If I am a US citizen, can I sponsor my illegal son who is over 21 for a green card?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If I am a US citizen, can I sponsor my illegal son who is over 21 for a green card?
Asked on January 25, 2012 under Immigration Law, New York
Answers:
SB, Member, California / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
You can petition for your son but he will not be able to legalize his status within the US. When the priority date becomes current (and that may be another 4-6 years or even longer, depending on the country of his birth) he would need to go back to his home country to consular process his visa but departing the US will cause him to trigger an automatic 10 year bar to reentry, which can only be waived by a showing of extreme hardship to a US citizen spouse, and this is fairly difficult to do in most cases. It is unclear to me how you could have become a US citizen and never petitioned your son for permanent residence while he was still under 21 and not subject to the 10 year bar if deparing the US.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.