Category: family-based immigration law

The immigration process and law can be difficult to understand when it comes to immigrating your child to the U.S. This blog post focuses on keeping families together, especially from an immigration law perspective. The blog speaks to the important information related to bringing your son or daughter to live in the United States with you.

1) Simply, a child according to United States immigration law is defined as unmarried and under 21 years of age.
2) Petitioning for your son or daughter means that you can begin the process of bringing them to the United States and allowing them to adjust their legal status in the United States in connection with you.
3) A child needs to be a legitimate child or a stepchild. This must happen before the child’s 18 th birthday. A child may also include an adopted child as long as the child was adopted under the age of 16 and has been in the legal custody of and resided with the adopting parent for at least two years.
4) If you are not in the country legally but can adjust under your legal permanent resident relative or U.S. Citizen, there is a penalty fee that you must pay in addition to regular filing fees.
5) The eligibility of a child’s time to immigrate depends on the priority date. When the priority date becomes ‘current,’ the child will have be able to obtain a green card and since he or she is an immediate relative, an immigrant visa will be immediately available to come to the United States.
6) If your son or daughter becomes an adult, that is turns 21, while the visa petition is pending, it is important to understand the preference category he or she will in and how that affects when a visa becomes available.
7) It is important to hire a licensed immigration attorney. The Ohio and Maryland immigration law offices of Varun Luthra can help you in filing the petition and work through the immigration process of helping immigration your child to the United States. Contact us here 410-446-7744 and/or email us at varun@varunluthra.com.