Green Card for Family

[us_immigrants]

I am US citizen and would like to initiate Green card process for my mother and sister.

I have all the required documents except for their birth Certificate. In that case, what alternative document can be used?

[pontevecchio]

Please read the instructions for form I-130 under " What if a document is not available"

[Guest Noah Lotte]

For your sister, there is no rush as the priority date for siblings is way off in the future (at least a dozen years or more)..

[chakrakr]

For your sister, there is no rush as the priority date for siblings is way off in the future (at least a dozen years or more)..

BAD Advice. The "dozen year" starts from when OP files 130. So definitely and delay in filing 130 will simply add to the dozen.

[JoeF]

BAD Advice. The "dozen year" starts from when OP files 130. So definitely and delay in filing 130 will simply add to the dozen.

It should be considered VERY carefully.

Once an I-130 is filed, it may not be possible for the beneficiary to get a non-immigrant visa, e.g., a visitor visa.

Filing an I-130 without lots of discussion with the beneficiary and his or her future plans would be VERY BAD advice.

[chakrakr]

It should be considered VERY carefully.

Once an I-130 is filed, it may not be possible for the beneficiary to get a non-immigrant visa, e.g., a visitor visa.

Filing an I-130 without lots of discussion with the beneficiary and his or her future plans would be VERY BAD advice.

So what does one do ? Wait endlessly to file a 130 ? While one can get a Visitor Visa and then go for 130, technically , he/she might not be able to use the visitor visa once 130 is filed. It is a VERY VERY BAD Advice to ask someone to relax because dates are a dozen year backlogged . That's exactly what Noah adviced . If anything, it means that one should speed it up to make sure they are not adding time to the dozen year

[cap-gap]

in the CIR, they are trying to get rid of the sibling sponsoring..better hurry..

[JoeF]

So what does one do ?

As I said, this needs to be discussed in a lot of detail with the potential beneficiaries. It may even affect their career planning, if they have jobs in their home country and can't travel to business meetings in the US due to an I-130.

There is no "one size fits all" answer.

Ideally, all this needs to be discussed within the family AND with a good immigration lawyer.

[JoeF]

in the CIR, they are trying to get rid of the sibling sponsoring..better hurry..

There likely would be a cut-off date sometime in the past, to avoid things like rushed filings.

Similar to the cut-off date proposed for making people legal.

[chakrakr]

As I said, this needs to be discussed in a lot of detail with the potential beneficiaries. It may even affect their career planning, if they have jobs in their home country and can't travel to business meetings in the US due to an I-130.

There is no "one size fits all" answer.

Ideally, all this needs to be discussed within the family AND with a good immigration lawyer.

All that should be done sooner rather than later. If one wants to immigrate, one should take steps to file 130 ASAP. An advice like "there is no rush because there is a long queue" is DEFINITELY a BAD Advice. The clock is ticking every moment.

[JoeF]

All that should be done sooner rather than later. If one wants to immigrate, one should take steps to file 130 ASAP.

The OP did not even say that his mother and sister want to immigrate. He said he wanted to file I-130s for them.

There is a very big difference to the beneficiaries clearly stating that they want to immigrate and that they know that it takes a very long time and that they know that during that time, their life may be disrupted, since nobody plans their life 12+ years in advance, vs. somebody just saying he wants to file I-130s.

There have been posts here where people had an I-130 filed for them a decade ago, and now these people found out that they were really limited in their career because they couldn't even travel to the US for a business meeting. Or, the sponsor has a very bad accident, and the I-130 beneficiary can't even visit...

The bottom line is that "quick, do it now" is pretty much always the wrong answer.

[chakrakr]

The OP did not even say that his mother and sister want to immigrate. He said he wanted to file I-130s for them.

There is a very big difference to the beneficiaries clearly stating that they want to immigrate and that they know that it takes a very long time and that they know that during that time, their life may be disrupted, since nobody plans their life 12+ years in advance, vs. somebody just saying he wants to file I-130s.

