Immigration Corner | Can my son file for me?

Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington:

My son is a 21-year-old United States citizen. He left Jamaica when he was two years old, so I didn’t get to spend much with him. He is currently not working, or when he does work, it is just part-time because he is still in school.

I have not seen my son in seven years and I would like to see him, and based on the last conversation I had with him, he is not doing so well, either. My question is, can he petition for me, or can I get a visa so I can visit him?

Looking forward for an answer.

– Sad Mother

Dear Sad Mother,

I am sorry to hear that you have been separated from your son for such a protracted time and are clearly yearning to be reunited. It is not uncommon for a parent to allow a minor child to migrate with the other parent, in the hopes of giving the child access to opportunities that they may not otherwise have in their home country. The separation can cause anguish and sometimes total isolation from the non-immigrating parent. It appears that you have had some contact with your son over the years, but have missed out on his coming of age.

The good news in your situation is that your son, as a 21-year-old American citizen, can file a petition for you to migrate to the United States. You are considered the immediate relative of an American citizen and as such, an immigrant visa is immediately available to you. Pre-pandemic, this process would take approximately a year from filing to interview at the US Embassy. Now, the timing is uncertain because of backlogs and reduced hours at local US embassies.

Although your son is in school, he can still file an immigrant petition on your behalf. However, at the consular processing stage, he would need a joint sponsor to do an additional affidavit of support. That joint sponsor would be required to provide evidence that they can support their family, anyone else that they might be obligated to support under a previous affidavit of support, as well as you – the intending immigrant.

Getting a non-immigrant visa to go and visit may be more difficult, because the existence of an American citizen son indicates to a consular officer that you have an intention to migrate. This assigned intent exists because if you came to America on a visitor’s visa, you would be eligible to change your status from a visitor to a permanent resident if your son filed such a petition in America.

You and your son can begin the process immediately and work towards reuniting and spending the rest of your lives in close proximity to each other.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq, is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com