Copperopolis, CA Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

First. I'll assume you are from the Philippines based on the priority date you mentioned. The country of birth is quite important because it determines when your visa becomes available. There is way to calculate his age under CSPA. We first start with your son's date of birth (6/25/1990). Then we need to calculate how long the petition was pending. We have the priority date (September 1, 1989) but we do not have the date of the I-130 approval, so it is not possible to know exactly how many days, months, years the I-130 was pending. Most petitions filed around 1989 were approved quickly, sometimes within 2 months of filing. We need to know the exact length of time the case was pending so that we can subtract this exact time from his exact calendar age on the day the visa first became available. Assuming you are from the Philippines, the visa was first available on July 1, 2010. Your son was less than 21 years old at the time. He had to submit the DS-230 within one year of July 1, 2010, which he did. He appears protected under the Child Status Protection Act and appears eligible to follow with you once the visa becomes current. Make sure not to let one year or more pass without communication to / from the NVC otherwise all fees and application will be cancelled.

It is unlikely that you will be able to have them come to visit. It would be better to just petition them for residency. Consulate Processing must be completed. This allows the petition to first be sent to the National Visa Center, and then the appropriate documents and package to go to the U.S. Consulate or Embassy. If done correctly, you will be able to enter as a Lawful Permanent Resident and will be in the U.S. in less than one year. Of course the time might be a bit less or more depending on the backlog of the U.S. Consulate or Embassy and whether or not a Waiver of Inadmissibility is needed.

You will need to show that he will not be a public charge and that your income exceeds 125% of the Poverty Guidelines. Getting food stamps by itself is not determinative. If your income is not sufficient you still submit the I-864 as his petitioner but will also need a co-sponsor and supporting documents or both of you.