Hi, everyone. I'm making this video to discuss with you options for helping your parents to
receive their green cards. Before we dive into that topic, I'd like to introduce myself and
our firm. My name is Attorney Megan Pastrana from Corado-Pastrana, the immigration firm for couples.
We are dedicated exclusively to assisting couples in navigating the immigration process.
We know how important it is for you to have up-to-date information and relevant
information regarding your immigration journey. So we regularly update our
YouTube channel with informative videos with updates and also general information
as it relates to the world of immigration and couples. If you haven't already subscribed to
our channel please do so now and give this video a thumbs up so YouTube will share it with others who
can benefit from this information. We also have a Facebook group called Immigration for Couples
which we've listed the link below. If you're a United States citizen, you might
be thinking of the possibility of petitioning your parents. We have so many clients that we've
helped. We've helped hundreds and hundreds of couples navigate the immigration process
from beginning of their journey all the way through naturalization. One of the first
things that a lot of our couples want to do once they receive their citizenship is they want to
know options for bringing their parents. Because sometimes your parents might want to come and
also live in the United States with you as green card holders or your parents might already be in
the United States and you're looking for options for them to be able to remain here permanently.
I'd like to do an overview of how to petition for parents
and who's eligible. First off, eligibility. Who's eligible to petition for your parents?
You have to be over 21 years old and you have to be a United States citizen
to be able to petition for your parents. You can't be a green card holder. You have to be
a United States citizen. That's one of the benefits if you haven't already applied for
naturalization or you're thinking of filing for naturalization for your citizenship
That's one of the benefits of becoming a citizen: the ability to petition for your parents.
Another requirement is that you are either the biological child or the stepchild of your parent
For biological children, we would just have to show your birth certificate listing your
your mother and your father as your biological parents
in order for you to petition for them. However it's really important to know you can also
apply you can petition for your step parents to be green card holders as well. In order to
qualify as a stepchild that can petition for their parent, your step parent had to have married your
your biological parent before your 18th birthday. Before you turned 18, that individual has to be
your stepmother or stepfather. If your parents would have had to have gotten married before
your 18th birthday. And then, you would be able to petition if you're a United States citizen.
You'd also be able to petition for your step parent. Those are the main eligibility requirements.
There's two main options available for being able to petition for your parents to
receive their green cards. There's an option called consular processing and that's for
individuals who are outside of the United States. It's consular processing because
one of the steps in the process is that your biological or step parent would
have to actually go to a US embassy or consulate abroad for an interview before they could enter
the United States as a green card holder. If your parent is living outside of the country,
that would be the option that would be available to them. Some individuals have parents who are
already living in the United States. For those individuals, they might be eligible for
adjustment of status, which means that they can actually apply for the process here
while they are in the United States to receive their green card. There's a lot of eligibility
questions that we as attorneys have to ask if that is the situation because there's lots of
issues that can arise in that context if the person is already here. One of the requirements
for that adjustment of status would be that the
parent had entered the United States with inspection, which means that they've entered the
United States with some kind of visa that they've come through a port of entry and been inspected.
For other parents, if they've ever entered the United States without documents and been in
the US without documents, they might not have an option available to them for their children to
petition for them here in the US. I don't want to get too far into the weeds on that but I do want
to let you all know of an option for individuals in that situation who happen to have children
in the US military. Those children can potentially
petition for their parents. There's some special exceptions there and we'll make a whole separate
video on that topic. But just know that there are two paths available to be able to bring your
parents. One is if they're outside of the United States called consular processing. And then for
some individuals who are here in the United States, they might actually be able to complete a process
here called adjustment of status. But the main takeaway is that
If you're over 21 years of age
and you're wanting to bring your parents. If you're a United States citizen and you're wanting to
petition for your parents to receive their green card, we would love to help you.
This is something that comes up for many of our couples once they get to the phase of their case
where they naturalize and become citizens. It's a huge benefit to be able to bring your family
members as well. We'd love to help you with your case if you're interested in bringing your
parents or petitioning for your parents. We have a link below for you to schedule an appointment
with one of our attorneys. We'd be happy to walk you through whether or not your parents are
eligible and what path would be the best for you and for them. We'd love to
help your parents get their green card. We hope to talk to you soon. Have a great day.