Help getting a visa for widowed mother in law

[djain]

We need some advice on how to best get a visa for my mother in law. We really want her to come for a long visit in hopes that she will like it here and eventually live with us permanently (we will apply for that after my husband gets citizenship). Here’s our background:

My husband is Indian, and I am American. My husband has a green card, and I have a PIO card. He is graduating from his PhD program in December. We’ve been saving money for the bank letter and gathering together all the things in the lists shown on this website. Also, the university will send a letter inviting my MIL to come to see my husband’s graduation, which hopefully will help.

However, these are my MIL’s circumstances: she is a widow and does not work. My husband has three older sisters who are all married with children and live in India, two of them in the same city as Mummy (one in the same neighborhood). She helps out with her grandchildren sometimes, but not on a formal basis. She does not have a great deal of money, but she does own a flat in her name (which we bought for her last year). She is very religious and devout Jain and visits the temple every day—and there are no temples near where we live (at the moment anyway), so maybe that would be one way to show that she plans to go back to India. She only speaks a very little English and gets very nervous under pressure, so we’re worried she might get flustered in the visa interview. We know that visa applications by widows are often rejected, and we are scared that that might happen to her.

I saw some mention on this site about getting our congressman or senator to write a letter. What do I say to him to ask for this letter? What other things could we do to boost her case?

Worst-case scenario, we can wait for another year or two until my husband gets citizenship, but we really don’t want to wait that long for her to be with us at least for a long visit. Any advice any of you can offer is greatly appreciated.

[peace]

djain

As you mentioned, widows do have a hard time but many do get visas if they can show some ties like a son living with them or a strong occupational tie like a job or a business.

Her widow status, her only son living in US , weak financial status at home
and no occupational ties to home country(I presume) are all indicators to the officer that she would want to live in the US permanently with her son
( which is really the case). The temple reason is really quite frivolous.

There is no harm in trying once though. Your husband should write a letter to the visa officer, US embassy/consulate , India which she can present to the officer when the interview opens. He should mention that even though she is a widow, she has strong ties with the jain community and Indian culture
and has no desire of leaving India. He only wants her to visit for his graduation which will make her proud.She would stay only 4-5 weeks and then return to her roots in India. Also mention about her daughters living close to her . If she can show
a documented responsible position of some duration in the local jain community/society that will need her back, it will really help. Get a Hindi document and opt for a hindi interview.

If she does not succeed, there is another option if your life situation allows
that; expedited naturalization for your husband.
Can you and your husband work for one year in India after he graduates? If yes, you should find a job in a US company in INdia with a min. one year contract. Once you have the contract letter in your hand in US, your husband can file for expedited naturalization right away under sec 319 (b).
He should be able to get his citizenship this year under that process
and then he can file an I-130 direct at US embassy in India for his mom's immigrant visa which will be processed in 2-3 months in INdia.
So , this way his mom can come to US permanently in less than a year.

[djain]

Thanks for your reply. We are going to see if maybe she can get some kind of small job or work with the temple to help our case. Also, two of her brothers-in-law own fairly large companies...what if they could put her on their payroll or something...?

Unfortunately, my husband's field (chemical engineering) doesn't have many jobs in India that pay enough to live on (lower pay, but real estate, cars, etc. are the same expensive as they are here in the US), so he's not really interested in doing that.

One thing that occurred to me: I know that there is a stereotype (well, partially true) in India of Americans as not being willing to live in joint families, don't like living with in-laws, etc. Of course I don't fit that stereotype because I'm happy to have her live with us, but the consular officer doesn't know that right? So maybe Mummy could play on that stereotype of "oh, my American daughter in law, you know how they are, they don't want their in-laws living with them"? I don't know, I'm just throwing that idea out there!

[peace]

The interview is quick and I do not think she will have time or find a context to explain what you said about
"the american daughter in law " issue.

For expedited naturalization , you need to have a one year contract with a US company anywhere outside US, not necessarily India.
It is ok, if you do not wish to take this route, but I recommended it because
they may re-introduce the bill after the elections that will put green cards of parents of US citizens under a quota, which may delay your MIL's immigration by a few years. Currently there is no quota.
They proposed that bill in the senate in 07 but it failed. But it is going to come again.

[djain]

Yes, we are quite angry about that immigration bill because people like us get punished, while it seems like the politicians aren't really interested in stopping the flood of illegal immigration.

Thanks for your advice. I didn't realize the interview is so quick. I was envisioning something like our green card interview where they looked at pictures, etc.