Strange situation but there must be a solution?

[aaron2020 11,651]

A family lawyer is the wrong type of lawyer for this.  They are not familiar with immigration law.  You need an immigration lawyer.

 

An adult adoption will not work for immigration since you would need to be adopted before age 16 to be eligible for an immigration benefit through your adopted father.

The problem is that you were born out of wedlock and you were not legitimized by age 18.  

You consulted 10 immigration lawyers and they are correct in telling you that nothing can be done.  It would be unethical of them to take your money to pursue a case that they know will go nowhere.  No one is going to risk their law license to do this.  People are not in business to turn down a paying client except when they are ethical and know that nothing can be done.

You have to accept the truth even if it's not what you want to hear.   Sorry, there is no solution that will allow you to claim US citizenship or immigrate through your father.  DNA will not override the law.  

You're Canadian.  You can visit the US for up to six months.  Consider yourself fortunate since many people can never visit the US.

Edited June 11, 2020 by aaron2020

[HRQX 4,145]

8 hours ago, Mollie09 said:

ETA: If you amend your BC, you might be able to argue you were a USC at birth, but I believe that would have had to be done before you turned 18.

There is a process to apply directly for an adult US passport based on a US citizen's birth abroad: https://il.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/passport-services/first-time-passport-adult-not-yet-documented-u-s-citizen/ As carmel34 posted earlier, OP doesn't qualify because the law at OP's birth required legitimization by father prior to turning 21.

Edited June 12, 2020 by HRQX

[HRQX 4,145]

13 hours ago, B&C2017 said:

(or divorced I'd assume).

If OP is divorced and not currently married then OP qualifies for F1 category. In that case, OP must remain unmarried until OP enters the US with the immigrant visa to avoid a change to F3 category.

Edited June 12, 2020 by HRQX

[HRQX 4,145]

15 hours ago, Abigail3 said:

I have siblings,

Your adult paternal sibling(s) can also submit I-130 petitions as a backup plan. In that backup plan case, it would be F4 category.

Edited June 12, 2020 by HRQX

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

30 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Your adult paternal sibling(s) can also submit I-130 petitions as a backup plan. In that backup plan case, it would be F4 category.

But OP would probably be close to 70 yo by the time she could move under F4 - so yes it’s a backup but not a great option.

 

 

[Timona 4,208]

I agree with the rest. However, I'd take a different approach to this. 

 

You're 50. This process of changing your BC and getting US Citizenship is not going to be cheap. As someone already suggested, you being Canadian gives you 6 months stay in the US. I'd rather take up this option than drop time and $$ on getting a BC to show parents name and then get an American passport.

 

Your parent still remains your parent by blood. I wouldn't worry much about what's on the BC. Nor will I worry about US citizenship being that you're Canadian. However, I would have sought the American Citizenship had I been left in a third world country by my parents, one of whom I just found out is American. Then and only then would I seek to get the American citizenship even at 50 so that my kids can have it as soon as it's bestowed on me. This is my layman's reasoning. 

[HRQX 4,145]

13 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

But OP would probably be close to 70 yo by the time she could move under F4 - so yes it’s a backup but not a great option.

True. I mentioned it because we've seen here on VJ that the parent sometimes passes away before I-130 is approved. It's a simple "insurance policy" for siblings to also submit I-130 petitions sooner rather than later. Hopefully, the "insurance policy" isn't ultimately needed.

Edited June 12, 2020 by HRQX

[HRQX 4,145]

1 minute ago, Timona said:

Your parent still remains your parent by blood. I wouldn't worry much about what's on the BC. Nor will I worry about US citizenship being that you're Canadian. However, I would have sought the American Citizenship had I been left in a third world country by my parents, one of whom I just found out is American. Then and only then would I seek to get the American citizenship even at 50 so that my kids can have it as soon as it's bestowed on me. This is my layman's reasoning. 

DOS must follow the law at OP's birth. At that time, the law required legitimization by father prior to turning 21.

[JonSeattle 202]

5 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

A family lawyer is the wrong type of lawyer for this.  They are not familiar with immigration law.  You need an immigration lawyer.

It seems unjust that the father was deprived of a relationship with his daughter because her existence was concealed from him. A family lawyer might be aware of some case law that addresses that in other to make an exception to the limit of the child being 18 before the father's support is established.

[Abigail3 2]

2 minutes ago, JonSeattle said:

It seems unjust that the father was deprived of a relationship with his daughter because her existence was concealed from him. A family lawyer might be aware of some case law that addresses that in other to make an exception to the limit of the child being 18 before the father's support is established.

Thanks. Well as I said - there was no legal adoption. My biological mother did not consent to any of this. A couple, including one with no blood relationship to a baby, can't just take that baby from her mother, have her birth certificate changed and then raise it as their own child. My date of birth (including year) and name were changed to cover this up. 

 

Thanks to everyone else for their comments/feedback. To clarify a few things:

 

The immigration lawyers I spoke to were all paid. All had said going the F1 route would be the best one if I wanted to do this on family basis but my father is in poor health. That's part of my urgency with this. Until the borders shut down, I was already doing a lot of back and forth and having a lot of questions with each visit. Can you imagine what I've experienced only to deal with the humiliation and degradation of being questioned? Each time I'm asked when being truthful about visiting my father - why am I not traveling on a US passport? I say because I'm not a US citizen. Is your father a US citizen? Yes. Why aren't you? It's all just exhausting and expensive all around.

 

I had started the E2 visa process before corovirus hit. Now I need to restart it because the business plans have had to change but I'm very much stuck right now because the borders are locked down through July 21st at least. (I talked with my lawyer yesterday to see if there was some way I could cross and nope.)

[HRQX 4,145]

12 minutes ago, Abigail3 said:

but my father is in poor health.

As I mentioned above, your siblings can also submit I-130 petitions for F4 category as a backup plan.

 

At least the E2 is a faster option.

Edited June 12, 2020 by HRQX
Noticed E2 visa part

[JonSeattle 202]

Just out of curiosity, I googled some things, and "retroactive adoption immigration" found some interesting articles, for example https://cliniclegal.org/resources/retroactive-adoption-decrees-open-possibilities#:~:text=Last Updated&text=The BIA has held that,the order to be backdated.&text=But the decree was made,the child was under 16.

 

Apparently the law there is still was being hashed out a few years ago, so contacting one of the laws firms with experience in that areas may be worthwhile. Any such approach is likely to require appeals and will be very expensive.

[Abigail3 2]

12 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Oh wait and there were even more complicated issues around legitimation back then. Even if the presence requirements were met I think legitimation would have needed to be done before she turned 18 for her to claim citizenship directly.

The law that applies under normal circumstances is what it was at the time of my birth. So it was 21 then (Congress later lowered it to 18). There are no issues on the presence requirement. He did one semester of college in Canada but otherwise always resided in the US. 

[HRQX 4,145]

22 minutes ago, JonSeattle said:

Apparently the law there is still was being hashed out a few years ago, so contacting one of the laws firms with experience in that areas may be worthwhile. Any such approach is likely to require appeals and will be very expensive.

That path is not viable at all for OP.

[Abigail3 2]

59 minutes ago, HRQX said:

As I mentioned above, your siblings can also submit I-130 petitions for F4 category as a backup plan.

 

At least the E2 is a faster option.

Yeah. Another call with my lawyer today and we talked about starting EB2 NIW first and E2 as a backup. EB2 NIW would be faster if it works and go right to GC but it is more of a long shot for me.