How the spouse and children can stay to finish the school year

« Changing your address with Immigration after you move | Home | Promotion at your visa sponsor could get you in immigration trouble »

How the spouse and children can stay to finish the school year

By Jim Nolan | March 2, 2010

Every spring we get questions from executives who are returning home about how their children can stay in the U.S. and finish their high school or grammar school year and how their mother can stay with them after he returns to the head office. The problem is that the executive’s wife and children have been in the U.S. under his visa and once he leaves they need their own visas to stay in the U.S., even for only a few months.

The other common way to handle it is for the mother to apply for a tourist visa (B2) for the few months she needs to stay with her children while they finish school. In the past Immigration has usually granted this request.

To apply for this visa she should send Immigration the following items before her husband leaves the U.S.:

Form I-539 (you include all family, except students in the same form)
Filing fee – in March 2010 it is $300
A letter from the mother explaining why she wants to temporarily stay in the U.S. She should explain she needs to take care of her family while they finish out their school year.
A bank statement to showing that the family can live financially while they remain in the US
A copy of her current I-94. This is the little card-board card stapled in their passports.
A copy of her passport page with her picture on it.

Also, the children who remain as students need a student visa and aren’t suppose to continue going to school without one. Many people ignore this point and there is usually no problem, but if Immigration finds out the children continue to go to school after their father doesn’t have a job in the U.S. it would consider them to be in illegal status. To get a student visa the students would need to get an I-20 from their high school, which is often very difficult because they aren’t used to giving them, and send in a request to change their status to F-1 using the same I539 form and have it approved before their dad leaves. Children in grammar schools can’t get student visas.

The instructions to the I-539 explain where you should send the forms so please read them before sending them in or register for our monthly free consultation and we’re happy to help. Most people don’t use a lawyer to do this, but it might be a good idea to have a lawyer review everything before you send it in.

Share and Enjoy: