Mark

I have done some research and called the INS and called attorneys and I think our new
family will not be kept broken up for much longer, but now I need more information
and I hope some people here can help me.

Our situation is fairly simple:

I am US Citizen and I went to Istanbul to marry my wife on March 6 of this year. We
just recently got her Immigrant Visa and I am told she will get her Green Card soon.
** Can anyone tell me How Soon? **

Her son will turn 21 in November of this year. Unfortunately, due to INS law, he is
not eligible to be petitioned by me, using form I-130. There is a rule that says
about ME, being the STEPFATHER, that I must marry his mother BEFORE he turns 18, for
him to get Immigrant Visa.

See this link: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/howdoi/childproc.htm

Therefore, they (the US Embassy in Ankara) tell us "Sorry" and give us no paper at
all for our son. They also tell us "don't worry, try for a Student Visa". grrrr

So, we have chosen an Intensive English program for International Students at a
nearby college and are now awaiting the I-20 form, which we will offer with our
request for Student Visa.

PROBLEM - It is obvious that the mom is coming over with Immigrant Visa. Will the
Student Visa be denied because of the mom?

PROBLEM - Let us hope that we actually get the Student Visa, and that the mom will
get her Green Card soon. In this case, she can file I-130 for her son legally. You
can see this in the link above, where its says if the MOTHER is a Lawful Permanent
Resident. When this is done WILL IT TAKE MANY YEARS for the son to get his Green
Card???? HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE???

PROBLEM - If the conculate realizes that yes, she can file I-130 for her son when she
gets her Green Card, DOES THAT ALONE GIVE THEM A REASON TO DENY THE STUDENT VISA????

I very much would appreciate some accurate information about my questions, my sanity
would be greatly helped )

THANKS!

~MarK

Mrtravel

Mark wrote:
    >
    > I am US Citizen and I went to Istanbul to marry my wife on March 6 of this year. We
    > just recently got her Immigrant Visa and I am told she will get her Green Card
    > soon. ** Can anyone tell me How Soon? **

Can you clarify? If she has an immigrant visa, then she has a "green card" as soon as
she enters the US on the immigrant visa. It will be a temporary stamp, but it has the
same legal value as the card.

    >
    > Her son will turn 21 in November of this year. Unfortunately, due to INS law, he is
    > not eligible to be petitioned by me, using form I-130. There is a rule that says
    > about ME, being the STEPFATHER, that I must marry his mother BEFORE he turns 18,
    > for him to get Immigrant Visa.

Correct, and his mother is going to have

    >
    > See this link: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/howdoi/childproc.htm
    >
    > Therefore, they (the US Embassy in Ankara) tell us "Sorry" and give us no paper at
    > all for our son. They also tell us "don't worry, try for a Student Visa". grrrr
    >
    > So, we have chosen an Intensive English program for International Students at a
    > nearby college and are now awaiting the I-20 form, which we will offer with our
    > request for Student Visa.
    >
    > PROBLEM - It is obvious that the mom is coming over with Immigrant Visa. Will the
    > Student Visa be denied because of the mom?
    >
    > PROBLEM - Let us hope that we actually get the Student Visa, and that the mom will
    > get her Green Card soon. In this case, she can file I-130 for her son legally. You
    > can see this in the link above, where its says if the MOTHER is a Lawful Permanent
    > Resident. When this is done WILL IT TAKE MANY YEARS for the son to get his Green
    > Card???? HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE???

MANY YEARS. It would be faster once she becomes a citizen. I believe the time is at
least 6 years if she is a PR, but that might be longer for a over 21 child. It will
be less once she becomes a citizen. So, I think filing before citizenship may hurt
more than help due to her son's desire to get an nonimmigrant visa.

    > PROBLEM - If the conculate realizes that yes, she can file I-130 for her son when
    > she gets her Green Card, DOES THAT ALONE GIVE THEM A REASON TO DENY THE STUDENT
    > VISA????

Not alone, but he would have to prove he will return to his home country. It's a
judgment call by the consulate, AND the INS person at the POE. For Turkey, I would be
inclined to believe it will be difficult.

Maggie

Mark,
The consular officers want to see strong family ties for the student as well. If they find out that his mother is in the US or is planning to migrate to the US, it will clearly tell them that he has NO INTENTION of returning to Turkey and may deny his visa. I would suggest trying to get the visa while the mother is still in Turkey and this will show your son's social/family ties. The Embassy does not need to know that his mother will be migrating here. With that, you can take a chance and hope that he gets the visa. Hopefully the US Embassy, Ankara has no record that you tried to get forms to petition for your stepson.
Good luck!!

Mark

Thank you for the input. It is going well so far. We have the I-20 form from the
school over there and they have talked with the conculate there and they say they
will give the Student Visa in mid-october, because the school program starts in
mid-january. The officer there said "all your paperworks look perfect and I see no
cause for denial."

Once we are all here together, we will research the best way to get them both
naturalized. Meanwhile, my stepson is looking at starting a long degree program.
Not cheap either... But, he is very excited about it and we will be very happy to be
all together here in San Jose, CA.

Thanks again, and I will post our progress as it slowly happens...

~MarK



Maggie <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > Mark, The consular officers want to see strong family ties for the student as well.
    > If they find out that his mother is in the US or is planning to migrate to the US,
    > it will clearly tell them that he has NO INTENTION of returning to Turkey and may
    > deny his visa. I would suggest trying to get the visa while the mother is still in
    > Turkey and this will show your son's social/family ties. The Embassy does not need
    > to know that his mother will be migrating here. With that, you can take a chance
    > and hope that he gets the visa. Hopefully the US Embassy, Ankara has no record that
    > you tried to get forms to petition for your stepson. Good luck!!

Mrtravel

Your wife has two options to sponsor the son for residency.

1. When she enters the US as a permanent resident, she can file I-130.

The sone will be 21 years old by then and fall under family preference
1A. The September Visa Bulletin shows the current priority date for 2B is Jan 8,
1994. This means the I-130 won't begin processing for 8 1/2 years at the
current rate

2. 3 years after she enters the US as a permanent resident, she can file for
Naturalization. 1 to 3 years after that, she might be a citizen. Then, she can
file I-130 for him in first family preference and the priority date is now a 5 1/2
year wait.

So, it is going to be a very long time before his mother could get him into the US.

Now, if he gets married, as a permanent resident his mother could NOT sponsor him. If
he gets married, and his mother is a citizen, then she can sponsor him at Third
Preference. The current priority date for that is September 15, 1996.

So, either way, it is about 9 years before his mother can sponsor him for an
immigrant visa, if he doesn't get married.