Lottery application: enlisting child without contact?

[Antonie2013]

Hi all,

Hope someone might have a clue on how to deal with this.
I am married and my husband and I are filling out the form to join the green card lottery.
From a previous marriage he has one child under the age of 21 (she is 12), however due to issues with the mother we have no contact what so ever for the past 10 years which means obiously: no pictures or information at all.

In the form we are obliged to fill out the details, allthough she is definitely not joining us to the USA since we have no contact but we have to upload a picture, which off course we do not have.

filling out 'non' would mean a lying since there is a child, but we have no details of her so we can not complete the form. trying to get back into contact with the mother to see if we can get a hold on aproven pictures is no option, the mother is to the least unwilling to help in whatever we try and if we contact her again, chances are that most likely she will do what is in her power to work against us instead of with us.

anyone any clue on how to solve this?
we are pretty desperate coz it looks now like there is no change we can ever get to the USA permanent due to a child that we do not even talk or have seen in the past 10 years.
we are looking at options to also try to go for an E visa but most likely that will provide us with the same issue.

 

[Hexa]

If there is absolutely no way to get her picture and it's stopping you from entering the lottery, then I'm afraid you'll have to make a choice. Either get her picture somehow, forget the lottery, or enter the lottery without her. If you don't include her now, then you can never include her in any other immigration application, and she can never petition to immigrate to USA even if his father has become a citizen. If she does that, all of you can be found lying on your application and get your green cards, even citizenships, revoked.

 

[Antonie2013]

If there is absolutely no way to get her picture and it's stopping you from entering the lottery, then I'm afraid you'll have to make a choice. Either get her picture somehow, forget the lottery, or enter the lottery without her. If you don't include her now, then you can never include her in any other immigration application, and she can never petition to immigrate to USA even if his father has become a citizen. If she does that, all of you can be found lying on your application and get your green cards, even citizenships, revoked.

exactly our thought unfortunetely. not including will mean that if it is found out we probably have trouble in the future with other visa's. there is absolutely no possibility to get the pictures or any other information for that matter.

 

[bertilthier]

Hi Antonie2013,my understanding is that in the edV applications it is written number of childreen (Optional),thats word optional in my understanding mean that you may or may not list your children during the application of the lottery but you must list them once you have have been selected for further processing.I might be wrong but that is exactly what i understand by the word optional

exactly our thought unfortunetely. not including will mean that if it is found out we probably have trouble in the future with other visa's. there is absolutely no possibility to get the pictures or any other information for that matter.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Hi Antonie2013,my understanding is that in the edV applications it is written number of childreen (Optional),thats word optional in my understanding mean that you may or may not list your children during the application of the lottery but you must list them once you have have been selected for further processing.I might be wrong but that is exactly what i understand by the word optional

No, that's wrong. If you read the instructions it says you must include all children under 21 unless they are already US citizens/LPRs and warns you you will be disqualified if you don't.

Personally, I'd contact KCC to see if there is a way around this.

 

[c1984]

This change (requiring pictures of all dependents) seems to have caused a lot of trouble.

 

[c1984]

exactly our thought unfortunetely. not including will mean that if it is found out we probably have trouble in the future with other visa's. there is absolutely no possibility to get the pictures or any other information for that matter.

Call KCC as Susie is suggesting.

If that turns out futile, then here's what I'm thinking. If I were you and I was in a position to make a choice, I would definitely not choose to not include her!

I think it is going to be a lot less troubling in the future to include her in the entry but with a random picture of another person than to not include her. The fact that the picture was a random picture will never come back as an issue given that you will not be filing for her to join you in the US.

 

[SusieQQQ]

This change (requiring pictures of all dependents) seem to have caused a lot of trouble.

What do you mean, "change"? It's been the case at least since we started entering - first one we did was DV2010 iirc.

 

[c1984]

What do you mean, "change"? It's been the case at least since we started entering - first one we did was DV2010 iirc.

Really? I couldn't recall.

Oh I see. I must have mistaken it with a different change that Raevsky was talking about.

 

[Antonie2013]

Call KCC as Susie is suggesting.

If that turns out futile, then here's what I'm thinking. If I were you and I was in a position to make a choice, I would definitely not choose to not include her!

I think it is going to be a lot less troubling in the future to include her in the entry but with a random picture of another person than to not include her. The fact that the picture was a random picture will never come back as an issue given that you will not be filing for her to join you in the US.

actually that is a thought: random picture.
there is absolutely no way that the child will ever want to emigrate and neither do we want to, because of the lack of contact. her bio mother has kidnapped her 10 years ago and it took us that long to find out where they lived, so starting up contact is really not an option, the child hardly knows who her bio father is.
(sorry for the mix up, the username is my husbands, I as his wife / stepmother is writing this)

 

[Antonie2013]

Call KCC as Susie is suggesting.

