Bringing the parents to America

[carl.hops]

Mom wants to come and lao po doesn't even have a date yet! She is pretty much attached to the hip, so I'm wondering how long do we have to wait / what do we need to do first before we can bring her here and what visa options do we have? Lei is worried it could be a long time before her mom will be with us. And I could definitely use a babysitter once we have a little one! B)

Edited May 22, 2008 by carl.hops (see edit history)

[Tom and Ling]

Hi Carl,

 

I'm afraid that Lei is right about the long time.....

There are only two ways to get a mother into the US..One is a visitor visa or tourist visa, but the US doesn't give these out if they think the person is going to stay in the US.

 

The other way is Lei would have to become a US Citizen which will take about 4 years just to become a US citizen...three years to qualify and one more year to get her Citizenship. Than Lei could petition to bring her mother over here, but even this is not first preference so the wait could be long...

If Lei chooses to stay a permanent resident it will even take long than going the US citizen route.

I don't want to be so negative, but this is just the way it is.

This is why it takes a long time to get our wifes over here.

 

Tom and Ling

 

 

 

 

Mom wants to come and lao po doesn't even have a date yet! She is pretty much attached to the hip, so I'm wondering how long do we have to wait / what do we need to do first before we can bring her here and what visa options do we have? Lei is worried it could be a long time before her mom will be with us. And I could definitely use a babysitter once we have a little one!

[Tom and Ling]

Hi Carl,

 

I just checked with the processing time for a US citizen filing for a parent.

It will take about four years for Lei to become a US Citizen.

This is how longer it took my second ex-wife to become a US Citizen, and

it looks like one more year to petition for a mother to come to the US..so it looks like at the minimum 5 years...I hope this helps.....

 

Tom and Ling

 

 

 

Mom wants to come and lao po doesn't even have a date yet! She is pretty much attached to the hip, so I'm wondering how long do we have to wait / what do we need to do first before we can bring her here and what visa options do we have? Lei is worried it could be a long time before her mom will be with us. And I could definitely use a babysitter once we have a little one!

[Randy W]

Thr visitor's visa is much easier than you think - izus was even able to toss in a few cousins and other relatives. It costs $100 and a trip to their local consulate to try. They must be able to show STRONG ties to China. Check the pinned topic. Some are able to get the visa some are not.

[carl.hops]

Thanks for the info, I'll try and break this lightly to her. I don't plan on having her mom stay here illegally, that would be against everything I'm doing now to get lei here. But maybe she can come for a visit to ease the long wait for lei to become a citizen if she chooses to be. (shes still undecided).

[NicolaNSam]

If you can stomach it I would suggest trying to get her mom a visitor visa but you may fail one or two times. My wife's grandparents tried three times and the third attempt was a success. Her parents passed right after that and she was only in America less than a year. Good luck