Mom, do you have a link for that?
While I couldn't find anything specific on DV I did find that (1) for refugee immigrant visas the derivatives may not immigrate in such a situation and (2) that for follow to join the derivatives could not be issued visas in such a situation. While these are different both seem to imply that USCIS considers death of the principal to prevent derivatives coming in. What they do say is in a family petition, if the original petitioner dies after the principal has entered the derivatives can still enter, but there the principal is still alive of course.
Britsimon, why do you suppose USCIS would not be informed of the death? Given the requirement to inform of change of address I would assume there is some bureaucratic mechanism that informs USCIS of the death of a green card holder?
No I don't have a direct link to that. However, I assume we're talking about a situation where the derivative has already been issued with the visa but did not enter the US with the principal applicant. Unless the derivative's visa has an annotation that says the derivative must be accompanied by the PA, my understanding is that the derivative should be able to enter the US under the circumstance described above. I haven't come across anything that says the PA must still be in the US by the time the derivatives arrives, which means it's possible for the derivative to come in and leave almost immediately following which they pass away. In such a situation, USCIS will certainly not be in the know how of what has happened to the PA. A similar situation also is that of a PA that does not wish to reside in the US but simply went through the process for the purpose of getting the GC for their derivatives - the PA activates their LPR status following which they depart for their home country and the derivative(s) come in shortly after that, it's not like they will be stopped at the POE, unless again their visas state they must be accompanied by the PA.
Anyway, the assumption that the death of petitioner or PA automatically voids a petition has been addressed by INA 204(l) - Rights of Surviving Relatives and Beneficiaries - signed into law in 2010. Admittedly one might want to make the argument that this only applies to family, employment, asylum, T and U NIV based AOS petitions, it contains a section that deals with other petitions based on humanitarian grounds. USCIS released a memo on Dec 2010
http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/...2011/January/Death-of-Qualifying-Relative.pdf as an administrative piece on how INA 204(l) should be interpreted. The regulationstates that a person need not have been physically present in the US on the date the “qualifying relative” passed away to benefit from its provisions; only that the US was the person’s “principal or actual place of residence,”
even if they were physically outside the US at the time of death. The following immigration law website has done a great job of summarizing the INA section in question and the USCIS memo:
http://asianjournal.com/immigration/uscis-issues-memo-on-surviving-relatives-law/
Also regarding the case of follow to join, if the petitioner dies before the principal beneficiary immigrates, the petition is automatically revoked however there are exceptions and the petition can be reinstated on humanitarian grounds. Also if the petitioner dies after the principal beneficiary arrives and there are other beneficiaries wishing to pursue the FTJ option, they will be allowed to do so also regardless of the death of the petitioner;
What happens if the petitioner dies before the principal beneficiary has immigrated to the United States?
If the petitioner dies before the principal beneficiary has immigrated to the United States, the petition is automatically revoked. This means that the consular officer will not be able to issue a visa to any of the beneficiaries of the petition and will be required to return the petition to USCIS for them to take final action. There are exceptions in the laws for spouses of U.S. citizens applying with for an IR-1 visa. Otherwise,
An applicant may contact directly the USCIS office that approved the petition to request that it be reinstated for compelling humanitarian reasons. If USCIS reinstates the petition, the consular section will contact the applicant and provide instructions for further processing.
What happens if the petitioner dies after the principal beneficiary has immigrated to the United States?
Eligibility of derivative applicants seeking to follow to join a principal beneficiary who has already acquired lawful permanent resident (LPR) status is dependent on the continuing lawful permanent resident status of the principal, not on the status of the petitioner. Therefore, if the petitioner dies after the principal applicant has already become an LPR and one or more derivative applicants seek to follow to join the principal applicant, the derivatives retain eligibility to follow to join despite the death of the petitioner.
http://havana.usint.gov/iv-faq.html
RIVERS ID,SSN,LPR,CITIZENS bla bla bla I realized most people have little information about the whole process...