Apply for my parents to immigrate to the US

[joannaliu]

Hey guys,

I am not sure where to appropriately put this topic, but my husband and I are planning to get my parents to the US to start a Chinese restaurant with me. I have several questions in terms of the possibilities.

1)I am a 2-year green card holder, have been working in a law school as a full time employee since my arrival. My husband is a law school student. He said in order to apply for the parents to immigrate here, I have to be an American citizen and we have to make enough money to sponsor them as he did to me when he tried to bring me here. So that brings me the second question. 2) Can green card holder apply for parents to immigrate? 3) What is the poverty line? How much do I have to make per year in order to be my parents' sponsor? 4) I have two other siblings in China who both work now but don't have their own family. Will the VO create obstacles for my parents by asking why my parents will "abandon" my two other siblings in China and immigrate to the US? Honestly they move here just to make money by opening a Chinese restaurant. My parents have managed a small restaurant since I started my memory. They are hard working people, but have been struggling for life. I just think it is unfair that they work so hard but gain so little profits. And hope to bring them to this fairly fair land to make some decent money.

Any other suggestions will be appreciated in terms of the application process or the feasibility to apply for them as a green card holder. BTW, my parents are both young enough to make a living here. They haven't reached 50. thanks

Joanna

[warpedbored]

There is no visa for a permanent resident to file for a parent. You must first become an American citizen.

From the USCIS website

2. If you are a lawful permanent resident of United States, you may file this form for:

A. Your husband or wife;

B. Your unmarried child under age 21; C. Your unmarried son or daughter age 21 or older.

You can apply for US citizenship no sooner than 90 days prior to the 3 year anniversary of your first green card issue date.

The good news is there is no quota for these visas. Processing times is about the same as a spouse.

[C4Racer]

We are bringing my wife's parents to live with us. They will arrive November 6th. You must be a US citizen to be able to bring them. This was the sole reason my wife got her US citizenship. She also has two other siblings in China. No, they will not give them any problems. It took us 4 1/2 months for parents to get their visa.

The poverty guidelines can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864P.pdf. You must meet 125% income level of your entire household plus your parents. It sounds like it is just the two of you, no kids, so this would be 4 or $27,562. You don't have to make this much alone. Your spouse can file the I-864a (contract between sponsor and household member) and you may combine your wages together. This is how we did it, as my wife did not make enough alone.

Edited October 11, 2009 by C4Racer (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

There is no visa for a permanent resident to file for a parent. You must first become an American citizen.

From the USCIS website

2. If you are a lawful permanent resident of United States, you may file this form for:

A. Your husband or wife;

B. Your unmarried child under age 21; C. Your unmarried son or daughter age 21 or older.

You can apply for US citizenship no sooner than 90 days prior to the 3 year anniversary of your first green card issue date.

The good news is there is no quota for these visas. Processing times is about the same as a spouse.

Carl is correct on this one, need to first become a US citizen before being able to file an I-130 for parents.

 

Parents can visit on a visitor's visa.

 

Note, I have seen some parents come over on a visitor's visa, and then file to adjust status based on an I-130 filed by son/daughter I-485+I-130, (This is costly compared to simply applying for a immigrant visa)

 

Also note: A US Citizen CANNOT file a petition for IN-Laws.

[joannaliu]

Thanks for your information. Are they going to live here permanently? Can you please send me the process information? There is a long way away for me to apply for US citizenship, but still curious about how short your process it is. It took you only 4.5 months to apply for the parents to immigrate here? That's unbelievably short.

 

It seems that the only problem for us now is that sponsor part. My husband is a law school student. He doesn't make any money. Maybe we should wait until he graduates and gets his job.

 

Is the paperwork complicated? If you can, can you please send me the general process information. Thanks in advance.

 

We are bringing my wife's parents to live with us.

[joannaliu]

And regarding the poverty guidance, can you please explain the $27,562 for 4 people? Does that mean I or us have to make $27,562 per year or save that much money per year? Is that amount of money before tax or after tax?

 

I am curious to know because it seems that my incomes can meet the requirement. Maybe the problem is that I am not a US citizen now.

 

We are bringing my wife's parents to live with us. They will arrive November 6th. You must be a US citizen to be able to bring them. This was the sole reason my wife got her US citizenship. She also has two other siblings in China. No, they will not give them any problems. It took us 4 1/2 months for parents to get their visa.

The poverty guidelines can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864P.pdf. You must meet 125% income level of your entire household plus your parents. It sounds like it is just the two of you, no kids, so this would be 4 or $27,562. You don't have to make this much alone. Your spouse can file the I-864a (contract between sponsor and household member) and you may combine your wages together. This is how we did it, as my wife did not make enough alone.

[warpedbored]

C4Racer is more knowledgeable on this than I but the process is pretty straight forward. First you must become a US citizen then file an I-130 for both your mother and father. There is some electronic processing available now that speeds up the process. The income requirement is before taxes and no you don't have to save that much.

Citizenship through naturalization http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...000b92ca60aRCRD

 

US citizen filing for relatives http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-130instr.pdf

[dnoblett]

And regarding the poverty guidance, can you please explain the $27,562 for 4 people? Does that mean I or us have to make $27,562 per year or save that much money per year? Is that amount of money before tax or after tax?

 

I am curious to know because it seems that my incomes can meet the requirement. Maybe the problem is that I am not a US citizen now.

This can be combined income, the you count self, spouse, any dependents like children, and the immigrants being sponsored.

 

In case of husband/wife, petitioner can provide an I-864, and spouse can provide an I-864A and ADD incomes together.

 

I-864 comes at the time of NVC processing.

[C4Racer]

Are they going to live here permanently? Can you please send me the process information? There is a long way away for me to apply for US citizenship, but still curious about how short your process it is. It took you only 4.5 months to apply for the parents to immigrate here? That's unbelievably short.

 

And regarding the poverty guidance, can you please explain the $27,562 for 4 people? Does that mean I or us have to make $27,562 per year or save that much money per year? Is that amount of money before tax or after tax?

 

I am curious to know because it seems that my incomes can meet the requirement. Maybe the problem is that I am not a US citizen now.

 

We are bringing my wife's parents to live with us. They will arrive November 6th. You must be a US citizen to be able to bring them. This was the sole reason my wife got her US citizenship. She also has two other siblings in China. No, they will not give them any problems. It took us 4 1/2 months for parents to get their visa.

The poverty guidelines can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-864P.pdf. You must meet 125% income level of your entire household plus your parents. It sounds like it is just the two of you, no kids, so this would be 4 or $27,562. You don't have to make this much alone. Your spouse can file the I-864a (contract between sponsor and household member) and you may combine your wages together. This is how we did it, as my wife did not make enough alone.

 

The plan is they are coming to live with us permanently. We applied for the IR-5 visa for them. My wife got her citizenship in January. We sent in an I-130 for her mother and an I-130 for her father in March. They had their interview on August 3. It could have been quicker if we were prepared to email the paperwork to NVC. We had about a month delay while we waited for a document from China. It is possible that we got lucky timing wise. The electronic processing was new, so maybe there wasn't too many people doing it at the time. Maybe, it will slow down as more and more people opt in.

They are looking for your income to be at 125% of the poverty level or above. They also look at three years worth of taxes. Savings or assests do not figure in it too much unless you have 3 -5 times that in the bank or applicable assets.

It is always good to start planning early. We started planning for my wife to bring her parents, just before she got the ten year green card.