• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

DV 2015 Winners Meet Here

I'm a 2015 Dv winner and would want to travel with my niece to the US is it a wise idea to take up legal guardianship for her before my interview her father is late though .If I do so can she get a visa also under me as the Principal applicant.
 
I don't think that would work. My understanding is that all children must be your own (either biological or adopted). Legal guardianship won't cut it IMO.

This isn't a visa process where everyone gets to piggy back on the principal applicant. The instructions are clear that parents and siblings of the principal cannot be included. I'm guessing a niece / nephew would come under that rule too.
 
I'm a 2015 Dv winner and would want to travel with my niece to the US is it a wise idea to take up legal guardianship for her before my interview her father is late though .If I do so can she get a visa also under me as the Principal applicant.

It would need to be a legal adoption and she would also have to be, I think it is, younger than 15 unless you are adopting younger siblings at the same time.
They scrutinise sudden adoptions as closely as sudden marriages for winners...

They also scrutinise adoptions to ensure they meet the laws of both the US and the adopting countries. I also recall reading they are especially suspicious when the adoptee child is a relative... for obvious reasons.
 
Ah - here is how they prevent adoptions of convenience - uscis has a very specific definition of an adopted child wrt those applying for immigrant visas:

Adopted Child
: An unmarried child under age 21, who was adopted while under the age of sixteen, and who has been in legal custody and lived with the adopting parent(s) for at least two years.
 
And you can throw in Canada on that list too. If flying in from Calgary, AB in Canada for instance, US immigration is completed before boarding the plane in Canada.
Is it done by Americans (i.e. USCIS personnel) who happened to be stationed there or just local staff of the country where you complete immigration procedure?
 
Is it done by Americans (i.e. USCIS personnel) who happened to be stationed there or just local staff of the country where you complete immigration procedure?

It's handled by American CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) agents stationed there specifically for that purpose.
 
As the great Australian philosophers Kath and Kim would say, I can feel it in my waters. It's coming!
 
I just read that interview dates in Frankfurt that were already scheduled for April have now been postponed to a later date due to an "overload of cases". (Selectees were noticed via email by the embassy apparantly.)
Is that common? I just wanted to let you know - for statistics etc.
 
Top