Naturalization, Citizenship Mother Applying for Green Card for Child

[tim6lynette]

Can you please explain "The child cannot stay in the US" when mother apply Green Card for her child? Another question. If I file in Cleveland, Ohio .. Will that be faster than applying in California?

 

[NYClex]

You have to apply in the service center that has jurisdiction over the place where you live. If you live in Ohio this is the Nebraska Service Center. Currently it takes about one year for a I-130 petition for a parent to be decided in the Nebraska Service Center and about half a year in the California Service Center.

Now to the other question. The U.S. Immigration Law is relatively logical in its treatment of children of beneficiaries, but the long waiting times nowadays created a big problem:

Under the law if a citizen files a I-130 petition and the foreigner applies for adjustment of status usually the minor children of this foreign beneficiary enjoy what the law calls "follow-to-join benefits", which means that they are automatically included in the applications.

Now, there is one exception: If a citizen files a petition to grant his parent the status of a legal permanent resident, that parent's other children (=the citizen's siblings) are not automatically included. This seems logical, because the law provides an extra category for those: the citizen can file a petition for his or her siblings.

The big difference in practice, however, is that parents are allowed to wait for their adjustment of status in the US, siblings not.

I am sure this was unintended when the law was written, because I am sure nobody envisioned waiting times for visa for siblings of 12 years. But this is the fact nowadays.

If you intend to file, you should talk to an immigration attorney about these problems.