Green Card Activation Advice

ajk

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,

My wife and i recently had our green card approved as a result of the Diversity Lottery 2011.

My signature should tell all but basically we were approved in October and were planning to leave for the US just prior to the expiration of the 6 month activation window; late march early april 2011.

However, my wife (who is pregnant) is due mid february, and after some thought we felt this plan is too risky as we simply may not get enough time to arrange all the paper work (birth certificate, citizenship, passport) for our new arrival and their is very little room for 'expecting the unexpected' or delays.

So the plan now is to go to NYC next month and activate our visa. She will be around
32 weeks pregnant!

Questions:

1) The airlines say you can normally travel up to 36 weeks, is this likely to be a problem from the IO's perspective in the US?

2) Our plan is still to do the big move early next year, as a result we will be entering NYC on a return ticket, staying around 4-5 days? Could this be a problem?

Can anyone offer any informed advice? Or provide suggestions that may help this go as smooth as possible?

Cheers,

AJK
 
IO does not care when you travel. But you are taking a huge risk traveling in 32-36 weeks timeframe, especially if it is a 10-15 hour trip.
You can of course return after 4-5 days. However, for naturalization, they will "probably" count your stay from the time you first arrive for a long stay in US. However, given your wife's situation, maybe that's what you need to work with ... a few months delay in naturalization (if at all).
 
1) Once she arrives in the US with an immigrant visa, the IO can't send her back just because she's pregnant.

2) Usually they don't care about your ticket when it's your first trip to the US. But for future trips I would advise entering with a one-way ticket, or a return ticket that ends up in the US.

How far is your country from the US? Note that it is not necessary to enter the mainland US to do the initial admission to permanent residence. Consider landing in Hawaii, or a US territory like Guam, if either is much closer to the your country than NY, in order to make the flight easier for your wife. Unless you have friends or family in the mainland US that would be able to assist her if she unexpectedly had to remain in the US to give birth.

Note that she probably will have to travel with a doctor's note clearing her to fly, which also says how many weeks pregnant she is and how many babies are expected (airline policies may be different for twins or more). Get two notes like that, one for each way and make sure each note is dated.

Also note that once the baby is born outside the US after she has been admitted as a permanent resident, the baby must return to the US on her first trip to the US since the birth (or your first trip since the birth, if you were outside the US at the time of birth) and must be under 2 years old, in order to obtain automatic permanent resident status upon the baby's first entry.
 
IO does not care when you travel. But you are taking a huge risk traveling in 32-36 weeks timeframe, especially if it is a 10-15 hour trip.
You can of course return after 4-5 days. However, for naturalization, they will "probably" count your stay from the time you first arrive for a long stay in US. However, given your wife's situation, maybe that's what you need to work with ... a few months delay in naturalization (if at all).

Hi,

Thanks for the advice.

We are looking at a 5-6 hour flight to NYC from where we are; as seasoned flyers we are hoping it is not to much of a problem at all.

My wife just made a 9.5 hr and a 8.5 hr flight in the past week and a bit, with absolutely no problems; took it in her stride. NYC is in three weeks time though, so
hopefully it still remains manageable; if we thought we could put it off, we definitely would!

AJK
 
1) Once she arrives in the US with an immigrant visa, the IO can't send her back just because she's pregnant.

Good news!!!

2) Usually they don't care about your ticket when it's your first trip to the US. But for future trips I would advise entering with a one-way ticket, or a return ticket that ends up in the US.

Also sounds good, but thanks for the hint re: further trips to the US!

How far is your country from the US?

No more than 6 hours to NYC, so its probably the closest.

Note that it is not necessary to enter the mainland US to do the initial admission to permanent residence. Consider landing in Hawaii, or a US territory like Guam, if either is much closer to the your country than NY, in order to make the flight easier for your wife. Unless you have friends or family in the mainland US that would be able to assist her if she unexpectedly had to remain in the US to give birth.

We do have friends should the unexpected happen.

Note that she probably will have to travel with a doctor's note clearing her to fly, which also says how many weeks pregnant she is and how many babies are expected (airline policies may be different for twins or more). Get two notes like that, one for each way and make sure each note is dated.

Definately, we've just had to do that for a trip in the last week. Everything went ok, with note in hand, just hoping being US bound doesn't make any difference.

Also note that once the baby is born outside the US after she has been admitted as a permanent resident, the baby must return to the US on her first trip to the US since the birth (or your first trip since the birth, if you were outside the US at the time of birth) and must be under 2 years old, in order to obtain automatic permanent resident status upon the baby's first entry.

Very good point, i did some research on this topic before deciding to go next month. Very glad i came across this info previously! I can't imagine how much pain has been cause by people being caught out in this regard.

Thanks for the input.

AJK
 
Is she absolutely unable to remain in the U.S. to give birth to a U.S. Citizen child?

Our native citizenship is far more valuable in my mind for ourselves and our child at this point, so this isn't a great priority.

Plus, where we currently live (UK) all our medical is paid for and organised.

A last minute move to the USA under the current economic climate seems like a very risky move.

AJK
 
Plus, where we currently live (UK) all our medical is paid for and organised.

Good point. An uncomplicated childbirth will cost you about $10K in the US if you don't have insurance. Easily more than $50K if there are complications.
 
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