Immigration Corner | Unnecessarily separated for 12 years

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I have been listening to you now for many years and reading your articles.

My husband is a permanent resident of the US for almost 12 years now. His daughter filed for him but because we got married when she was already an adult, she couldn’t petition for me. She also didn’t want to put the papers in because there was some jealousy involved. However, after all these years, she has finally decided that she is going to do the paperwork on behalf of my husband because he cannot travel as often as he used to.

My question is, how long will this process take? My younger child is going to be 23 years old, and the older one is going to be 33 this year. How will the process work for them? When my husband was filed for, they were under 21 years old. Will that process have any bearing on him starting the filing process for us now?

Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

Concerned Wife,

Thank you for your loyalty. It appears that you, your two children, and your husband have been unnecessarily separated for 12 years. You and your husband did not need your stepdaughter’s assistance or approval for your husband to have filed for you and your children, and he does not need it now. As a permanent resident, your husband is allowed to file for his wife and his unmarried sons and daughters. It is unfortunate that family dynamics often enter the immigration process and cause needless heartache and separation of families.

If your husband is unable to prepare the necessary paperwork to petition for you and his two other children, either you or your husband can hire the services of an immigration attorney to assist with the process. This should have been done immediately after your husband arrived in America, and the entire family could have been reunited years ago.

Your husband must file three separate petitions. As the spouse of a green card holder, the petition is taking about two years for a visa to become available. Both your sons/daughters are now over 21 years old, and their petitions will take about eight years until visas are available. This is only if they are single – a green card holder cannot file for a married son/daughter. The US Department of State promised to work on reducing the backlog caused by pandemic-related closures and your waiting times may be shortened.

I hope that your family will be reunited without any further delay.

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 diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com