What are my options?

[abrahambueno 14]

So my wife is eligible to take her USC test next year so naturally we started thinking about starting the process of moving her family (Mexico) over to the US as well. I have a very close relationship with her family and would love for them to come to the US. Her family is as such:

 

Dad (42)

Mom (42)

Sister (20 married w/ 2 children)

Brother (11 but was born in the U.S.) 

Sister (10)

 

Being that her brother was born in the US I know she won’t have to petition for him. Is it true the wait time for her sisters to be able to come over as a LPR would be 22 years right now?  Is there any options for them to be in the US faster permanently? How long would it take for her parents to be LPRs? 
 

Also, in case you are wondering about her USC brother, her and her family was in the US unlawfully from 1999-2011 in which her father was deported and the rest of the family voluntarily left back to Mexico with only her father incurring a 10 year ban. 

 

 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

From when she becomes a citizen and files:

- mom and dad will be the processing time (uscis processing plus NVC processing + wait time to get appointment in Mexico) Maybe 2-3 years, maybe less if the Mexico queue backlog improves 

 

- yes, sibling visa for Mexico is currently 22 years, see category F4 in table 1 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2022/visa-bulletin-for-august-2022.html

No, there is no way to speed it up. Hypothetically your parents in law could also file for her older sister eventually but because she is married, they will have to be citizens first, so above 2-3 years + 5 years to naturalize+ the wait time for F3 category, which (same doc as above) is actually even longer than F4. So that’s not cutting any corners. For the younger sister parents could file for under 21 child once they are LPRs, that’s F2A in the doc and the current wait is 3 years - so that is a faster option for the younger sister, but not in any way “fast”. There is no way the younger sister can come with them at first either, so would she stay with the older sister?
If her sister or sister’s spouse have good degree/experience they could get a sponsored work visa, but at only 20 years old I’m guessing it’s too soon to be thinking about that for the older one much less the younger one. Maybe a future option if they are on good career paths. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by SusieQQQ

[abrahambueno 14]

18 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

From when she becomes a citizen and files:

- mom and dad will be the processing time (uscis processing plus NVC processing + wait time to get appointment in Mexico) Maybe 2-3 years, maybe less if the Mexico queue backlog improves 

 

- yes, sibling visa for Mexico is currently 22 years, see category F4 in table 1 https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2022/visa-bulletin-for-august-2022.html

No, there is no way to speed it up. Hypothetically your parents in law could also file for her older sister eventually but because she is married, they will have to be citizens first, so above 2-3 years + 5 years to naturalize+ the wait time for F3 category, which (same doc as above) is actually even longer than F4. So that’s not cutting any corners. For the younger sister parents could file for under 21 child once they are LPRs, that’s F2A in the doc and the current wait is 3 years - so that is a faster option for the younger sister, but not in any way “fast”. There is no way the younger sister can come with them at first either, so would she stay with the older sister?
If her sister or sister’s spouse have good degree/experience they could get a sponsored work visa, but at only 20 years old I’m guessing it’s too soon to be thinking about that for the older one much less the younger one. Maybe a future option if they are on good career paths. 

Thank you for the reply! Also, I actually found out that my wife’s sister is unmarried but it doesn’t look like the really speeds up the process at all since she turns 21 this year. So it looks like her best option is just a tourist visa for now right? Even then she still has to go back to Mexico after her visits correct? Just sucks because i did want, as well she, for her kids to have the chance at a US education over Mexico’s. 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

2 minutes ago, abrahambueno said:

Thank you for the reply! Also, I actually found out that my wife’s sister is unmarried but it doesn’t look like the really speeds up the process at all since she turns 21 this year. So it looks like her best option is just a tourist visa for now right? Even then she still has to go back to Mexico after her visits correct? Just sucks because i did want, as well she, for her kids to have the chance at a US education over Mexico’s. 

Yes, the wait is only marginally better for unmarried over 21 children of LPRs, around a year faster than your wife filing sibling - but given the wait time till the parents could file it would still end up being faster for your wife to file a sibling visa as soon as she naturalizes (and then it also wouldn’t matter if the sister does get married).

 

Yes, the sisters would absolutely have to return home after tourist visa visits before their admitted period ends. Any overstay would see them lose their tourist visas and as you already know from the father, there is a potential ban if they stay too long. 

