I-130 Sister USC - I'm B2 Expiring today

[Jose Neto]

Decided to share my problems with god only.

Thanks anyway !

[inadmissible]

To help me type less, I will use USC for United States Citizen, and LPR for Lawful Permanent Resident.

A few things...

You will be waiting 14 years for an immigrant visa to become available, not 10 years.

At that point, you will not be eligible for adjustment of status (filing Form I-485 will get you deported), because your current visa will be out of status.

You could leave the United States and initiate consular processing of your immigrant visa, but you will be deemed inadmissible to the United States as a result of leaving the United States after a lengthy overstay.

A waiver is available, but you will have to demonstrate that your USC/LPR spouse or parent will suffer extreme and unusual hardship as a result of you not getting a green card. This is a high bar, specifically, it requires that you demonstrate a kind of hardship that exceeds the hardship normally faced by deported families. Separation and financial hardships are considered usual, not extreme. This is a moot point because you do not (and will not) have a USC/LPR spouse or parent.

In 20 years and 9 months from now, your citizen child can petition for you and your wife. Your child must initiate the paperwork, so this is contingent on you maintaining a good relationship with her. (There are many "help my citizen relative refuses to petition for me" messages on this site) At that point, you both can file for adjustment of status, because of a neat exception to the "must be in status" rule for immediate relatives. However, your two older children will be too old to follow along with you and your wife.

Your citizen child can then petition for her two non-citizen siblings. Is this now starting to sound familiar? The wait time now is 14 years for siblings, it might be even longer then. They will not be eligible to adjust status in country, and will be subject to the bar when they leave. Assuming the law is the same then, they can get a waiver by demonstrating the extreme hardship their LPR parents - you and your wife.

Marriage to a citizen is a far easier and more certain route to a green card. It is entirely possible that your kids will marry USC's, and be able to adjust status in the country. It is also possible that your spouse will divorce you to marry a man who can confer upon her legal immigration status. Or, you might do the same to her.

The interesting question is, can you survive 21 years in this country without the benefits of legal status? Can you avoid being caught for something minor (speeding, smoking weed) that leads to you being deported? Can your family handle to stress of planning for separation, in the event one or more of you gets deported? You have to plan for you getting deported, and your families finances in your absence. Are you going to work in Brazil and send them money? You have to plan for your wife getting deported, and arranging childcare in her absence. If one child gets deported, are the rest of you going to travel to Brazil to be with her?