Q? Wanting to bring my 18 yr old son over from the UK

[BlokeATL]

Hello everybody

I have been reading through the forum for a while now trying to make things easier to understand and all i have managed to do is confuse myself further since there are so many different reasons for so many different visa etc!

my question

I am a 5 year legal "permanent resident" originally from the UK and am married to a US citizen, I would like to bring my 18 year old son here to the USA to live with us (he has visited many times) on a permanent basis, I was not married to his mum although we were a couple for ten years, my question is I know i have to file an I-130 and i have been told i need to file an I-485 and it would be best to do this at the same time, is this true and is there anything else i need to be aware of?

also my son is currently in the UK but would like to come here soon, should i bring him here then apply (he will be on a 3 month visa waiver) or am i better off doing everything from here with him there and waiting? I think if we bring him here his visa waiver will expire before we have anything from immigration saying he can stay legally and I don't want to do things the wrong way so if he comes will i have to send him back before he is legal?

thanks in advance for any help you can offer, I'm just getting more confused the more i look, one minute i see the I-485 is almost a thousand bucs then i read due to his age and relationship its free of charge then i find another forum i can use (or maybe cant) and i start going round and round again!

 

[Jackolantern]

Did you marry before your son turned 18? If yes, your US citizen spouse can sponsor him as a stepchild. If you try to sponsor him yourself without being a citizen, the waiting time would be about 4 years and he might age out of the under-21 category which would add even more years. Whereas with your USC spouse as the petitioner, the entire process would take just 6-12 months.

Or you could apply for citizenship yourself, since you've been a permanent resident for 5 years.

also my son is currently in the UK but would like to come here soon, should i bring him here then apply (he will be on a 3 month visa waiver) or am i better off doing everything from here with him there and waiting?

Don't bring him here with the visa waiver to try to have him stay via I-485. With one court ruling after another, they are clamping down on people who are using the visa waiver as a conduit to immigrate. Have him stay in the UK to interview for the green card there.

But he could come here with the visa waiver, then your spouse files the I-130 for him (with a US consulate in the UK selected for question 22), then he leaves the US before the 90 days are up to wait for the interview and related consular formalities. They don't have a problem with people who visit the US and then go back to pursue the green card thru a consulate; their problem is with people who enter with the waiver and then stay and try to immigrate.

The I-485 isn't free for any family-based relationship. But he won't be filing I-485 anyway, if he's completing the process through a consulate.

 

[BlokeATL]

Thats great info Jack, couple of questions (sorry) the K-3/K-4 visa? is this something i should be looking into? it seems to say i can fill out one those and he can come here sooner and work while we wait for his I-130 or did i read it incorrectly?

he was 13 when we first married

 

[Jackolantern]

The K3 visa is for the spouse of a citizen, and K4 is for the child of a K3 holder. So those are not applicable to his situation.

 

[BlokeATL]

again jack thank you very much, based on your info we are going to bring him over on a waiver for a visit probly three months send the I-130 off then send him back before the waiver expires, he can then do his interview and hopefully return here soon after, will he have to do the same one year stay i had to do? also i realized yesterday my own UK passport expired a couple of years ago so do i send it to the UK consulate here in the USA to get it renewed?

 

[Jackolantern]

...will he have to do the same one year stay i had to do?

You had to do a "one year stay"? Where and what are you referring to?

His interview at the consulate should be about 6-12 months after the I-130 is filed.

also i realized yesterday my own UK passport expired a couple of years ago so do i send it to the UK consulate here in the USA to get it renewed?

Yes. Check their web site to find out what the fees and forms are. But you won't need your passport for his green card process. You'll need to provide evidence of the paternal relationship -- that will include his birth certificate showing your name on it, but you may also have to provide additional evidence such as your old marriage certificate if you were married when he was born, and/or evidence of paying child support for the years when he was no longer living with you.

 

[BlokeATL]

hey Jack, when i did my green card the lawyer told me i had to stay here for a minimum of one year without leaving, i never had any intention of leaving anyway so i guess its not been a problem,

another question, my son flies out here on april 15th on the visa waiver and flies back on jul 11th but his UK passport expires on aug 22nd will this be a problem? i seem to remember the visa waiver saying you have to have at least six months left on your passport for the waiver to work?

 

[Jackolantern]

hey Jack, when i did my green card the lawyer told me i had to stay here for a minimum of one year without leaving, i never had any intention of leaving anyway so i guess its not been a problem,

There is no such one year requirement, except maybe if you're applying for asylum. Did you obtain your green card via asylum?

Your son who will pursue the process through the consulate will not have to wait within the US. He will become a permanent resident on the same day he enters the US after being approved with an immigrant visa at the consulate.

another question, my son flies out here on april 15th on the visa waiver and flies back on jul 11th but his UK passport expires on aug 22nd will this be a problem? i seem to remember the visa waiver saying you have to have at least six months left on your passport for the waiver to work?

That won't be a problem for visiting the US. The US has agreements with several countries (including the UK) to recognize the passport's validity for 6 extra months after the expiration date. See www.state.gov/documents/organization/104770.pdf

Note that it is a limited form of recognition; he can't use the passport to enter the US after it's already expired. The UK will allow him to use the passport for 6 months after expiration to return to the UK, but other countries will recognize the 6 extra months only if the passport is used to enter the given country before the printed expiration date.