SpookieJr

Hi,
I'm currently looking to submit an I-130 petition for alien relative form. I am the son (21) of a permanent resident who moved over to California in 2015, and I am looking to move over there after my degree is finished (August 2022). After looking at the average wait times they look extremely disheartening so I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to streamline the process to obtaining the visa as much as possible so that I can get as close to my ideal timeframe as possible. I am currently living in the UK, if that is useful information at all.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Owen

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

Not sure what you mean by 'streamline the process'? You've got a large queue of many years ahead of you and there's no way to jump that queue I'm afraid - but whatever you do, don't get married between now and then!

The only way to get there quicker would be to look at other visa options, maybe move on a student visa and continue your studies there with a masters?

tht

Having waited till you are 21 assuming your parent had not become a USC should put you in F2B, which seems to be the shortest wait aside from F2A which is current. So it seems like your parent becoming a USC would make the wait longer not shorter. One thing to note is if you get married while you are waiting I think you become ineligible unless your sponsor is a USC.

For context it can take a long time in other categories as well, I decided to move aged 21 and it took me about 9 years to get the experience and job that I got a visa from to transfer here.

One thing to note is you can have your parent submit this application and then in parallel get a visa on your own to move here in the mean time. e.g. move on an F to do a masters, then you could do a PhD or if it’s in STEM get OPT and then do the annual H1b lottery...


https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...uary-2021.html

S Folinsky

I have legal questions in my mind for which I do NOT know the answer. You don’t say how your parent immigrated and the timing of their immigration process. I sense possibilities worthy of deep inquiry involving “follow to join” and child status protection. Also, possible step-child status.

Also, the fact you have already turned 21 is an important fact.

A paid consultation with experienced immigration counsel might be in order. Again, I don’t know the answers, but I know a lot of questions which I would have asked if I was still in practice and had been consulted.

Noorah101

Hi Owen,

Just to be clear, your parent completes and submits the I-130. Not you.

Rene

Spoookie

Hi Mr Folinsky, I am SpookieJr's dad. I immigrated to the US 7 years ago with my wife who is a US Citizen by birth. I am still on a Green Card. We had a lot of incredible help from this forum during the application process. As my son stated in his original post, he now wants to join us here in the US after completing his degree next year.

I hope this helps with some of the questions you have.

newacct

Is your wife the biological mother or stepmother of your son? Did she ever file an I-130 for your son?

steph0scope

So you married before your son turned 18? Was your wife a USC at the time? If so, that would give him a shot as an F-1 category also. Currently F2A is moving faster than F-1 but it’s prudent to have as many petitions on the go as one is eligible for. You never know what may happen - a category could speed up or slow down.

S Folinsky

Well, you have revealed the existence of a US citizen step-mother. (As an aside I had a case many years ago where my clients had a US citizen half-brother via their father. Dad had abandoned his legal family and later entered into a bigamous “marriage” wherein he fathered the next two kids. Under the immigration laws, the common parent creating the half sibling relationship was not biological dad, it was the legal wife. See what a lawyer can do? But I digress).

Some general observations from having done this for 40 years.

It is perfectly legal to be the beneficiary of more than one visa petition. (e.g. one from dad, one from step-mom).

Circumstances can change while awaiting a visa. Death of the petitioner being a prime example.

The backlogs can vary over time. Today F-2b has a shorter backlog than F-1. That might not be true in the future.

The law might change. There is talk of statutory backlog reduction provisions being enacted. Will this happen? I have no idea - my crystal ball broke back in the ‘80’s.

There might be facts individual to your son’s situation for which legal digging for treasure might be necessary.

Spoookie

Thank you all for all the comment, questions and advice. Here are the answers to the questions asked:

Is your wife the biological mother or stepmother of your son? Stepmother
Did she ever file an I-130 for your son? No
So you married before your son turned 18? Yes
Was your wife a USC at the time? Yes, she is a US citizen by birth.

From the answers we have had so far, I believe F2B will be best as SpookieJr will complete his degree next year prior to immigrating.

S Folinsky

Any particular reason for limiting yourself to an F-2b filing? Just curious.

tht

I assume you understand there is a backlog? So if you file as F2B it could be a 5 or 6 year wait or longer from when you submit the forms.. what S Folinsky is hinting at is, given the facts you have disclosed there may be alternate / faster ways to get a visa for your son to move over.

newacct

Spoookie : As the spouse of a US citizen, you immigrated in the Immediate Relative category, which cannot have derivative beneficiaries, so we can disregard any consideration of your son immigrating as a derivative.

Besides your petition, your spouse (your son's stepmother) can also petition him as you guys married before he turned 18. It would be in the F1 category. (If she had petitioned him before he turned 21, it would be in the Immediate Relative category, but that is moot now.) However, F1 is actually slower than F2B right now, although it's possible they will switch places in the future.

Also, you will probably naturalize in the next few years, so your petition for your son will move from F2B to F1, but as a special rule for the F2B to F1 move, it is possible to opt out of it, so it's possible to have the options of both F2B and F1 with your petition alone. So there may not be any point to your wife petitioning.

I don't see any other way for him to immigrate faster through your family.

SpookieJr

what alternative ways are there available that we can look into?
The time frame I’m hoping for is 18-20 months.
Thanks for helping us

SanDiegogirl

As per the earlier posts the current wait times for the categories mentioned are:

F2B = 6 years
F1 = 7 years

An alternative would be you looking to do something like a Master's degree on a student visa....