If that turns out futile, then here's what I'm thinking. If I were you and I was in a position to make a choice, I would definitely not choose to not include her!

I think it is going to be a lot less troubling in the future to include her in the entry but with a random picture of another person than to not include her. The fact that the picture was a random picture will never come back as an issue given that you will not be filing for her to join you in the US.

discussing it and husband believes it might be very tricky, better to contact KSS.
trying to locate any contact information, I do find a phone number to call USCIS, I guess that is the proper number?

 

[SusieQQQ]

discussing it and husband believes it might be very tricky, better to contact KSS.
trying to locate any contact information, I do find a phone number to call USCIS, I guess that is the proper number?

I *think* this is the right number - the email address is right, but they probably won't answer an email without a case number so suggest you call.

The KCC telephone number is 606-526-7500 (7:30am until 4:00pm EST), or send an E-mail inquiry to KCCDV@state.gov

 

[Hexa]

Random picture is risky. If that random person happens to apply for a US visa or otherwise deal with the US government, you will be in trouble for identity theft, a serious crime. The gov't uses a facial recognition software, so there's a good chance for them to discover it.

 

[c1984]

By "random" I didn't mean really random. I was thinking of a cousin or somebody that resembles the girl.

Still I think labeling it "identity theft" is a bit too far-fetched!

 

[Antonie2013]

Random picture is risky. If that random person happens to apply for a US visa or otherwise deal with the US government, you will be in trouble for identity theft, a serious crime. The gov't uses a facial recognition software, so there's a good chance for them to discover it.

that is what we are discussing: what are the odds that she and her mother will (perhaps in some years) decide to have a vacation in USA and she turns up to have been part of our green card procedure?

 

[Hexa]

By "random" I didn't mean really random. I was thinking of a cousin or somebody that resembles the girl.

Still I think labeling it "identity theft" is a bit too far-fetched!

The federal government tend to level severe charges when they decide to prosecute, it's the defendant lawyer's job to prove them wrong or to negotiate a plea to less severe charges. It's not a situation you want to be in.

 

[Antonie2013]

exactly, the consequences are way too big to perform such thing. we are now discussing perhaps divorce, so I can apply for some visa and my husband (then not a husband) can follow but to be honest that is some procedure I do not wish for and I think that goes way too far.

 

[Hexa]

that is what we are discussing: what are the odds that she and her mother will (perhaps in some years) decide to have a vacation in USA and she turns up to have been part of our green card procedure?

Does she know her dad's name and birth date? Because that question is asked on the visa application form. If she knows and enters that info into the application, it will be cross-checked with your husband's entry. If your husband failed to list her on his DV entry, it might raise questions. If she is listed under your husband's entry but the photos don't match, it might raise questions.

I think it is best to try to find her, then say that you need her picture for this DV lottery just in case she wants to be sponsored to USA by her dad later in life. Make it clear to the mom that she won't get a visa against her will, and that your husband has no intention to take her to USA.

 

[Antonie2013]

Does she know her dad's name and birth date? Because that question is asked on the visa application form. If she knows and enters that info into the application, it will be cross-checked with your husband's entry. If your husband failed to list her on his DV entry, it might raise questions. If she is listed under your husband's entry but the photos don't match, it might raise questions.

I think it is best to try to find her, then say that you need her picture for this DV lottery just in case she wants to be sponsored to USA by her dad later in life. Make it clear to the mom that she won't get a visa against her will, and that your husband has no intention to take her to USA.

would love to do that, but trying to reason with a woman who has kidnapped the child 10 years ago in the first place and left us after finding them for the past 2 years on and off court laws is pretty much impossible. the minute she finds out that we are trying to emigrate she will boycot us, for that is what she has been doing for the past 2 years, you would not believe the b# we got from her in the lawsuits, even our lawyer was overwhelmed by this person and thought something was severly wrong in her head.
but in this country the law is very protective towards the mother and there is only very little we can do.
so reason with her and try to get the photo that can be used is no option.
(actually one of the lawsuits in the past 2 years was about receiving photo's and information: did not work, even though she was told by the lawyers and the judge she had to do this, we are preparing for the next lawsuit this very moment)

 

[Hexa]

exactly, the consequences are way too big to perform such thing. we are now discussing perhaps divorce, so I can apply for some visa and my husband (then not a husband) can follow but to be honest that is some procedure I do not wish for and I think that goes way too far.

You're considering divorce just so you can enter DV? That is too much. You need to remember that it's a LOTTERY, that your chance of winning is slim. I've been entering the lottery for more than a decade before I got selected.