Immigration Corner | Can the father of my children file for me?

Good day Mrs. Walker-Huntington:

I hope all is well. My question is, is there a way by which my kids’ dad, who is a green card holder in the USA, can help me to go to USA even though we are not together? If yes, how can we go about it?

SW

Dear SW,

The father of your children is not married to you and therefore cannot file for permanent residency for you. He can, however, file for permanent residency for his unmarried children.

Petitioning for someone to migrate to America is limited to employment or family members. There are only specific family members who can file a petition for someone to migrate to America: a green card holder or US citizen wife or husband; a green card holder or US citizen parent; an American citizen son/daughter (over age 21); or an American citizen sibling.

If a spouse is filing for the other spouse to migrate, the couple must show the validity of their relationship and marriage to US Citizenship & Immigration Services in order for the intending immigrant to be granted permanent residency.

At all times, be truthful in the application and presentation of the documents supporting the relationship. There can be periods in a long-term relationship where the couple are not together – that is understandable and acceptable. What is not acceptable is the manufacturing of documents to support a non-existent relationship. That is marriage fraud, and a permanent bar to migrating to America.

If the man becomes a US citizen, he can file for a fiancé visa for you to travel to America and marry him within 90 days, and then he can file to adjust your status to a permanent resident.

However, the process for the application of a fiancé visa also requires documents to support the relationship. You must also marry the fiancé who filed for the visa to be eligible to adjust your status. An immigrant fiancé is unable to adjust status through any other filing classification. If the relationship does not work, the immigrant fiancé must return to their home country.

If he files for his children to migrate to America, when the eldest is 21 years old and now an American citizen, he/she can file a petition for you to migrate.

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