No matter what your background or story is, moving to America can easily become a life-changing experience for you. After all, living in this nation can bring you some amazing opportunities, including chances for traveling, work, meeting new people, and more importantly, a proper education.
However, will you be capable of bringing your family with you? The short answer – it’ll rely on a wide range of factors. The long answer – the article below might shed some light on the entire topic. Let’s take a closer look at the list of the 4 methods you could use for moving your family to the States with you:
1. Bringing Your Spouse
Before anything else, you should understand how the United States government defines your spouse. What does this mean? Well, to qualify as someone’s spouse, you must be lawfully married. In order to move your wife or husband to the U.S., there are some steps that you must take.
For starters, you’ll have to fill in the “Form I-130, Petition For Alien Relative”. Keep in mind, where you’ll send the form will rely on where in the U.S. you currently reside, which is why you must verify the regulations and site of the Citizenship and Immigration Services in America. If it’s approved, it’ll be passed on to the NVC, who will contact you and assign an agent to you.
For filling the application, you’ll have to pay several fees, including one for the processing and several others along the way. You’ll also have to submit all the necessary papers including the request for the visa, an affidavit, copies of the real marriage certificate, your partner’s birth certificate, their passport, as well as any other document required by the state you live in.
Besides the aforementioned terms, there are some others as well. Your partner will need to be medically examined with a licensed physician, and then you’ll have to send the statement to the NVC as well. Once all the papers are sent, the NVC will review them and register an interview with your husband or wife with the U.S. consulate in your motherland.
Lastly, you’ll partner will have to go to the meeting, bring all the requested papers, and once it’s done, you’ll have to wait to learn whether or not their visa was denied or approved. If it’s approved, your spouse will get a passport with the permit, as well as all the application documents. He or she shouldn’t open the envelope with the papers, instead, they must be given to the immigration officers on arrival.
2. Bringing Your Children
The American government will define your children or child as either your biological daughter or son born out or in a marriage union, your step-child as long as the relationship was formed through getting married to their mother or father before the child turned 18, or as your adopted child as long as you have adopted him or her before they turned 16.
If your child or children fits all of the aforementioned requirements and if they’re unmarried and younger than 21, you should follow the exact same steps that you would for bringing your husband or wife to the US. However, there is another thing that you could try, especially since it’s easier.
You could try and obtain a green card sponsorship created specifically for parents. By doing so, you’ll be able to have a chance to reside in America with your closes kin including your kids, parents, and other relatives. For more information on the sponsorship, you could obtain as a parent, you should visit this page.
3. Bringing Your Parents
One of the first things that you should know is that you won’t be capable of filling a form to bring your parents to reside permanently with you in America. If you still wish to do so, you’ll need to wait until you become an official resident, which indicates that you’ll need to be permanently living in the nation for at least 5 years before you could even apply for the request.
However, if you already match all the specifications, you’ll need to send the request, finish the naturalization process, and then you’ll finally be capable of filling for an entrance visa for your parents. Again, you could apply for the sponsorship, but you’ll still be expected to be a permanent citizen.
4. Bringing Your Pets
Most people that have pets consider them to be family members, which is why it’s worth mentioning them as well. The rules about bringing your pets will mostly depend on the state you’re living in, however, generally speaking, if you wish to bring your pet with you, you’ll have to obtain a health certificate signed by a licensed veterinarian at least 10 days before their travel.
This will certify that your pet is completely healthy, not a danger to others, and it’ll prove that they can fly on the airplane. Now, the process for bringing dogs is a bit more complex, mostly because it has to be at least 1 month old and they must be given the vaccine for rabies.
Cats, on the other hand, won’t be required to get the rabies vaccine. For additional information on all the laws and regulations, you should check the CDC’s website or you could call your local government and inquire about the entire process of bringing your pet into the US.
Conclusion
Although a lot of people know that the entire process of bringing your family members to the United States is daunting and complex, it’s still possible for you to do so. However, you must ensure that you are well informed and that you know exactly what steps you’ll need to take.
Remember – there are various companies such as I-Immigrate.org that feature a wide range of information on obtaining a green card sponsorship and the general rules on emigrating to the United States. Hence, don’t forget to go through such websites, especially since it’ll help you with being informed about the things you’ll have to do.
So, now that you’re aware of the four ways that you can bring your family members to America, you might not want to lose any more of your time. Instead, if you suit the requirements mentioned above, you should start collecting all the necessary documents and then go through the application process that will allow your family to live with you in the US.