Applying for Mother-in-laws Green Card who lives in Spain and has Indian Passport

[deepdubey]

Hi,
My mother-in-law is a resident of spain and holds Indian passport. Me and my wife are citizens of US and want to apply for her Green card. She had applied for visitor visa for US from US consulate in Spain but has been rejected twice in the last 2 years siting reasons of not having immovable property in Spain.

Which consulate should we pick when applying for her green card? Can we pick the consulate in Spain or will we have to pick a consulate in India? I am also curious how the police checks etc. would work.

Also, is it preferrable to apply for green card of father-in-law at the same time considering that he is working in Spain and even if he gets the green card, he will not be able to stay for long periods in USA?

Regards
Deep

 

[TheRealCanadian]

Me and my wife are citizens of US and want to apply for her Green card. She had applied for visitor visa for US from US consulate in Spain but has been rejected twice in the last 2 years siting reasons of not having immovable property in Spain.

Does your MIL want to reside in the US, or merely visit?

Which consulate should we pick when applying for her green card? Can we pick the consulate in Spain or will we have to pick a consulate in India? I am also curious how the police checks etc. would work.

If she has legal residency in Spain, she can apply from there. She'll need police certificates from Spain and India.

Also, is it preferrable to apply for green card of father-in-law at the same time considering that he is working in Spain and even if he gets the green card, he will not be able to stay for long periods in USA?

Where does he want to live?

 

[deepdubey]

Mother-in-law wants to visit but if the visitor visa route is not going to work then we are ok taking the green card step and also understand that adds burden on her to stay in US for longer periods to satisfy the green card requirements. How would you get police clearance from India if she lives in Spain? Is this a form that you need to take to the police deptt.?

Father-in-law wants to live in Spain but is it better if we apply for them together and then he can take the decision on whether he wants to keep the green card.

 

[Jackolantern]

What are their prospects for becoming citizens of Spain? With a Spanish passport they could visit the US with the visa waiver program.

Would obtaining a green card and/or spending lots of time in the US jeopardize their Spanish residence status?

 

[deepdubey]

They are not close to becoming Spanish citizens. Also, it is an issue if she gets the green card, since it will be difficult for her to spend a lot of time in US to satisfy the green card criteria.

We want to try for visitor visa for her again. Isn't it a simple case for my Mother-in-Law to explain to the officer that if she wants to immigrate to US then she can get the green card which she could procure in 1 year but that is not her intention. Why would she get a visitor visa and even think of becoming illegal resident in US.

Since my Mother-in-law does not have residential property in Spain the embassy is worried and also told her that since her daughter is a citizen of US she can come and visit her. We have already visited her, the purpose is different to get mother-in-law to visit us for couple of months.

Also, we are expecting our baby in a month now but we wre not very explicit about that in the invitation when my mother-in-law applied for visitor visa a month back. would it be good for her to present this fact and we can send some documentation regarding that.

Your feedback is appreicated.

 

[Jackolantern]

We want to try for visitor visa for her again. Isn't it a simple case for my Mother-in-Law to explain to the officer that if she wants to immigrate to US then she can get the green card which she could procure in 1 year but that is not her intention. Why would she get a visitor visa and even think of becoming illegal resident in US.

When somebody with a tourist visa applies for adjustment of status or overstays, it counts against the performance record of the officer who approved the visa. They're worried that she'll file for AOS in the US through your or your sister's sponsorship, because that's what very many parents of US citizens do after entering with a tourist visa.

Probably the only way she'll get a tourist visa is to get a green card first (through consular processing, of course), then leave the US after a short time and officially surrender the GC at a consulate with form I-407. After officially and voluntarily surrendering the GC, it will be easy to get a tourist visa -- the visa can be applied for in the same consular visit when surrendering the GC.

 

[deepdubey]

This is an extreme process. In the visa interview the consular officer said that they need to show residential property in spain. Are you suggesting that even if they purchase a residential property, the embassy will reject the visitor visa?

If this process is followed and green card is surrendered, in future can they re-apply for green card at a later point.

You also mention that this will increase their chancesof getting the visitor visa. Even after this if the visitor visa is not a certainty then the situation could be worse.

Has anyone gone through this process to secure a visitor visa.

 

[Jackolantern]

This is an extreme process. In the visa interview the consular officer said that they need to show residential property in spain. Are you suggesting that even if they purchase a residential property, the embassy will reject the visitor visa?

Purchasing the property would improve her chances, but there would still be a high probability of rejection due to having US citizen children living in the US.

If this process is followed and green card is surrendered, in future can they re-apply for green card at a later point.

Yes, a new green card can be obtained without the surrendered one causing a problem.

You also mention that this will increase their chancesof getting the visitor visa. Even after this if the visitor visa is not a certainty then the situation could be worse.

There are never any guarantees with immigration, but having a green card and then voluntarily surrendering it is probably the surest way to get a tourist visa, provided that the tourist visa is applied for at the same time as the surrender, or a short time afterwards. Voluntarily surrendering the green card is extremely strong evidence of not wanting to immigrate.