Seal2012

I am a USC- my husband and my 2 stepsons are UKC. We got married last year and the I-130 petitions have been approved and now they are being forwarded to the NVC. (I got the notice sometime around April 25th)
Here is the problem- because of a change in plans- the 2 boys are not going to live with their mother in Turkey as first planned- but now they want to come to the US with their father when the immigration visas come through. I know that we can’t expect the immigration visa to be received until maybe Oct/November or later. Since they are planning to live in the US- instead of Turkey- it would be nice if they could start off the school year in September 2013- while waiting for the immigration visa.
Would they be able to get a student VISA while waiting and live here in the US and go to school here until they got the immigration visa? I didn’t know if once you apply for one VISA if you can get another. I appreciate any help/advice you can give me.

Thank you!

Noorah101

Probably not, because in order to get approved for a student visa, one must not have immigrant intent. Since your stepsons clearly do have immigrant intent, I would expect their student visas to get denied.

How old are the stepsons?

One is allowed to have multiple petitions in the system, for various visas, however in this case I doubt a student visa would be approved when one has immigrant intent.

Rene

Seal2012

Thanks Rene- They will be 15 in August.
I thought that having another petition for a different VISA would not work. I wish they could have started in Sept. but things don't always work out the way we want!

jeffreyhy

Please confirm that there are approved I-130s for the boys. I'm wondering why you would have submitted I-130s for them if they weren't planning on immigrating with your husband. Remind me what grade they will be entering as 15 year olds. Regards JEff

Seal2012

We filed the I-130 for the boys because we knew it wouldn't work for them in Turkey. It was an expensive chance to take (filing the I-130s) but we knew....
They never even made it to Turkey- their mother made false promises about homeschooling in Turkey etc- and then told them they would go to a Turkish school (they can't speak or understand Turkish!) so they decided to come here. They will be entering 9th grade in our high school.

jeffreyhy

In which case, if the intent to immigrate can somehow be overcome, an F-1 visa is possible. But you would have to pay the school district for the full cost of the time they would be F-1 students.

Regards, JEff

ian-mstm

If they are living in the UK, be aware that your husband may need written permission from the boys' mother to remove them from UK jurisdiction. I say "may" because I'm not sure that's the case if she's living in Turkey... but stranger things have happened. This is something you will definitely want to research.

Ian

Seal2012

Thank you for the advice! We have learned from previous experience that she is unreliable so when she was in England we got her permission in writing- and got the UK equivalent (or close to it!) of it being notarized as well.

Seal2012

I guess we are going to wait it out- it could get expensive. They will be in Turkey for the summer, and will go back to their school in England- and will transfer when the immigration visas come through.
In the perfect world they could start in Sept but hopefully it won't be too long after-and definitely before Christmas.
I will be curious to find out how many of their classes in England would transfer to their new high school. I suspect a few of their classes might be accepted as electives. I have to email their school to have their records sent over (transcripts) and get course descriptions as well. If I have an education question(new thread) regarding schools in England-What forum would I post it in?
Thanks!

Noorah101

The General USA Forum, here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=57

Rene

ian-mstm

Will you or your husband be there with them? If not, I suggest you watch the movie, "Not Without My Daughter"? There is an object lesson in there.

Ian

Seal2012

If we were talking about another parent- I would definitely have some worries about them going there for the summer. Sadly, neither her or her husband wants to be a parent- she only sees them because they want to see her-They have been going to Turkey for several summers and a Christmas vacation or two because they have asked her if they can visit. She has never been there for them, and we were saddened by their initial choice for wanting to live with her and her husband in Turkey.

My husband was devastated, but knew one of the main reasons they wanted to live there- even though they didn't say this- but their mother lets them do what ever they want, and doesn't pay any attention to them. They would have been on their X-box/laptops all of their spare time, with no one asking them to do any chores or check their homework, or put any demands on them whatsoever.

They know that when they are here- they will be expected to do chores, homework, and have limits on games and TV. When they were here last summer, I had to make them leave the house/Xbox/laptops and go outdoors. On a positive note I did take them to a Barnes and Noble and get them to start reading. I didn't care what they read- comic books, magazines- I had them each spend a $50 gift card for books etc and they loved it! For Christmas I got them hooked on The Walking Dead comics. I am very happy they are showing a continued interest in reading.