GETTING CLOSER TO VISA AVAILABILITY DATE

[wizzard166 0]

My wife had her tenth anniversary of being here this past July, and we are in the tenth year of waiting for her Son to be granted an available visa.  She put a petition in for him to come here, shortly after she got her Green Card.  At the time (and still now) he was an unmarried Son over the age of 21, was approved immediately, and then we began the twelve year wait for an available visa (both are from the Philippines).  I've been following the changing time period for both the Petitioner categories Green Card Holder  F2b, and Citizen F1.  Ironically for years the F2b (Green Card Holder) had a waiting period almost two years shorter than if the Petitioner was a Citizen (which my wife now is) F1.  So I never had her change her status to Citizen, because the rules said she could use her original status as Permanent Resident (which she was at the time of the original Petition).  Now the Citizen has caught up, and the two waiting periods are only one month apart.

 

My question and the situation is this.  We have sent her Son to four year college RN program, and he has one and a half years to go.  The Visa Availability Date is now within twelve months in either category.  If it stays at twelve months, we will be notified that a Visa is finally available one year from now; however, at that time he will have only half a year of Nursing college to finish his RN.  What do we do?  I can't imagine we should not take the Visa when it comes, because who knows if that kills getting it back again.  If we take it and bring him here, one half year before his graduation, is he permitted to get here and then go back for that half year to finish his college degree?

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Boiler 45,553]

You can slow things down and he has 6 months from the medical anyway so I do not see an issue.

 

Just to be clear if you naturalise then you do not need to upgrade, you can stay in F2b.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Boiler

[wizzard166 0]

14 minutes ago, Boiler said:

You can slow things down and he has 6 months from the medical anyway so I do not see an issue.

 

Just to be clear if you naturalise then you do not need to upgrade, you can stay in F2b.

Thank you for the input Boiler.  I'm confused a bit by the answer, and maybe its because my wife came here so long ago.  I remember the day she went for the interview at the Embassy in Manila, and i recall waiting only a few days for the Visa after she had her interview.  I don't remember the Medical.  I stayed with her in her town for six months before the Visa was finally granted, and then we went to Manila for the interview, but I don't recall going with her to a Medical.  Is it possible the medical was just before I got there?  

 

Her Petition for her Son's Visa was about ten years ago, but then as you know there is a waiting period for an "Available Visa".  When we started that waiting period it was supposedly going to be 12 years, but the latest January Visa Bulletin showsthe F2B  has jumped to only twelve months.  In the last six months, it starting gaining two to three months for only one month passing of the new Visa Bulletin.  Are you saying that from the month the Visa Bulletin shows that we reached the Availability Date, it takes six months to get a medical done and then have the Visa in your hands? 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Visas are valid for 6 months from the date of the medical. So if he has the medical a week before the interview, the visa expiry date will be 6 months less one week from date of interview.  He only has to enter before expiry, not as soon as he gets the visa. You can also somewhat delay sending paperwork  in after notification of visa availability to slow things down a bit. (He has one year from when the priority date gets current to apply for a visa.)  If it’s just a case of 6 months, that should all be easy. Worst case, he flies to the US for a weekend before visa expiry and goes back to finish his course.

Edited December 28, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[Boiler 45,553]

Well when I did mine medical and interview was on the same day, now it usually a few days before the interview.

 

Quite how it was done in Manila way back when I do not know.

 

Once you have the visa then you have a limited tome to use it depending on the medical date.

 

Trying to work out future priority date movement is a guessing game. Usually what we see here is people looking for ways to speed things up, slowing things down is much easier.

[wizzard166 0]

23 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Visas are valid for 6 months from the date of the medical. So if he has the medical a week before the interview, the visa expiry date will be 6 months less one week from date of interview.  He only has to enter before expiry, not as soon as he gets the visa. You can also somewhat delay sending paperwork  in after notification of visa availability to slow things down a bit. (He has one year from when the priority date gets current to apply for a visa.)  If it’s just a case of 6 months, that should all be easy. Worst case, he flies to the US for a weekend before visa expiry and goes back to finish his course.

Susie I truly appreciate your input.  I think I'm understanding this now.  The Visa Priority Date we have is January 13, 2010, and the January 2020 Visa Bulletin for a Philipine person with F2b is shown as February 1, 2009.  I'm interpreting this as meaning that about 11 months from now we reach a point where his Visa is supposed to be available.  What happens then?  We contact USCIS or a different agency like National Visa Center, and say here we are with a Jan 10, 2013 date and your web site says we reached it; or, will we get a letter from one of those agencies saying our Visa is available?  Then at that point her Son needs to schedule a physical (I'm assuming at St. Luke's in Manila), wait to be notified of the results, and then schedule an interview? And then assuming the interview went well, they mail him the Visa?  I remember after my wife's interview I requested we be able to pick it up in Manila the next day; instead, of them mailing it to her address in a distant city.  Then once he has the Visa in his hands, he gets 6 months to use it?

 

I realize another factor is these Visa Bulletins have crazy changes too.  I remember two years ago the Priority Date on one Visa Bulleten actually lost a year from the prior one.  There is nothing to say that the February Visa Bulletin could show a Priority Date three months further back than the January one.  Hopefully that won't be the case.  We have had to wait a horrible ten years at this point, which is horrendous, but thank God it appears to be coming to an end.  My only worry now, if the recent trend in the Visa Bulletin continues, is he will have a year left in the four year Nursing Degree, if the upcoming Bulletins keep increasing the pace of two months for one month.

 

You seem very knowledgeable, and I'm thankful you saw my post.  If we have no choice but to fly him here about half a year before his Nursing Degree is finished.  Do you know the rule about him being able to fly back to the Philippines shortly after he gets here.  Is he not allowed to go back for any extended period of time, unless we can document some type of family emergency?  Is he not allowed to fly back at all, until some extended time or change in status happens?  I just cant remember when my wife got here.  I think i remember something about it taking something like death of a parent to get permission to leave our country and visit back in their original one.

 

Thanks again for your help,

Carl

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Read this and the following pages for the process. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/after-petition-approved.html