Rough Situation, Need any knowledge possible!

V

ventureelement

New Member
Hello,

I've read through quite a lot of threads about the green card process etc. I am a legal US citizen - Born and raised here, so a lot of this stuff I have not had to go through, or deal with or even try to understand. I have done some research, and tried to figure out the process - but all in all it's not something I could answer questions to.

Here is the situation:

I am dating a girl who is 17. She is planning on moving out after she turns 18 to move in with me. Please hold your personal opinions and advice on this matter, as the best way I can explain it is her mother is emotionally and physically abusive towards her. It's just something she needs to get away from. The problem is, her mom doesn't want her move out at this point.

Visa/Green Card background:
They are on an L1 and L2 visa. The father is under the L1, and the mother,daughter are under L2 I believe. They have applied and sent everything for the green card a couple months ago. From my understanding and reading, there is about a 6-8 month period of time after sending it in till receiving it. The father is the one holding all the green card stuff. The mother doesn't have any power over it. BUT her mother will tell her father whatever she can to manipulate things for herself(trying to stay away from personal matters here, but need to explain).

She is threatening that her Father will not "sign" when the green card comes in if she moves out. I don't exactly know what this means.


So what are my options? Her and I can't take much more of the stress caused by dealing with her family. I can't explain it too well, just understand that it's something that she needs to get away from. I've looked into marriage etc, but that seems to take years, then again my research may be incorrect.

What is the process after sending in the Application for change of status? Can the father deny something for the daughter. As in - if he denies it to her, will it mess up the rest of the process? I am just looking for anything about how this process after sending it in works. Is it as easy for him to "not sign" her green card, and then shes screwed? Or will it mess something up with their application (Father and Mother). Or does he even have that power?

Any answers would be great. I realize "Just waiting" is probably the most safe option, things have just gotten ridiculous to say the least.

Thank you for any answers and responses.
 
I presume this is an employment based green card in EB1? Then there probably won't be an interview, and 6-8 months is a good estimate for the time frame (4-6 months left in this case, since they already submitted it 2 months ago). So once all the initial paperwork has already been sent in and she has given fingerprints, it's just a matter of waiting for USCIS run thru the process and issue the cards and it's not going to be easy for her father to terminate her process without risking trouble for his own. He doesn't need to "sign" anything after the initial paperwork has been submitted.

Of course, he could make things difficult for her by destroying the physical green card before she gets it, but there are ways to get it replaced. For now, she should try to take copies or at least write down key information from the green card paperwork that has been submitted so far, like the receipt numbers and her own A-number, as that information will be useful for tracking her own case or obtaining a replacement card.

And she is not entirely powerless; if she reports them for the abuse, they could be deported if the authorities are convinced that the abuse is real. So if they mess up her green card process, she can get theirs messed up too.

As a US citizen, if you marry her and file the green card paperwork she can get a green card in 3-6 months, not years. But that likely isn't feasible right now, since she is under 18 which would require parental consent for her to marry.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
All the paperwork has been sent. They have not done the fingerprints yet to my knowledge though.

So, there isn't something he could do that would simply destroy her chances but retain his application and the mothers application? That's the main thing I am worried about. If after sending the information, if he tries to change something dealing with her, it would most likely mess up their chances. But there isn't anything to "sign" for after the fingerprints? They don't have to do the interview, I know that - so your assumption about their work visa is probably correct.

As for the marriage issue. I read through a lot of stuff. From what I read it requires a certain amount of money to be made each month by me to support us, and I have to prove that. And it also requires the proof of bills etc in both our names? From everything I read it just didn't seem plausible as I am still in college and definitely don't make enough money to prove that I can support both of us.
 
If he terminates his own application, hers will also die with his. But it's going to be difficult for him to terminate her application while preserving his own, because she is over 14 which means she signed her own I-485 and it belongs to her.

As for the marriage issue. I read through a lot of stuff. From what I read it requires a certain amount of money to be made each month by me to support us, and I have to prove that. And it also requires the proof of bills etc in both our names? From everything I read it just didn't seem plausible as I am still in college and definitely don't make enough money to prove that I can support both of us.
Click to expand...
You have to make at least 125% of the poverty line to meet the financial qualifications to sponsor her for a GC. However, if you don't earn enough money, you can get a co-sponsor who has enough income, and/or use your assets to offset the income requirement. For every $5000 in acceptable assets, it reduces the income requirement by $1000.

They would expect you to show proof of living together after you get married. So if she marries you and then moves in with you that shouldn't be a problem.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That makes sense. I'll made sure she signed it and we will try to gather her info so we have it permanently. That makes me feel a lot more comfortable about the whole situation. Thank you for answering that.

As for marriage. I've looked around the forums/google, and nothing really applies to our situation. Most assume she is not in the country. Is there anywhere specific I can look that would best describe our situation?
I am currently in College and still live at home. I make around 14,000 a year which is not including grants/loans for school. She is currently already in the country and is a legal alien, i think that is the correct terminology.

I believe after she turns 18, she can apply for an EAD if this whole green card thing doesn't go through. But I also fear her losing the visa she is currently under.
 
As for marriage. I've looked around the forums/google, and nothing really applies to our situation. Most assume she is not in the country. Is there anywhere specific I can look that would best describe our situation?
Click to expand...
You don't have to look far: http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?288201-How-to-Apply-for-a-Green-Card-Do-it-Yourself . See post #4 in particular.

She doesn't need to be 18 to apply for an EAD. She can apply right now based on her L2 visa or her I-485 (green card) application. But she'll need to provide copies of certain documents along with the application, such as the I-94 associated with the L2 visa, or the I-485 receipt.

I am currently in College and still live at home. I make around 14,000 a year which is not including grants/loans for school.
Click to expand...
Good, then you would only need a co-sponsor to make up the difference of about $14,000, instead of for the whole thing. However, income from short-term work like on-campus part time jobs that only last one semester or won't last past your graduation cannot normally be used to satisfy the income requirement.

And if you're going to marry her and file for a GC, make sure it is for real. They will give you both a potentially tough interview to figure out if the marriage is mainly for the GC. And 2 years later she'll have to apply to upgrade the initial conditional green card to a 10-year unconditional card, which will involve more paperwork and possibly another interview.
 
make sure the girl has her passport, her birth certificate and her I-94 card in a safe place where SHE has access to it and nobody else does. Hard to do for a 17-year old.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top