We're gonna talk about what you can do to help your child become lawful in the United States.
If you only have a green card, green card holder, parents listen up. This video is for you. Who is a
child for immigration purposes? A child is someone who is unmarried and under the age of 21, it must
be both. Okay, unmarried and under 21. Everyone else is considered a son or a daughter, adult son,
adult daughter of a US citizen or a green card holder. Let's do things a little differently in
this video. Let's talk about a hypo to help frame this issue for us. 10 year old son comes to the
US on a visitor's visa. The undocumented parent decides to keep the child here, and consequently
the child overstays the visa. The parent then marries a US citizen and gets a green card that
way. What are the options for this child? The first and best option for the child
certainly is if the US citizen stepparent can file for the child. But this can only
happen if the marriage happened before the child turned 18. The child will then be considered an
immediate relative of a US citizen and can get the green card very quickly through the process
of adjustment of status right here in the us. And the child will not have to go back home for an
embassy interview. But what if the marriage didn't happen before the child turned 18? Let's say it
happened between the ages of 18 and 20. Can the US citizen stepparent still file for that child? The
answer is no. The next best scenario for that child would then be for the green card holder
parent to file for him or her. With the green card guys, it comes with some limitations.
And the, with respect to this process, the child will need to finish the process at a US embassy
because that child went out of status and did not continuously maintain a lawful status. And
this is the frustrating part for many green card holder parents who think that their child who had
overstay a visa should be entitled to get in a green card here, or eligible to get a green card
here for some green card holder parent, you may need to file for your child because perhaps the
marriage is over and that US citizen spouse of yours is no longer in the equation. And so you
have no other option but to file for the child. And so you can do so, but just keep it in mind
that the child will need to finish the process abroad because the child overstay the visa If the
child has lawful status, however, um, then the child can go through adjustment of status.
So how does, what does this actually look like? So for instance, if the child came to the United
States and the I 94 record, um, is still active, it's still good, I should say it hasn't expired
yet. The child hasn't stayed longer than six months in the us then the parent, the green card
holder parent can apply for adjustment of status and the child can get the green card that way.
Here are some common questions that we usually get related to this process. Will my child get
a social security card? A child can only get the social security card if he or she had applied for
adjustment of status. If only an I one 30 petition was filed for the child and no adjustment of
status application was, uh, submitted along with it, the child will not get a Social security card,
nor will the child get a, an E a D or the employment authorization document.
Consult with a lawyer friend to determine whether the child is in fact eligible to adjust their
status through you. The green card holder parent. Another question that we get frequently is, well,
can my child be added to my petition? The, you know, I'm the parent, my spouse is filing for me,
can, uh, the child be added and get the green card with me? And the answer is no. If the
petitioner's spouse is a US citizen, if the child is eligible, if there's a stepparent stepchild
relationship that was formed, uh, before the child turned 18, then uh, the stepparent can
again file for the child. But it has to be a separate process. The answer is yes. However,
if the petitioner's spouse is a green card holder, but keep in mind that both the child and the
parent will not be able to finish the process here in the United States through a green card holder,
petitioner if they had overstay their visa. Friends, this is complicated stuff, okay? This is
not easy to digest. Some people, they will need to work with a lawyer on this. We've helped so
many families understand these issues and work on the cases for them. Uh, you can read our success
stories to see all the different family, uh, scenarios, many of which are very, very complex
that we've worked on. Go to McBean law.com/success or if you'd like to meet with us, contact us at
[inaudible] 8 6 6 3900 for an appointment. Just a reminder of the types of cases that we work on
at McBean Law, we, uh, handle complex marriage cases or family cases, uh, waivers, motions,
appeals, uh, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status in court, removal of conditions,
naturalization, bawa, uh, domestic violence cases, u visa for crime victims, asylum,
and many other types of immigration options On the business side. Friends, we work with qualified
Individuals to apply for a green card based on their accomplishment, um, their profession or
the fact that they're an investor. Uh, others we help with temporary visas for entrepreneurs,
investors. We do H one B as well and some others. Before you go today,
don't forget to subscribe to my channel as well as our firm's newsletter. Each week we
send out terrific q and as good news stories and our weekly immigration news summary. So
go to McBean law.com/subscribe. Friends, again, the issues that I've discussed in this video,
they're not easy to digest at all. Um, some of you may walk away thinking, wait a minute,
what did she mean by this or that? Speak with a lawyer, guys about your unique situation and
whether you are indeed eligible to file for your child and whether the child can get his or her
green card right here in the United States without having to go back home. Thanks so
much for watching this video. Comment below and I will see you in the next one. Bye.