Immigration Corner | Can I add my children to my filing?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

What is the process if a filing is from a grandfather in America for his over 40-year-old daughter? The daughter has children and she wants her children’s names on the filing, also.

Thank you.

– R.

Dear R.,

When the father in America files a relative petition with US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), he is filing for his adult daughter only. All the names of the existing grandchildren must be listed on the initial application. However, when the petition is ready for consular processing through the National Visa Center, this is when the grandchildren will be addressed as derivative beneficiaries of the daughter’s petition.

The grandfather starts with one petition, but at the consular-processing stage, the file will be split into the number of actual people who are eligible for visa processing. That will be the beneficiary (daughter) and all the grandchildren under age 21 (derivative beneficiaries). The children may even be born after the initial filing was submitted, but if they are under age 21 when the visa is available, all the grandchildren will be eligible for immigrant visas (green cards).

At the consular-processing stage, each eligible beneficiary will be required to pay their visa fees and the grandfather will pay the Affidavit of Support fee. At this stage, everyone will now have a separate file and proceed towards each receiving their own green card.

If any of the children becomes 21 years old before the filing is ready, there is a Child Protection Status Act calculation that is done to see if the child(ren) can still qualify for the green card.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com