So what is your argument ? Since nobody plans their life 12+ years in advance, one should NEVER plan to go through the sibling immigration route ?

There have been posts here where people had an I-130 filed for them a decade ago, and now these people found out that they were really limited in their career because they couldn't even travel to the US for a business meeting. Or, the sponsor has a very bad accident, and the I-130 beneficiary can't even visit...

Cite a post to establish credibility. And while it might be true in some cases , it does not establish that one should relax because dates are way too far. There are car accidents everyday , so should you stop driving a car ?

The bottom line is that "quick, do it now" is pretty much always the wrong answer.

The bottom line is , when the queue is Long, you should plan to join the queue as soon as possible instead of relaxing. The queue is growing longer every minute.

[omshiv]

There have been posts here where people had an I-130 filed for them a decade ago, and now these people found out that they were really limited in their career because they couldn't even travel to the US for a business meeting. Or, the sponsor has a very bad accident, and the I-130 beneficiary can't even visit...

in that case as somebody suggested...get a B1/B2 visa stamped and then apply for their GCs...in that way they should be able to enter US and leave within their I-94 timeframe.

[JoeF]

So what is your argument ?

That your "advice" of "do it now" is wrong.

[chakrakr]

That your "advice" of "do it now" is wrong.

So the advice should be "relax , you have a long queue ahead " as Noah said ? Some logic !

It should definitely be "do it now" .. the more you delay in starting the process, the longer the line grows and as cap-gap pointed, OP's sister might miss the bus altogether if CIR passes. May be that's what you and Noah want . Ask OP to relax and let the bus go.

[t75]

OP, Ask your sister if she thinks she MIGHT like to immigrate in the future. Be sure to point out that nothing is certain. She should assume that she will NOT be able to immigrate because that is the sure thing but be prepared to do so if it is possible and she still wants to do so at that time.

Who knows, by the time her priority date rolls around things in the US will be very different and you may have decided to move back to your country of birth.

[JoeF]

So the advice should be "relax , you have a long queue ahead " as Noah said ? Some logic !

Please do NOT put words in my mouth. Thank you.

It should definitely be "do it now"

No! They need to find out if the family, in particular the sister, even wants to have an I-130 filed for her; she may likely not even understand the consequences of being limited in her career once an I-130 is filed.

THAT is what needs to be discussed, NOT "file an I-130 now and discuss things later"

It is obvious that you have not even thought these kinds of things through.

[chakrakr]

Please do NOT put words in my mouth. Thank you.

You jumped in this thread when I pointed that Noah's advice to Relax was a Bad Advice. So it is quite natural to think that you are in same boat with Noah and advicing to relax. If not, what are we arguing about ?

No! They need to find out if the family, in particular the sister, even wants to have an I-130 filed for her; she may likely not even understand the consequences of being limited in her career once an I-130 is filed.

THAT is what needs to be discussed, NOT "file an I-130 now and discuss things later"

It is obvious that you have not even thought these kinds of things through.

All those discussions are OPs family matter . The discussion here is "when should one start the process" and the answer is ASAP you have a 12 year backlog. The answer should not be Relax , you have time.

If a discussion is needed, per your advice, even that should be done NOW instead of "relaxing because dates are way in future"

Heck, OP did not even ask your (or Noah's) advice on "when to file" ? OPs question was regarding documentation. It is people like Noah and you who started lecturing on "when" he should proceed and what internal family discussion he should have.

It is obvious your advice is "delay it indefinitely" and let the bus go .

[JoeF]

The bottom line is that YOUR advice is bad.

[chakrakr]

The bottom line is that YOUR advice is bad.

Agreed ! Your advice to wait endlessly is Good . Fantastic logic. No more argument.

OP , listen to JoeF AND his friend Noah and just wait endlessly. OR advice your sister to come as illegal immigrant to get blessings of JoeF .