GC to daughter of US Citizen

S

silguim

New Member
Hello all, my father is getting his citizenship this year and I'm looking into ways of getting my GC through him.

I'm unmarried, over 21 years old, living in the US illegally for a few years. Is there a way for me to apply for a GC through him? How would that work and how long would it take for me to get it?

Thank you so much for any info you can provide. God bless.
 
Did you enter the US legally? If yes, what was your immigration status before it expired? Tourist? F-1 student? Something else?
 
I think you are kind of stuck. You are over 21, so you will not be an Immediate Relative after your father becomes a citizen. Therefore, you are not eligible for Adjustment of Status, because for non-Immediate Relatives, it requires that you be in status to apply. However, if you left the U.S. you will be subject to a ban, probably the 10-year ban, for the amount of unlawful presence you have. You accrued unlawful presence when you're 18 or over and you've stayed past the date on your I-94. If you have more than a year of unlawful presence, you have a 10-year ban. You could try to get a provisional waiver for the ban, but that would require proving hardship to your citizen father if you were not here.
 
Because of the length of your overstay you'll have to leave the US and wait out the 10-year ban in order to get a green card through your father.

Since you're over 21, you would have to wait about 7 years for the green card anyway even if you didn't overstay, because the category for over-21 children of US citizens is backlogged to December 2006. See the family category F1 in the visa bulletin: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6228.html

Your father can initiate the process by filing I-130 before your 10-year ban is expired; what matters is that your 10 years are done before your consular interview at the end of the process. So if your father files the application when there are about 7 years left of your 10 years, your 10 years should be just about done when your case becomes ripe for an interview.
 
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