Petitioning for parents
 

Hi. Can anyone tell me if there is any specific time limit to wait from my son becoming a US citizen to him being able to petition for his parents green cards, or is this something he can do straight away. Thanks

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

A US citizen is a US citizen, there are no degrees of citizenship. He could file on the way home from his citizenship ceremony if he wants.

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

Thanks Pulaski, that's all I needed to know.

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

As long as he's 21 years of age, or older.

Regards, JEff

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

You asked previously about healthcare costs since you won't be eligible for Medicare and won't be earning.

The calculator below will provide some indication of costs as per the Exchange offerings. (nothing is in stone yet, so these are just estimates)

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyC...spx#calcParams

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

The calculator claims "tax credits will be available for people under age 65", which I didn't realize. So someone of Medicare age will either have to buy into Medicare when they are eligible to do so, or buy unsubsidized insurance. The latter is a big benefit over the current situation though, given they can no longer refuse you and/or exclude pre-existing conditions.

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

Thanks San DiegoGirl. I've used that calculator before so i'm glad you brought it up. It poses a question for me. You have the choice of 'single adult' or 'family of four'. How do you calculate for 2 people (my wife and I). Do I enter what would be half my annual income and then single adult to calculate the cost per son???? Grateful for any help.

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

Sorry, that should read cost per person

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

For future reference... once you make a post, there will be a handy "edit" button at the bottom right of your post which will allow you to make changes for up to 2 hours from the time of your initial post. That way, you can just edit your original post. :)

Ian

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

I'll probably be smacked down for going off-topic here, if not for blatant pedantry, but there are in fact different categories of US citizenship: only a natural-born citizen is eligible for the presidency and vice-presidency. Other than that though, you're spot on.

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

Agreed, though unlike the requirement to be 21, your (otherwise correct) observation has no bearing on sponsorship of non-US citizen parents for green cards. :)

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

I did say it was off-topic and pedantic...

Re: Petitioning for parents
 

The calculator is an estimate only. Your cost will likely be somewhere between single and family of four. You won't know the price until the exchanges start in 2014 and some states will use the federal exchange and others will use state exchanges.

The exchanges will offer three different plans (bronze, gold, and platinum) each with low deductibles and co-pays with private insurers offering those plans. Since all plans are the same from all insurers (some my be HMOs, PPOs, or EPOs), in theory they should be competing on price for the type of plan desired. The following are the different types of plans (PPO, HMO, and EPO).

http://www.ehow.com/about_6750283_di..._-epo-ppo.html

Generally PPO plans are the most flexible and the most expensive.