World Journal Weekly Q & A - January 17, 2010Can I Obtain My Green Card Without a Valid Passport?Chen reader asks: I am a Taiwan citizen and came to U.S. under visiting visa. I am already overstayed. I tried to renew my Taiwan passport but was rejected because I have not served my military service in Taiwan. I want to marry my green card girl friend. Can she file green card papers for me when she becomes U.S. citizen? I have no valid passport, is it ok? Dear reader: Having a valid passport is not an impediment to your permanent residence process if you are adjusting status to permanent residence. (If you were immigrating through consul processing, you should have a passport valid for at least eight months beyond the visa issuance date). For an adjustment of status applicant without a valid passport, U.S.C.I.S. will not issue temporary evidence of your conditional residence (assuming that your application is approved within two years of marriage) and you will simply have to wait for the card to be sent to you by mail. Such is usually done within 60 days of case approval. How to Upgrade Daughter's Category, but We Ask to What Category?Tennessee reader asks: I, as a green card holder, filed immigrant visa for my daughter in 2006 when she was 20 years old. Her paper was approved in 5/2009 and she is still waiting for the priority date to become current. I became U.S. citizen in 9/2009. Could you please tell me how and where to upgrade my daughter’s category to U.S. citizen’s unmarried adult child? Dear reader: As you have become a U.S. citizen, you can upgrade your daughter's case to the immediate relative category (spouse, parent, or child under the age of 21 and unmarried of a U.S. citizen) or F-11 (unmarried adult son or daughter of a U.S. citizen) category dependent upon the exact date that you filed for your daughter in 2006, and her birth date. The upgrade can be done by letter with documentation (I-130 approval sheet and naturalization certificate copies) to the National Visa Center at 32 Rochester Avenue, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03801. Questions of What Consequences if Mom Overstays or How Long to Process Her Green Card Later If She Goes Back to ChinaCai reader asks: My mother came to U.S. in July 2009 under B2 visa to help me care for my infant baby. My husband works and I go to school, so we have no energy to care for our not yet one year old baby. My mother’s visa will be expired in 1/2010 and I have filed extension for her but do not know if it will be granted. If my mother overstay in the U.S., can I file papers for her when I become a U.S. citizen? Will it affect her immigration chance? Or, if my mother goes back to China, how long do I have to wait before I could apply for her to come to U.S.? Dear reader: As your mother entered the United States under a B-2 visa, she would qualify as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen when you become a citizen. She would be allowed to submit an I-485 adjustment of status application even if overstayed, and assuming that there are no bars against her immigrating, would be adjusted to permanent residence without having to return to China. If your mother returns to China, and assuming that she has not accumulated 180 days or more of illegal stay this time before return, she would be eligible to immigrate when you become a U.S. citizen and submit an I-130 petition to the U.S.C.I.S. Service Center. Currently I-130 petitions are filed with the National Benefits Center in Missouri through its lockbox in Chicago. With the associated processing afterwards with the National Visa Center and U.S. consulate in Guangzhou, it would take approximately one year for her to immigrate once you become a citizen and petition for her.
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Copyright © 2003-2012 Alan Lee,
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