My wife got her green card, what about her son?

[GulfwarVeteran 1]

I resided in Singapore seven years.  I only returned to the USA last year.

 

I petitioned my wife. She received an IR1, and arrived last year.  We made sure we are comfortable and stable before we petitioned her son. I wanted to wait for him to complete the 8th grade, but she wanted him to come sooner. 

 

The CEAC says his visa has been issued, but they have yet to call her to pick up his passport and it has been over a week. The embassy has not been very helpful at all.  They seem to resist answering any questions. 

 

I assume that means he is getting an IR2, but I really have no idea.  Now that is what confuses me.  I am the USC.  She is not.  Yet, he is considered the "unmarried child of a US Citizen".  Ok, so far so good.  I found this:  https://visaguide.world/us-visa/immigrant/ir2/

 

His father was killed in combat in 2008,  I am the only father he has.  I married his mother back in 2014. He never actually lived with us until now because the cost of placing a child in school in Singapore. We only went on holidays together.

 

I am his only parent that is a USC.  I am not his biological parent (I am sterile).  I have no formal adoption. Is he eligible for citizenship? This is very nebulous.

[GulfwarVeteran 1]

I double checked the status at the NVC site. It says IR2.

 

This is the quote from the web site:  

 

Do I Become a U.S Citizen Once I Get the IR2 Visa?

ttps://visaguide.world/us-visa/immigrant/ir2/

 

"Children who enter the U.S with an IR2 visa have the opportunity to become U.S citizens immediately. If the child who has an IR2 visa is under 18 years old, then they will get U.S citizenship immediately when they enter the U.S and state that they will live in the U.S with their parents."

Edited April 25, 2019 by GulfwarVeteran

[payxibka 10,047]

12 minutes ago, GulfwarVeteran said:

I resided in Singapore seven years.  I only returned to the USA last year.

 

I petitioned my wife. She received an IR1, and arrived last year.  We made sure we are comfortable and stable before we petitioned her son. I wanted to wait for him to complete the 8th grade, but she wanted him to come sooner. 

 

The CEAC says his visa has been issued, but they have yet to call her to pick up his passport and it has been over a week. The embassy has not been very helpful at all.  They seem to resist answering any questions. 

 

I assume that means he is getting an IR2, but I really have no idea.  Now that is what confuses me.  I am the USC.  She is not.  Yet, he is considered the "unmarried child of a US Citizen".  Ok, so far so good.  I found this:  https://visaguide.world/us-visa/immigrant/ir2/

 

His father was killed in combat in 2008,  I am the only father he has.  I married his mother back in 2014. He never actually lived with us until now because the cost of placing a child in school in Singapore. We only went on holidays together.

 

I am his only parent that is a USC.  I am not his biological parent (I am sterile).  I have no formal adoption. Is he eligible for citizenship? This is very nebulous.

He is not eligible for us citizenship yet.   If he is here and under 18 when his mom naturalized then he will too.  Or after 5 years after arrival he can do it on his own

[Just Paul 4,595]

Was his father a USC?

[GulfwarVeteran 1]

No he was not.

[Just Paul 4,595]

41 minutes ago, GulfwarVeteran said:

No he was not.

Then his naturalization will occur with his mother or in 5 years.

[GulfwarVeteran 1]

We will be retiring in her country, and we own property there, so it is not in our best interest for her to naturalize.  We only want him to maximize his education opportunities.  I realize the USA is OK with dual citizenship, but her country does not allow it.  I suppose if he gets a USA passport we do not have to tell Myanmar.

[Just Paul 4,595]

11 hours ago, GulfwarVeteran said:

We will be retiring in her country, and we own property there, so it is not in our best interest for her to naturalize.  We only want him to maximize his education opportunities.  I realize the USA is OK with dual citizenship, but her country does not allow it.  I suppose if he gets a USA passport we do not have to tell Myanmar.

One you have the green card you don't have to become an USC.  There is a stay requirement to go from 2 year to 10 year.  He would then have time to make a decision.

 

Naturalization is optional.

[NikLR 13,232]

27 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

One you have the green card you don't have to become an USC.  There is a stay requirement to go from 2 year to 10 year.  He would then have time to make a decision.

 

Naturalization is optional.

The boy wont need to ROC. He will get a 10 year card due to parents being married more than 2 years. 

[Juniper 62]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:59 PM, GulfwarVeteran said:

I double checked the status at the NVC site. It says IR2.

 

This is the quote from the web site:  

 

Do I Become a U.S Citizen Once I Get the IR2 Visa?

ttps://visaguide.world/us-visa/immigrant/ir2/

 

"Children who enter the U.S with an IR2 visa have the opportunity to become U.S citizens immediately. If the child who has an IR2 visa is under 18 years old, then they will get U.S citizenship immediately when they enter the U.S and state that they will live in the U.S with their parents."

I read the complete IR-2 discussion on the referenced website.

 

There is one outright falsehood:

 

"Besides the criteria for the child who will be applying for the IR2 visa, the U.S citizen must fulfill these criteria:

• Consent to adopting an unmarried child under 21 years old from a foreign country.
•  .......
• .....   "

There is no requirement for the US Citizen to adopt the minor child for IR-2 immigration visa.

 

Also, their IR-2 discussion completely neglects to say that a US Citizen step-parent can petition a IR-2 visa for their minor step-child.

 

An IR-2 child can derive US citizenship from only their biological or adoptive US Citizen parent (or wait 5 years of course).  Can not derive US citizenship from that IR-2 petitioning US Citizen step-parent.

 

The IR-2 visa minor child gets a 10 year green card depending the child's biological or adoptive parents marriage being more than 2 years when visa is issued, othewise gets a 2 year conditional green card.

 

So that referenced website has at least one falsehood and a lack of additional relevant information for an IR-2 immigration visa.

[GulfwarVeteran 1]

Wow!

 

Thank you for the followup.

 

And to everyone else, a big thank you.

Edited April 27, 2019 by GulfwarVeteran