 

If you are able to afford a private education at a SEVP-approved school then you could consider looking into student visas for the children to do schooling in the US. Not a slam dunk as they’d have to show non immigrant intent but certainly an option to investigate if it’s affordable.

[Family 3,988]

1. Her parents are IR ( immediate relatives), so only the time req to get through I.130 approval/NVC and to CDJ for interview. Guess time 1.5 yrs

 

2 ( am aware 10 yrs passed ) BUT CDJ will likely slap smuggling inadmissibility at interview IF your wife and 20 yr old sister came over EWI w parents in the past. If so then add another year for I-601 waiver…

This is a CDJ anomaly.

 

3. Unless the 20 sister will be waiting some decades , per Visa Bulletin 

 

4 The youngest sister waits for parents to be LPR 

 

 

[Demise 1,289]

17 hours ago, abrahambueno said:

So my wife is eligible to take her USC test next year so naturally we started thinking about starting the process of moving her family (Mexico) over to the US as well. I have a very close relationship with her family and would love for them to come to the US. Her family is as such:

 

Dad (42)

Mom (42)

Sister (20 married w/ 2 children)

Brother (11 but was born in the U.S.) 

Sister (10)

 

Being that her brother was born in the US I know she won’t have to petition for him. Is it true the wait time for her sisters to be able to come over as a LPR would be 22 years right now?  Is there any options for them to be in the US faster permanently? How long would it take for her parents to be LPRs? 
 

Also, in case you are wondering about her USC brother, her and her family was in the US unlawfully from 1999-2011 in which her father was deported and the rest of the family voluntarily left back to Mexico with only her father incurring a 10 year ban. 

 

 

 

Father and mother incurred 10 year bans, father for getting deported and for unlawful presence, mother just for unlawful presence. Unlawful presence bans are automatic, there doesn't have to be an official finding by an immigration judge, USCIS, DOS, or any other agency for them to kick in. These bans have since expired, they'll just have to prove that they maintained residence in Mexico or elsewhere and didn't reenter US.

 

Anyways the way to go about this would be:

Dad and mom - petition them as immediate relatives, will take about 2 years for them to become LPRs.

20 year old sister - petition for her directly in F4 (sibling of US Citizen), it's backlogged less than F3 and parents wouldn't be able to petition for her anyways until they've naturalized since there's no category for married children of LPRs.

11 year old bother - Kid's a USC, all he needs is to get a passport and board a plane

10 year old sister - Have either parent petition for her as an F2A, it's a bit backlogged for Mexico but I think that backlog will clear soon. Even if not, 3 years isn't an insurmountable wait.

 

Regarding the F4 backlog, I think it might loosen up a bit after the priority date passes the 245(i) cutoff date of April 30, 2001. Something similar happened with F2B for Philippines, there was a crazy amount of petitions that were filed during the December 21, 2000 to April 30, 2001 window of 245(i) getting briefly reopened. Don't get me wrong, it'll still be a long wait, but less than 22 years.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Demise

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 hour ago, Demise said:

10 year old sister - Have either parent petition for her as an F2A, it's a bit backlogged for Mexico but I think that backlog will clear soon. Even if not, 3 years isn't an insurmountable wait.

You seem quite familiar with Mexico, curious if you have an opinion on the fact that they just instituted a priority date cut-off for F2A after about 3 years of it being current, whether you see it continuing and if so improving or getting worse?

[Demise 1,289]

22 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

You seem quite familiar with Mexico, curious if you have an opinion on the fact that they just instituted a priority date cut-off for F2A after about 3 years of it being current, whether you see it continuing and if so improving or getting worse?

I feel like they probably overissued and just put the cut off to not crash the whole F2A visa system for the entire world. Keep in mind that we're getting out of a pandemic that brought everything to a halt, so consulates are dealing with a lot of cases that should've gotten their IVs in 2020 or 2021 right now.

 

75% of F2A visas are exempt from per-country caps (which is how Mexico and Philippines managed to remain current), so I think that the cut off date will go away with the start of the next fiscal year (Oct 1st). They might put another as the FY 2023 comes to an end until they get over the backlog.

 

tl;dr: They overissued F2A visas, Mexico consumes most of the F2A visas, it was simpler to put a pause on Mexico than force consulates all over the world to do it.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Demise