Green Card for an adoptive parent

T

Techie1

New Member
I am a recently naturalized US citizen and wanted to sponsor my adoptive mom for a green card so that she can stay here with me without being subjected to the requirement to leave the country every 180 days with her current 10 years long valid B1/B2 visa.

When I read the instructions for filling out the necessary form, I saw that, I must have been under the age of 16 at the time of the adoption. Unfortunately I was 18 because of conditions beyond my and her control, at the adoption time, by legal requirements in my homeland.

I went to my local immigration office and talked to an officer and she did not have much information other than this sponsorship being not possible. I heard that there are exceptions (on humanitarian reason and else) where permanent residency visas (i.e. Green Cards) being authorized case-by-case basis. Since this seems to be the most prominent immigration related forum around the net, I wanted to ask people with possible expertise if this is correct and if so, how should I proceed from this point on ?

Any help is greatly appreciated. My mom is not able to travel alone and every time she needs to leave the country, I have to accompany her. Accross the Atlantic trips every 6 months is very heard for her and very time consuming financially ineffective way for me.

Thank you in advance for your wisdom.
 
If your personal situation or case is outside of the norm. You NEED professional advice from a qualified immigration attorney. Hopefully one who specializes in such kind of exceptions to the rules.

You may find some direction here, but not specific advice to a case that is out of the ordinary.
 
I am not an immigration attorney (never mind a qualified one), but merely needing to accompany your adoptive mother on a plane trip doesn't spring to mind as the kind of extreme hardship that the immigration laws refer to.
 
Just ignore the unhelpful chatter from other members.

Read up on the I-130 instructions. If you feel you cannot sponsor her then current status quo is better!
If you think there is a chance, then read up on immigration related matters.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
I am not an immigration attorney (never mind a qualified one), but merely needing to accompany your adoptive mother on a plane trip doesn't spring to mind as the kind of extreme hardship that the immigration laws refer to.
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Well, the extreme hardship is not merely on my part but dragging an 80 year old woman half way across the earth and back just to satisfy the 180 days rule is a little harsh and quite a bit of hardship for her in my opinion.

Concerned4us said:
You can always relocate to her home country if she is more important to you than your job or life in the US.
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I have read similar comments to this on other thread while researching and assuming all of them are made by people with the mindset of born US citizen, who generally gets to be kicked out of the house at the age of 18, you can not not understand the relationship between a child and a parent in the culture I am coming from. So, answer to your question is yes, she is important to me but as a US citizen, most probably like you, I should have a say in this and do my homework to find a way to sponsor her instead of packing my bags and going back home. I was not after smart-Alec responses like yours, thank-you-very-much.

Looks like I am up the creek and need to talk to an immigration lawyer.

On a totally unrelated note, I am wondering what is going to happen to the aunt of our newly elected president who is an illegal immigrant. I am wondering which cubbyhole will they find to put her in and make her legal.
 
Techie1 said:
Looks like I am up the creek and need to talk to an immigration lawyer.

On a totally unrelated note, I am wondering what is going to happen to the aunt of our newly elected president who is an illegal immigrant. I am wondering which cubbyhole will they find to put her in and make her legal.
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Lawyer, good lawyer is the way to go! You can talk to Shusterman - I heard he's one of the best ones around.

As for aunt I think if she violates and deserves deportation she should be deported whether Obama is president or not. Why is he any different? But I agree probably something will pop up.
 
Techie1 said:
Well, the extreme hardship is not merely on my part but dragging an 80 year old woman half way across the earth and back just to satisfy the 180 days rule is a little harsh and quite a bit of hardship for her in my opinion.
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For her, yes, but the law does not take that into consideration. The language of the statute requires extreme hardship for the US citizen (and I believe it's restricted to spouse or child, but I'm not 100% sure), not the alien.

I have read similar comments to this on other thread while researching and assuming all of them are made by people with the mindset of born US citizen
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Several people (myself included) will phrase something not based on a personal opinion, but the opinion of the government, which is what this is. You have the legal ability to live with her outside the US, so it is a valid option. What you or I may think about its desirability is something outside the question.

On a totally unrelated note, I am wondering what is going to happen to the aunt of our newly elected president who is an illegal immigrant. I am wondering which cubbyhole will they find to put her in and make her legal.
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In the worst case, private legislation. Are you good friends with a Member of Congress, by any chance?
 
Did she legally marry your biological father before you were 16? I think GC sponsorship can be done for a stepparent even if the legal adoption didn't occur until after age 16 (or there was no legal adoption at all), as long as you were actually living with the stepparent. Look into that possibility.
 
Techie1 said:
Well, the extreme hardship is not merely on my part but dragging an 80 year old woman half way across the earth and back just to satisfy the 180 days rule is a little harsh and quite a bit of hardship for her in my opinion.
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well, the thing is that the US government does not require your mom to travel to the States every 6 months for 6 months. She does it out of her own free will. She may as well stay home and you can visit her.
 
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