Milton, NY Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers | Page 2 Results

A form I-485 to adjust status is a form to be used ONLY when doing so from inside the United States. One cannot adjust status if outside the US. Instead an immigrant visa must be sought at the US consulate with jurisdiction over her place of residence. Also, an immigrant visa must be available to your spouse before he will obtain one to enter the US. This will depend on whether you are a US citizen or a US Permanent Resident (LPR). If you are a US citizen, then the visa will be readily available upon approval of the I-130 petition. If you are a LPR, your spouse will be subject to a retrogression under the family based preference category FB-2A which will vary depending on his country of birth.

The rules of the Child Status Protection Act in preserving eligibility for those who are over the age of 21 is that the time that a petition is pending with U.S.C.I.S. is time that is credited to your age. For example, if you are 23 years of age and the I-130 petition took seven years to adjudicate by U.S.C.I.S., your CSPA age would be 16 as you are given the credit for the time the petition is pending. On the other hand, time in counting your age only freezes when the priority date of the petition is reached. Thus for example if the priority date becomes available under the Department of State's visa bulletin seven years after the petition is first submitted to U.S.C.I.S., it is only on that date that your age would freeze and go no further for CSPA counting purposes. In your case, when your parents become permanent residents, they will file for you under the F-2A category as an unmarried child of a permanent resident. The projected time for cases like yours is approximately 3 years. When your priority date under that category becomes available, your age will freeze and you will be allowed to deduct the time from your age that the I-130 petition pended with U.S.C.I.S. Hopefully you will still be under the age of 21 with that calculation. Due to the limitations of the Lawyers.com Forums, Alan Lee, Esq.'s (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided herein by the Firm is general, and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.