Immigration Site

I have a question for you:

If a US permanent resident that is married to an F-1 Visa holder have a child, would this help the mother (F-1 visa) somehow in becoming a permanent resident?

The US permanent resident has no intentions of becoming a US citizen. They also know that applying through marriage may take many many years and the wife would have to leave the country and wait in her own country because he is not a US citizen.

They really want to have a child (born in the US) and they are wondering if this will somehow help the mother get residency? They will not do it if the mother is at risk of being deported once her F-1 status ends.

Thanks!

A child cannot help the mother (F1 visa) until that child turns 21 years of age. Having a child as a spouse of a green card holder wont offer you even a shred of energy towards your green card petition.

I wonder why the US Permanent resident has no intention of becoming a US citizen.....hhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??? If the LPR has no intention of becoming a US citizen, then the F1 spouse should maintain a valid immigration status till the visa number becomes available, which will be in many years. The F1 spouse can return to her home country and await a visa, but she shouldnt accumulate any unlawful stay in the US.

You can have your child here in the US, but theres no benefit to you whatsoever. Lack of valid immigration status is ground for deportation and banning from entering the US in future, and having a child to try to use as an anchor to remain in the US is stupid and will have terrible consequences. You cannot force immigration to issue a green card to you because you happen to have a child, do you know how many people have had children in the US without legal papers? No such green card can be issued....

The US permanent resident has no intentions of becoming a US citizen. They also know that applying through marriage may take many many years and the wife would have to leave the country and wait in her own country because he is not a US citizen. "Many many years"? Currently the backlog for spouses of US citizens is 3 years. Historically it usually is 4 or 5 years. How many years until the wife graduates? Can she extend it by a year or two by doing a double major? Are they aware that she is eligible for a year of OPT after completing her degree? And that she might be able to get an H1B to work after that?

Unless her F-1 is not for a college degree (e.g. something shorter like an English as a Second Language course), or shes graduating this year or has already graduated, she should be able to spend most or all of the 3-4 year waiting period inside the US.

Having a child will not help her, other than making the interview smoother by removing the interviewers doubts about whether its a sham marriage. But if shes not eligible because of her legal immigration status expired, she either wont get the interview in the first place, or shell be denied because of that ineligibility.

They will not do it if the mother is at risk of being deported once her F-1 status ends. Yes, she will be at risk of deportation once the 60-day grace period after completion of studies has ended, and if the husband doesnt become a US citizen she wont be eligible to stay in the US for a green card once she goes out of status.

Dont buy into the "anchor baby" myth that having a child in the US immediately helps otherwise ineligible parents to immigrate.

Having said that, its not a complete myth, as there are the remote scenarios (although becoming more common these days, and there have been a few examples on this forum) where a US-born child turns 21 and sponsors their illegal alien parent(s) for a green card. However, even for those cases, the parent(s) must have entered the US legally, so those who sneaked across the border dont benefit.