UK to US citizenship - but complicated

E

Eddie99

New Member
OK - real help here please!?
As you can see, I am 38 years old on 6th March 2013, I was adopted to UK parents at 4 weeks old, and my natural parentage is:

UK white mother and US black father.

I was born in England 1975.

I found my birth mother 3 years ago and I found my birth father 1 year ago.

My birth father did NOT know I was alive until 1 year ago. We would like to get me into America and wanted to know how. I've researched a bit and the birth parents needed to be together at the time of birth? Is is easier to be IN AMERICA when applying?

This is a real grey area from what i can tell as im over 18 etc etc.

Any links, phone numbers and advice would be great. Even an application form?

Many thanks
E
 
If your birth parents were married to each other at the time of your birth, you may be able to claim US citizenship through your birth father. But if they were not married, you have no claim to US citizenship or other US immigration through your birth parents. I presume they were not married, because your biological father would have known about your existence if he still was married to your biological mother when you were born, even if he first learned about you a year or two later in the divorce proceedings.

Without being married to your bio mother at the time of your birth, in order to transmit US citizenship to you, your biological father would have had to take certain steps before your 18th birthday to acknowledge paternity and pledge to support you, which he didn't and couldn't do. See http://travel.state.gov/law/citizenship/citizenship_5199.html. And the adoption terminated the legal relationship to your birth parents, which removed your eligibility for immigration through him after that.

There is one remote possibility of immigrating to the US through your biological father, if the UK laws will allow it and you have a good lawyer and a ton of patience. He could challenge the adoption in the UK courts, saying that he did not agree to give up his parental rights and he was unaware of your existence. If successful, and they retroactively nullify the adoption, theoretically that would reestablish the legal paternal relationship between you and your bio father, making him eligible to sponsor you to immigrate to the US.

Even if undoing the adoption is successful, you still wouldn't be able to claim US citizenship, because he didn't take the necessary actions before you were 18. But the reestablishment of the legal paternal relationship would make you eligible for a green card through him. If you're not married, you would be in the category for unmarried over-21 sons and daughters of US citizens, which is Family 1st preference (otherwise called "F1"). That category has a wait list of a little more than 7 years. During that wait time, you must remain outside the US, unless you have some other basis to be in the US legally (like a work visa or student visa).

If you look in the table for the "FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES" section of the January visa bulletin, you'll see that the F1 category has a date of 22 Dec 2005. That means they're currently doing interviews and the final processing for people who applied before that date. If you're married, you would be in the F3 category which has a date of 22 June 2002, a wait list of about 10 and a half years!
 
Thanks

So what you're saying is I have little hope of getting there this year. I'm sure my biological rights mean something here?

I have a natural father who is American citizen all his life (59 years) so surely there must be something?

Thankyou for your feedback though, you have made me decide on some difficult decisions

Eddie
 
Eddie99 said:
So what you're saying is I have little hope of getting there this year. I'm sure my biological rights mean something here?

I have a natural father who is American citizen all his life (59 years) so surely there must be something?
Click to expand...

No, there is nothing unless you can retroactively undo the adoption. NOTHING. Adoptions terminate the legal rights and privileges between biological parents and their children who have been adopted by other people.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top