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Your child is 21 – Congratulations! You made it, but if they want to stay in the U.S. they need their own visa!
By Jim Nolan | February 13, 2010
Many foreign businessman and diplomats raise their children in the U.S. and to their children America is their home. They go to school and all their friends are here. But, unlike their U.S. citizen friends, the foreign child’s 21st birthday is an important point with large immigration consequences.
Before turning 21 most child have visas allowing them to stay, travel in and out of the U.S., and go to school in the U.S. tied to their parent’s visa. However, on their 21st birthday they can’t use their parent’s visa anymore and need their own visa to stay in the U.S., travel outside the country, go to school, and work. Many times this change is not easy or quick and requires planning and advance action.
If the child doesn’t do anything before his 21st birthday, he (I will use he to mean he or she) has to leave the U.S. within 10 days and not return to live with his family or go to school. He may be able to get a tourist visa to stay a few more months to pack, but that is all.
To avoid this sudden change there are two common options.
First, if the child is in college, he applies for a student (F-1) visa. If he gets his student visa before his 21st birthday then he can continue his studies without interruption. However, there are a couple of things to be careful in using this option.
- Apply early enough. To get approved for a student visa can take up to 3 to 4 months after mailing in the papers to Immigration. If the student does not get the approval by his 21st birthday, he can stay in the U.S. waiting the decision, but will have to stop attending school. An alternative, which I’ll write about below, is he return to his home country, (Japan, Germany, etc.) to apply for an F-1 visa stamp at the U.S. Embassy there. If he gets a new F-1 visa stamp he can return and immediately continue his studies.
- Travel outside the U.S. is tricky. There are two tricky points. First, while the student’s is waiting for Immigration to approve his request for a student visa he can’t leave the U.S. and return except to go to get his new F-1 visa stamp. This is true even if he has a few more months on his family’s visa. Second, after the student’s visa is approved, he cannot travel outside the U.S. and return without first getting a student visa stamp from the U.S. Embassy in his home country. This is not always easy.
Second, the child’s parent applies a “green card” before the child’s 21st birthday. This is a very tricky legal area and the parent’s should talk to an experienced immigration attorney at least a few years in advance. The key point is that the parent must file the appropriate request for a “green card” for themselves and include their children as minors before their children’s 21st birthday. Even if the child gets the GC after turning 21 it will be OK.
However, if the parent files for the GC after the child turns 21 the child will not be included in his parent’s GC case and may have to wait between 7 – 10 years to get a GC.
Topics: Business work visas, Company Green Card, Family, Practical Immigration Tips | No Comments »
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