i-130 for stepdaughter; should she stay unmarried?

[kimmie 2]

Hello!  My stepdaughter wants to move here with her fiance and 2 children.  She is over 21 and they are unmarried.  Would it be beneficial for them to remain unmarried and file F-2b, or to get married and file F-3?  The concern would be how long they would be apart is we did F-2b, and then had to file to bring him over.  Does anyone have any experience with this they could share please?  My husband moved here 8 years ago from England but she wasn't ready yet (when it would have been much easier!).

 

Thank you very much!

[Boiler 45,697]

Impossible to say how long they would be apart. Obviously they would need to marry and then historically it has been 2 years or so, in the future who knows? How old are the children, could they age out?

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

57 minutes ago, kimmie said:

Hello!  My stepdaughter wants to move here with her fiance and 2 children.  She is over 21 and they are unmarried.  Would it be beneficial for them to remain unmarried and file F-2b, or to get married and file F-3?  The concern would be how long they would be apart is we did F-2b, and then had to file to bring him over.  Does anyone have any experience with this they could share please?  My husband moved here 8 years ago from England but she wasn't ready yet (when it would have been much easier!).

 

Thank you very much!

F3 is only available for children of citizens, and is an alternative to F1 (unmarried over 21 of USC), not F2B (unmarried over 21 of LPR). Can you clarify your spouse’s status and how old your stepdaughter was when you married if spouse not a USC yet?

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi,

 

Is your husband a USC or an LPR?  Does he plan on applying for US citizenship if he's an LPR?

 

Did you marry your husband before your stepdaughter's 18th birthday?

 

How old are her children?

 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by aaron2020

[kimmie 2]

6 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

Hi,

 

Is your husband a USC or an LPR?  Does he plan on applying for US citizenship if he's an LPR?

 

Did you marry your husband before your stepdaughter's 18th birthday?

 

How old are her children?

 

 

  Hi!  He is an LPR; I would probably apply for her as the USC.  We were married before her 18th birthday; she has an almost 2 year old and one on the way.

 

Thank you!!

[designguy 1,179]

F1 would get her here faster but if she wants her now Fiance to come at the same time the only option would be to marry and do the F3 which would take 10+ years

Edited November 7, 2020 by designguy

[aaron2020 11,651]

If your LPR husband files for her, it would be an F2b case.  She would need to stay unmarried when she steps foot in the US with her immigration visa.  Her children will be able to immigrate with her.  The current wait is about 7 years.  After she gets her green card, she can return home to marry her fiance.  As an LPR, she can petition for her spouse in the F2a category where it takes about 2 years for an immigration visa.  There is no way to avoid the separation while he waits for his visa. 

If she marry while her father is an LPR, then the case is void since an LPR can never have a case for a married child.

If your husband becomes a US citizen, during her wait, then it would become an F1 case as long as she is single (US citizen petitioning an unmarried child over age 21) and the current wait is about 7 years. In the F1 category, her children can immigrate with her.  Once she's an LPR, she can go back to marry and file a F2a case.

If she subsequently marry when the case is an F1, then it becomes an F3 case (US citizen petitioning a married child) and the current wait is 13 years.  In the F3, her spouse and children will be able to immigrate with her.  

If you file for her while she is single, then it would be an F1 case.  If she subsequently gets marry, then it becomes an F3 case.

As you can see, there is no quick way for all four of them to immigrate to the US.  Essentially, there are two choices.  Choice one will be for her to remain single and immigrate to the US with her kids first in about 7 years, go back to marry once she's an LPR, and then file an F2a case which takes another 2 years and they will be separated.  Choice two is to marry and wait about 13 years for the entire family to immigrate together.  

[Boiler 45,697]

All these time lines are of course variable, so much can change over this sort of time line.

[Orangesapples 1,954]

5 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

If your LPR husband files for her, it would be an F2b case.  She would need to stay unmarried when she steps foot in the US with her immigration visa.  Her children will be able to immigrate with her.  The current wait is about 7 years.  After she gets her green card, she can return home to marry her fiance.  As an LPR, she can petition for her spouse in the F2a category where it takes about 2 years for an immigration visa.  There is no way to avoid the separation while he waits for his visa. 

