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IMMIGRANT VISA PETITION FILING AT NEW DELHI BY U. S CITIZENS IS GOING TO CHANGE
Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas
In order to sponsor your parent, spouse or child under 21 of U. S citizen (USC) or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), you should file an immigrant petition with the U. S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at one of its four service centers in U. S within whose jurisdiction the USC or the LPR is living permanently. There are a very few USCIS offices around the world to cater to the needs of U. S citizens including one in New Delhi. Primarily these offices are meant to cater to the needs of U. S citizens living and working outside U. S for prolonged period of time. For example, if a U. S citizen working for an international organization and stationed in India, marries a girl from India, the U. S citizen does not need to return to U. S and file the immigrant petition to bring his wife to U. S as an LPR. Instead, he can go to the USCIS located in the Embassy compound, and file the petition with all supporting documents there.
Effective July 4, 2004, U.S. citizens who were not living in India for prolonged period of time or not working in India were allowed to file an I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) for their immediate relatives like spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21, if they can provide evidence that they have resided in India for a minimum of 60 days immediately prior to the filing of the petition. This requirement ends on May 31, 2006. The USCIS office in New Delhi use to approve the petitions within two months or so, and the file will be forwarded to the appropriate consulate in Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta or Madras for immigrant visa processing and usually the visa will be issued within next two months. Hence the beneficiary could have entered U. S within a short period of time of about four to five months in most cases.
Effective June 1, 2006, U.S. citizens who wish to file an I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) for their immediate relatives like spouses, parents, and unmarried child under 21 must provide evidence that they are residents of India. Proof of such residency will include a U.S. passport with an appropriate long-term, valid Indian visa and a Registration Report and Residential Permit issued by the Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO) of the government of India. Additional evidence may include, but is not limited to, on-going employment in India, taxes paid in India, rent/property receipts, and utility receipts. Qualifying United States Citizens may file their petitions between 9:00 AM and 12:00 Noon on all normal business days. By these new rules, it stipulates that only those U. S citizens who live permanently and or work permanently in India will be eligible to file immigrant petition at the USCIS office in New Delhi in the future.
United States Citizens must be present in person to file their petitions. If a United States Citizen is filing for a spouse, it is required that the spouse also appear so that immigration officials may ask any questions necessary for the adjudication of the petition. U. S citizens who do not meet the above residency requirements must file their petitions in the United States with the Service Center having jurisdiction over their place of residence.
Hence beginning June 1, 2006, those could not prove that they are living permanently or working in India will be left with the alternative to file in the USCIS service center within whose jurisdiction they are living permanently. USCIS is now forwarding all immigrant petitions in all three service centers namely Nebraska Service Center, Vermont Service Center, and Texas Service Center to California Service Center. They process immigrant petitions filed by U. S citizens approximately within six months of receipt now. Another important factor in approving petitions is the back ground checks, and security clearance mandated by the new laws after 09/11 should be obtained. In some cases it may take more than the regular processing time.
Once the petition is approved, the file will be forwarded to National Visa Center (NVC). After NVC receives the approved file, it will ask the petitioner to remit the immigrant visa fee and affidavit of support fee. Once the fees are remitted, the petitioner will be asked to file the affidavit of support with last three year’s tax returns, job letter. The beneficiary has to file the immigrant visa application also. Once the NVC reviews the papers filed and if it meets the requirements, the file will be forwarded to the consulate for immigrant visa processing. NVC takes about 60-90 days to forward the file to the consulate. Once the consulate receives the file, it will schedule the interview for the beneficiary within 60 days normally. Hence it may take about 9-12 months under the present circumstances for a beneficiary like spouse, parent or child under 21 of USC to receive the visa and enter U. S.
Instead of waiting this long for spouse only, there is another type of visa called K-3 visa, for which a separate petition with the National Benefits Center at Lee’s Summit, MI, must be filed with the receipt proof of filing the immigrant visa petition with the USCIS service center. The K-3 petitions are being approved within 90 days of filing, and within next 40-60 days the file will in consulate, and the spouse beneficiary will be interviewed and issued with K-3 visa. The children under 21 also are eligible to receive K-4 visas. But they should have separate immigrant petitions filed before they could apply for adjustment of status after entering U. S on K-4 visas. The parent also should apply for adjustment of status once entered on K-3 visa. It may take about 6 months to enter on K-3/K-4 visa under the present circumstances. If it is not mandatory that the marriage need to be done in India, the USC can apply for a fiancée visa, and the fiancée may enter U. S within 4-6 months, with permission to stay only for 90 days within which period the fiancée should marry the USC who filed the fiancée petition and should apply for adjustment of status.
Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matter collected from various sources including Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You can reach Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law at (972) 788-0777 or (972) 788-1555 Fax (972) 556-1109 or at e-mail: attylal@aol.com, for a free consultation on this subject matter. You can visit our website at: www.indiaimmigrationusa.com for more information about other related immigration matters.
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