Ozone Park, NY Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

From past visa movement, I do not foresee that visa chart movement will be over one year within the next 6 months. Your ability to immigrate under the F-2A category will likely depend upon the period of time that the I-130 petition pended or is pending before approval. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) gives a credit to your age for the period of time that a petition pends with U.S.C.I.S.. For example, if your father filed your F-2A petition in November 2011 and the petition was not approved by U.S.C.I.S. until November 2012, you would have an additional year plus your present 6 months in which you would be counted as a child under the age of 21. The I-130 approval sheet will show the priority date and the date of approval. 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.

I do not see the sense of attempting to apply for a visit in May when your 10 year ban ends in September. It could possibly take longer for U.S.C.I.S. to agree to admit you than September. There is of course no guarantee that an American consular officer will issue a visiting visa to you even after the 10 year bar is over. When you say that your brother applied for a change of status for you and the case was approved by the first processing, I assume that you mean that your brother is a US citizen and applied for an I-130 petition on your behalf which has already been approved and that he and you are awaiting information from the Department of State. Generally speaking, your brother should have received communication from the National Visa Center (NVC) of the Department of State when the I-130 petition was approved. The NVC would generally just advise that it had your case and give the NVC case number. A sibling case takes approximately 12 years for an individual to be interviewed for an immigrant visa. You would probably have to wait over 11 years before the NVC began sending paperwork to you and your brother concerning the payment of visa fees and giving a list of documentary requirements. Your chances of immigrating through your brother are probably better than your obtaining a nonimmigrant visitor's visa, the latter of which requires a showing of non-immigrant intent. 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.  

Your question requires an attorney consultation. It is not a simple question that can be answered on this type of forum. There are many factors that would need to be considered and evaluated. Depending on exactly what he was convicted of, petty larceny cases are usually crimes involving moral turpitude which can make him inadmissible and unable to obtain a green card. I strongly suggest that you or your fiance contact an experienced immigration attorney for a face-to-face consultation and give him/her all of the facts surrounding your fiance's situation. (S)he would then be in a better position to analyze his case and advise you of your options. You should bring any documentation he has regarding his convictions for the attorney to review.