 

Sure there is. After entering the US, she can apply for a reentry permit valid for 2 years and then go back home, marry, file and wait with him. 

Edited November 8, 2020 by Orangesapples

[NikLR 13,228]

11 hours ago, Orangesapples said:

Sure there is. After entering the US, she can apply for a reentry permit valid for 2 years and then go back home, marry, file and wait with him. 

reentry permit for her and the children so 3 in total. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

3 minutes ago, NikLR said:

reentry permit for her and the children so 3 in total. 

Yes, true, a much better alternative to having to be separated! 

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

11 hours ago, Orangesapples said:

Sure there is. After entering the US, she can apply for a reentry permit valid for 2 years and then go back home, marry, file and wait with him. 

 

6 minutes ago, NikLR said:

reentry permit for her and the children so 3 in total. 

This, presupposing that the sponsoring parents will also be joint sponsor of future husband when it is time for his interview, as she will not be living /working in the US at that stage and therefore will be unable to financially sponsor.  There is also a slight risk the process takes longer than two years (not sure how slight, it often has been that long in the past) in which case they will need to renew re-entry permits or just come back a bit sooner. None of these issues is likely to be a big problem but just putting the various scenarios out there.

 

Also just putting out there, that given the time involved, if the cost is not an issue I’d be inclined to have both the USC step-parent file an F1 and the parent file F2B (unless there is a short term plan for this parent to become a USC). The main reason being, F2B is currently almost a year faster than F1, but there is no way to know if this time advantage will remain in place (it hasn’t always been this way round) in the 5-7 years it will take for them to get current. Having both not only allows for the eventual quicker option to be used, but the F1 also provides a backup automatic conversion (rather than voiding of petition) in case for whatever reason they decide to get married while waiting for the visas. 

 

 

 

[Demise 1,299]

23 hours ago, kimmie said:

Hello!  My stepdaughter wants to move here with her fiance and 2 children.  She is over 21 and they are unmarried.  Would it be beneficial for them to remain unmarried and file F-2b, or to get married and file F-3?  The concern would be how long they would be apart is we did F-2b, and then had to file to bring him over.  Does anyone have any experience with this they could share please?  My husband moved here 8 years ago from England but she wasn't ready yet (when it would have been much easier!).

 

Thank you very much!

Honestly it'd probably be better for your husband to petition for her. If he's already a citizen that'd just place her into F1, if he's still an LPR then it'd place her into F2B. Once he naturalizes that'd "upgrade" the petition from F1 to F2B, however the beneficiary can under CSPA decline the upgrade and continue in F2B (this is done by writing to the NVC down the line). She should remain unmarried until husband naturalizes since marriage would kill an F2B petition and merely downgrade an F1, once she's an LPR (kids can tag along with her on either F1 or F2B), she can petition for the husband in F2A.

 

The current backlogs are:

F1 - About 6 years

F2B - About 5 years

F3 - About 12 years

 

So by staying unmarried she can shave off 5-6 years from the wait time.

[kimmie 2]

Thank you all so much for your responses; this is definitely a learning experience and never considered there would be so many options!  I will inform them that marriage is not in the cards if they want to come sooner.  These timelines are a bit daunting, so we'll see how committed she is to really going through with it.

 

Thank you again!!  Really appreciate it!

 

[Boiler 45,697]

Biden's plan include a temporary visa so she could come straight away.

 

https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/bidens-new-plan-for-h-1b-visas-green-cards-likely-to-benefit-thousands-2322230

 

"As president, Biden will support family-based immigration by preserving family unification as a foundation of our immigration system; by allowing any approved applicant to receive a temporary non-immigrant visa until the permanent visa is processed; and by supporting legislation that treats the spouse and children of green card holders as the immediate relatives they are, exempting them from caps, and allowing parents to bring their minor children with them at the time they immigrate," the policy paper said.