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Immigration TALK: Questions & Answers
By: Attorney Gail S. Seeram,
Through this “Question & Answer” column, we seek to answer the questions of our loyal readers. We appreciate your comments and questions about the ever so complicated world of immigration. If you have a question that you would like answered in this column, please email: Gail@GailLaw.com
Question #1: I live in Guyana. My mother’s petition for us was upgraded in 2009 when she became a U.S. Citizen resulting in one of my brothers who chose not to get married at the time being able to migrate in mid 2010. My other brother and I chose to get married and to date we are still awaiting an appointment date. Please advice.
Answer #1: Generally an unmarried child of a U.S. Citizen has a shorter wait time than a married child of a U.S. citizen. According to the March 2012 visa bulletin, visas are being issued for petitions for an unmarried child of a U.S. Citizen that was filed on or before February 1, 2005 and for petitions for a married child of a U.S. Citizen that was filed on or before January 1, 2002. So, right now there is a three-year difference in wait time if you are married versus being unmarried. In the long run, it’s better to marry and wait the extra three years so your entire family can immigrate with you to the United States.
Question #2: If you are a U.S. Citizen, how long can you stay outside the U.S.?
Answer #2: A U.S. Citizen does not have travel limitations and can remain outside the U.S. for any amount of time without risk of losing his U.S. Citizen status.
Question #3: Can someone who obtained his U.S. citizenship via asylum be penalized (have their citizenship revoked) for going back to the country of persecution even though they are now a citizen of the U.S.? I have a friend who is in this situation and her mother is very sick. She wants to go back to the country from which she claimed asylum so she can visit her mother.
Answer #3: I do not recommend that your friend (even though she is a U.S. Citizen) return to the country she sought asylum from. When you seek asylum in the U.S., you are claiming fear of persecution in your native country. To now return to the same country shows that you no longer have a fear to return. Remember that a naturalized U.S. Citizen can have his or her citizenship revoked for fraud. So, returning to the country you claimed asylum from can lead to a re-examination of an asylum application and a re-examination of citizenship if fraud is suspected.
Question #4: Please give me an idea of what happens when a child sponsors its parent, pays all the fees and then the child dies. Is everything finished there or can someone else take up the petition?
Answer #4: Generally, when a petitioner dies the pending petition is void. However, a request for reinstatement can be made based on humanitarian grounds. This is not an automatic process – Immigration has the discretion to reinstate the petition with a substitute sponsor or to void the petition based on petitioner death. Call or email our office for more information on reinstatement.
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