Sorry if this has been covered, I'm sure it has...

My mom will want to move over with myself and American husband when we move, she's retired and won't want to work. Is there anything (visa) she needs to do?

cheers

Firstly, only you can sponsor her, as she is your mother, and you can only do that when you are a USC. You can apply 90 days before the third anniversary of you arriving in the US on a spouse visa, and then it takes about 3-6 months for you to get citizenship, and then a further 12-18 months or so to get your mother a visa. So all in, you're looking at five or six years from the day you arrive before your mother can join you.

Then she needs to work out if she can afford health insurance and healthcare!

She will face substantial health insurance premiums, and insurance won't cover all the costs of consultations and treatments. IIRC from what others have posted, it would be five years (or more, depending on her age) before she'd be allowed to enroll on Medicare and even that is expensive from the perspective of someone from the UK who is used to paying next to nothing for healthcare.

She can't move permanently until you become a US PR and can sponsor her for an immigrant visa.

In the meantime, she can only visit the USA.

Rene

PR's can not sponsor parents.

USC's can.

But that is way down the road.

Sorry, I meant to type USC. My bad


Rene

Sorry, but that's simply not going to happen. She's looking at a minimum of just under 5 years from now... at best!

Ian

[QUOTE=ian-mstm;11911105]Sorry, but that's simply not going to happen. She's looking at a minimum of just under 5 years from now... at best!

Ian[/QUOTE

Five years would probably fine, she could come over for six months each year until then, and get all of her ends tied up in the UK before she moves. Does seem like rather a long time though as she is the grandparent of a US citizen 😬

She would need a B-2 visa if she wanted to stay longer than the 90 days/ visit that the VWP allows.
Being the grandparent of a US citizen bestows no special privileges or considerations, none whatsoever.

I know, it just seems odd

Why?

I don't know why you would think so. Many countries have much more restrictive conditions for giving residency visas to retired parents than the US does, often because of the cost implications of elderly people using state-provided or heavily subsidized healthcare services.

If the US had a more generous public healthcare system it is more than likely that the conditions attached to visas for retirees would be much more onerous and/or people would be excluded from obtaining visas because of poor health or pre-eclampsia conditions.

Just my opinion guys!!!! I would think it odd for any country... Again just my opinion! I'm happy to wait.

That is far from the oddest thing about either the US visa process or living in America, a long way from it.

Have you considered what she is going to do for healthcare? Also depending on her age/health she may be limited to the amount of time she can get travel insurance for when she visits you.

Right ok