Rose UK

My daughter was born in rep of Ireland and my husband is Irish. Could it possibly be faster for my daughter as she holds an Irish passport.

Speedwell

No, basically the same timeframes. The only difference I know of is that she can apply for the diversity visa lottery (she can also do this under her UK passport ONLY if she is a dual citizen and Northern Irish). The slow countries are China, Mexico, India, and the Philippines due to the fact that a disproportionate number of people from there seek to immigrate. Everyone else falls under the same processing times.

I'm holding my breath, Ian. Category what?

ian-mstm

No.

Ian

ian-mstm

Not until she's 18, I don't think!


Holy crow... it's been a long time since I stopped writing mid-sentence in mid-thought! I'm such a doofus!

Okay... there is no category from mom and dad, but their daughter (OP's half-sister) would be F4.

Ian

S Folinsky

There are no national quotas. That said, there are caps on immigration from any one particular country. On the family end of the shop, the countries affected by the cap on family immigration are Mexico and the Philippines.

You started off with what I call a "deceptively simple" question and then a tad more information complicated matters quite a bit.

I'm semi-retired -- I am not recommending legal consultation with any hope of making a buck or two. I am recommending it so you have complete information and can figure out how to deal with things. You situation is one beyond the scope of a DIY board in my opinion.

Good luck.

Speedwell

Thanks, I didn't know that, but of course you're right. It makes sense.

scrubbedexpat099

Your Husband could apply for DV and include you and your daughter.

Marocco

None of this has anything to do with nationality or passports actually. Birthplace is the relevant factor.

coral11680

I was surprised to find that it is true, your younger daughter can not automatically become a green card holder just because you are. This makes it extremely hard for you to bring her. The fastest option would be to get your greencard then sponsor her yourself as your dependant child under 21. they estimate it will take approx 2 and half years for her to be able to get her greencard though. I'm not sure if its an option for one of you (yourself or husband) to stay with her while the other gets their greencard then sponsors her, then the remaining parent could apply for their greencard approx 2 years later? very complicated and would be extremely difficult but from what I have read would be your only option if you all wanted to emigrate to the USA

Rose UK

Thank you for all your help, it is much appreciated.

MarylandNed

Actually the OP and her husband can both apply separately. You can claim your spouse's country of eligibility if you are ineligible in your own right.

crg

F1 for the child in the meantime would be problematic. Public school is prohibited for primary school limited to one year per lifetime for high school and the OP would have to pay the full unsubsidized cost or pay for private school. Also, the F1 has to maintain a foreign residence and have no plan to abandon it. That's clearly not the case here.

Steve_

Yeah I was going to say that, F-1 is only permitted for one year at high school. If you're in the US, then plyler v doe applies but this is about entry to the US, not attending school.

Anyway, people on here keep saying fourth preference for a sibling takes 10-12 years but in reality it is much longer than that.

If you look at the pie chart on page 6 of this report: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42988.pdf

It shows 55% of outstanding approved petitions are fourth preference (for siblings) and bear in mind USCIS hasn't bothered to approve any since February 2010.

The current visa bulletin shows the priority date as October 22, 2001 and two years ago they were at September 8th, 2000, so they're not even close to moving forward the priority date with the actual date.

So 25 years on that basis but based on stuff I keep reading in CRS reports, more like 40 years for a petition filed today.

However it's still worth the OP getting her daughter to file the I-130 for her other daughter, because immigration law will likely change. Hopefully in some way that benefits her. This situation might even be resolved shortly, but given that it's Congress we're talking about, I wouldn't get too excited.

Getting the I-130 and IV for the parents is pretty straightforward, so just get the I-130 filed for the sister and

(Or do it the way Noorah suggested, i.e. F2A for the child but that would be tricky for obvious reasons).

Rose UK

The situation is so sad. My first husband and father to my oldest two daughters is an american citizen. Both of us moved to Ireland from the States, where I had previously held permanent residence, with his job for one year and separated in Ireland. Thereafter we both met our present partners in Ireland. My ex husband remained in Europe in order to have as much time with his daughters as possible for 13 years. Meanwhile we both married our new partners and my new husband and I had a daughter, who is now 11 years old. Four years ago my ex husband and his wife moved back to the states. My two older daughters, both American citizens would like to go back to the States, but only if I can also go with my husband, their stepdad and our daughter, their sister. They would like to have both their parents around them when they start to have a family of their own. But after all the information I have gained on this site, this does not seem achievable. My oldest daughter has been in the States for the past two years, living with her dad and stepmum and working as a teacher. My oldest daughter will go ahead with the I-130 for all three of us, but sadly it looks like she will probably have to come home in the next year or two when we come to realize that this is not going to happen.
Thank you every one for all your information and advise.

S Folinsky

I'v mentioned there are ways to handle this. This arose a few times when I was in practice.

Perhaps our good friend J Craig Fong can handle this.