# Green Card holder bringing in child



## philipjfilleul (Mar 29, 2009)

I need some advice.... I am a UK citizen and US green card holder married to a US citizen (2nd marriage) and I'm living in the US. My daughter from my 1st marriage is in the UK but wants to study in the US (she is 15), and wants to come over in September 2013 for High School.

I want to figure out the best way to do this. I see 3 options:

A. Get her a Student Visa ... not sure of the timings
B. get my wife (US citizen) to sponsor an I-130 petition as her stepchild
C. Petition an I-130 myself as a permanent resident. 

Given its a year til she comes over I'd like some advice on what path is best. My gut feel says B.

Many thanks!


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

philipjfilleul said:


> I need some advice.... I am a UK citizen and US green card holder married to a US citizen (2nd marriage) and I'm living in the US. My daughter from my 1st marriage is in the UK but wants to study in the US (she is 15), and wants to come over in September 2013 for High School.
> 
> I want to figure out the best way to do this. I see 3 options:
> 
> ...


Are you looking for your child to remain in the US after her studies? I ask because the student visa is a non-immigrant visa, runs usually for the length of the course and then the student has to return home (usually). The other two are immigrant based visas.

Sponsorship by your US citizen wife will take about 6 to 9 months to process.

Sponsorship by you (permanent resident) puts the petition into the F2A category and it looks like they are only now processing from 2010. So a 2+ year wait at least before the visa is issued.

http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_5759.html


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Go by your gut feeling:>) Remember the father has to agree. 

Green Card will make her an in-state student depending on the university/college she will go to. This will be considerably lower tuition then international. Plus she will be used to the American way of life.


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## philipjfilleul (Mar 29, 2009)

Many thanks!

She will come for high school, then move to college in the US with a view to staying permanently. So the I130 green card via my US citizen wife looks the best route. 
As a matter of interest how long does it take ususally for a student visa, with a view to then changing her status with an I130 after she is here?


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

philipjfilleul said:


> Many thanks!
> 
> She will come for high school, then move to college in the US with a view to staying permanently. So the I130 green card via my US citizen wife looks the best route.
> As a matter of interest how long does it take ususally for a student visa, with a view to then changing her status with an I130 after she is here?


The law does not allow an alien student (F-1) to attend public elementary school. A student may attend public secondary school, but not for more than 12 months and the student must reimburse the school board for the full cost of the education. Hence U.S. public high schools are prohibited from issuing a SEVIS Form I-20 to alien students. However, you may attend a private high school if this school is an approved academic institution and can issue a SEVIS I-20 to you


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