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Interesting, thanks a bunch. Sounds worth a try, worst case scenario they deny the passport and they're out $135 or whatever.

Thank you, this is very helpful. It seems like the best option might be the "slow route" of filing a concurrent I-130/I-485 while he's here on an F-2 with his mom. He would get a green card and be fine to live in the country, and my wife will be able to file for her mom once she naturalizes anyway so they wouldn't have to be separated. His dad doesn't seem to have any desire for any degree of custody anyway. Do you foresee any issues with that sort of arrangement? I imagine the I-485 interview might get a bit weird if all three of them attend it, but it doesn't seem like they'd be doing anything actually against the rules by having the dad file for him without actually acting as the custodial parent.

My wife is the sister of her brother. My wife is the daughter of her mother.

Ghana, which treats all children as legitimate. My wife will petition their mother when she naturalizes, so that shouldn't be an issue.

Does past support matter for any of this? My understanding is that the issues are legitimacy for the green card and actual physical and legal custody for citizenship.

Father is on the birth certificate, support has not been particularly consistent

Hey all, I'm trying to figure out how best to help my brother-in-law immigrate. Here are the facts: 1. 10 years old, lives abroad with his non-US citizen mother 2. Parents never married, father has since become a US citizen and has lived in the US for more than 5 years 3. Laws of his country treat all children as legitimate 4. Ideally everyone agrees that he is better off living with his mother, but short stays with his father would be OK 5. His mother is considering coming to the US on a student visa to complete master's degree in the next couple of years From what I've researched, the surest albeit slowest way is for him to come to the US on an F-2 with his mom when she does her master's and for his father to do a concurrent I-130/I-485 for him once he is in the country. He would continue living with his mother and would not be eligible for citizenship for 5 years after receipt of the green card (which could cause problems down the line since his mom will probably have to return to her country when she finishes her master's). There seem to be two other possibilities, but I'm a bit confused as to the specifics and maybe there are more that I haven't considered: 1. Same as process above, except once he receives the green card he goes to live with his father for a certain amount of time in order to qualify as a US citizen. He applies for a passport and goes back to live with his mom once he receives it. It is unclear to me exactly how long he would have to live with his father to be eligible for a citizenship, or how to prove his father's custody. Father would have to file I-864 for this. 2. His father files I-130 for him while he's abroad, he gets a green card via consular process and goes to stay with his father in the US. He automatically becomes a citizen as soon as he enters the country, he applies for a passport and then goes back overseas to live with his mom once the passport arrives. Under this scenario, it seems like custody is demonstrated during the process of applying for the green card (since his mom allows him to leave her custody to go live with his dad). Furthermore, his father would be able to file an I-864W since he would never actually be at risk of being a public charge. Do I mostly have the right of it? None of the other options (N-600K for example) seem to work for this situation, but I'm almost certain I've missed stuff. Thank you!