1. How Can I Speed Up the Immigration Process for U.S. Citizen’s Sibling Case?
My dad is in process immigration and his category is F4 brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens application processing date is 27 mar 2003. I investigate on page of visa Bulletin and there appears application processing date 1/8/1998. How can I speed up the immigration process?
Mr. Lee answers:
I assume that with your reference to a 1998 visa bulletin date for the F-4 category, your family is born in Mexico or the Philippines. The rest of the world except for India, Mexico, and the Philippines is already up to the year 2004 for immigrant visa availability in the F-4 category. Unfortunately there is no speeding up of the category unless the dependent spouse is born in another country. In that event, there could be a cross-charge of the dependent’s country of birth instead of Mexico or the Philippines. I would suggest that if your father or mother has education or an employment based skill that could be the subject of employment sponsored immigration, that would probably be a better way to go. The EB-2 category for persons with advanced degrees (or bachelors +5 years of progressive experience) is current for Mexico or the Philippines born, and the EB-3 category for skilled workers or those who only have a bachelor’s degree is current for Mexico and up to January 2017 for the Philippines.
2. Can a US Citizen File Immigrant Paper for Goddaughter?
I am a U.S Citizen and I will like to bring my 23 years goddaughter who is deaf by birth from Panama to live with me. Is this possible?
Mr. Lee answers:
There is no category under U. S. immigration laws for a U. S. citizen to petition for or bring in a godchild to live with that individual. If she is educated or has past experience that could be the basis of an employment based nonimmigrant or immigrant visa, perhaps those are areas to be explored.
3. Can My Mother Get Her US Citizenship Back After Being Deported For a Drug Related Offense?
My mother was deported back to Mexico after doing her time in prison for transporting drugs in Texas. That was 20 years ago. She has talked to a few lawyers about trying to get a pardon to be able to come back to the states. One told her to save her money because she would never be able to. Her mother recently passed and she went to the border to see if she could apply for a pass to see her mother. She was told it would never happen. She has lost hope. I need to know if there is any way she can legally come back to the states to be with her family.
Mr. Lee answers:
The U. S. government cannot deport a U. S. citizen for a crime committed after the individual is naturalized, so I will assume that your mother was either a permanent resident or the crime was committed prior to her becoming a U. S. citizen. Drug transportation is treated very harshly under the U. S. immigration laws, and the fact that a few lawyers have already gone over her case and not encouraged her is an indication that she will not gain any immigration relief. There is no immigrant visa waiver that covers drug transportation. The best hope was probably trying to obtain a non-immigrant waiver at the border based on emergent humanitarian reasons, but that was apparently turned down. Her case unfortunately does not look encouraging at all unless she is able to overturn the criminal conviction.