siblings may not still be available by the time she becomes a citizen. 

[apple21 953]

4 hours ago, LoveinUganda said:

Can someone please point me in the right direction.

 

I married me wife who is from Uganda about two years ago. She is still a permanent conditional resident and we will be applying soon for conditions  to be dropped. My wife is now pregnant with what will be both of our first child. 

She would like to petition to get her mom here ASAP, what is the quickest way to get her mother to be able to join us here in the USA?

 

Once her mom is here what would be the process in getting her sister to come?

 

Does anyone know time frames of each (her mom/her sister)

 

4 hours ago, LoveinUganda said:

Is there anyway she can come for an extended visit?

 

From the looks of it, you want mom in law to stay for a long time.

 

Based on what I read on a lot of posts here on VJ, having a pregnant daughter/newly born grandchild is a ticket for B2 visa denial. Why? Because consul officers already know that grandparents usually stay to help out with the baby or even toddlers. 

 

Having a long intention of staying in the US is a red flag too. Keep visits 2-3 weeks only which is a realistic timeframe if one is employed.

 

 

[Going through 5,671]

What ties (employment, property/home ownership, financial, etc.) does your mother in law have as a compelling reason to return to Uganda after visiting the US?  That is what the CO will be looking for when approving a tourist visa.

[Boiler 45,525]

Visa issuance is not a chance based process.

[Pennycat 880]

First step: she'd need to be a citizen so between 1.5 and 2.5 years from now to be able to apply (she can do N-400 in about a year, and depending on the office, that is processed anywhere from 6 to 20 months).

 

Her mother would be an IR-5 visa, and those are unlimited and start with the I-130 just like CR-1/IR-1 visas do. So the timelines are roughly the same as them, right now ~15 months.

 

Siblings are in the limited visa categories-- the "family preference" categories (parents are "immediate relatives"). The most current visa bulletin  is showing that sibling category (F4) -- they're just getting to people who applied in 2004 or 2005 so ~13 years. A heads up: this category (and adult children of US citizens) has been on the chopping block for years, and I personally am not planning on it being available for when/if we need or want it. 

 

The relatively quicker route would be for mom to come in the ~3 years that that would take, become a citizen in 5 years, then apply for sister as an F1 (if sister  remains unmarried), which are processing 2011/2012 right now  (so ~6 years, for ~9 total) or F3 (if sister  gets married) which right now are processing 2006 so... yeah that's not quicker than a sibling application. Also, expect these categories to go away.

 

 

Not much you can do about it now, but the time to figure out family logistics when it comes to baby-having was before you guys got married and decided where to live. It's pretty much Major Downside Number One that the immigrant is unable to live with their family of origin for many, many years once they move to the US.

[geowrian 22,337]

4 minutes ago, CatherineA said:

The relatively quicker route would be for mom to come in the ~3 years that that would take, become a citizen in 5 years, then apply for sister as an F1 (if sister  remains unmarried), which are processing 2011/2012 right now  (so ~6 years, for ~9 total) or F3 (if sister  gets married) which right now are processing 2006 so... yeah that's not quicker than a sibling application. Also, expect these categories to go away.

No need to wait until the mother becomes a USC. Assuming the OP's sister is unmarried, the mother could file the moment she enters the US on the IR-5 visa. The sister would fall under F2B category. ETA: ~7-10 years. If the mother becomes a USC later, this can be upgraded to F1 at that time.

Edited April 23, 2018 by geowrian