Immigration Site

Im a UK citizen currently living in the UK with my partner whos a citizen of the USA.
I already have a L1B visa which allows me to work for my employer in America. The L1B expires in December 2013.
Since getting the visa, weve both been offered permanent places to work in the USA. Weve accepted and plan to move in June.

Now the wrinkle...
My son would like to come too. Hes 19 years of age, but turns 20 in April. As I understand it he can come as a dependant but will have to leave the USA when he turns 21.

Does anyone have any advice on the best way to proceed to secure him permanent residency in the quickest time possible? Were thinking of getting married in the near future so Im hopeful that any application could use that as a factor. If so, Id like to know if theres any difference between marriage here in the UK or in the USA with regard to speed of processing so that we can decide as soon as possible which to persue.

Thanks in advance.
Bigbend.

Your marriage or lack thereof wont make a difference for your sons immigration, assuming that hes your own son and not your future spouses son.

Has your employer offered to file permanent residence for you? If yes, your son could join your green card process as a derivative, and he wouldnt have to leave at 21, provided certain criteria have been met and the relevant papers filed before he turns 21.

Thanks Jack.

Yes the company has offered to sponsor the green card process. Does that make a differerence to my sons status during the application? I was under the impression that applying for a green card on an L1B visa was a fairly lengthy process (several years) and that aging out (turning 21) during the process would mean that my son would have to leave. Are you suggesting that his green card application would continue even though hes no longer a minor? Is this because of the child protection act?

Notice that I wrote "provided certain criteria have been met and the relevant papers filed before he turns 21". The Child Status Protection Act has conditions that must be satisfied in order for him to stay after turning 21 during the process.

So the question here is whether you are able to meet the criteria and file the relevant papers before his 21st birthday. The ability to do those things depends on whether a labor certification is required, whether your US job will be in EB1, EB2, or EB3, and whether you were born outside of the most oversubscribed countries (namely India and China). Note that the country categorization is based on country of birth, not country of citizenship. So even though you mentioned you are a UK citizen, you could have been born anywhere else in the world.

The key is to have your I-140 and I-485 filed before he turns 21. If you do that, he will be able to file his I-485 along with yours, and once his I-485 is filed before 21 hell be OK to stay regardless of how long it takes to complete the green card process.

If you are in EB3 (anywhere), or EB2 China/India, that will almost surely be impossible; you will have to wait years to file I-485, by which time he would have aged out (unless the I-140 was also pending for years and he squeezes in with a CSPA adjustment -- but that is very unlikely so I wont get into those details now).

Im going to take an educated guess that you were born in the UK, and that you and your job qualify for EB2 and will require a labor certification. Being in EB2 (non-India/China) would mean you can file the I-140 and I-485 together as soon as the labor certification is approved. Labor certification processing times typically are 1 or 2 months these days. Before the labor certification is filed, your employer will have to do a few weeks or months of job advertising and related legwork (they can start this before you move to the US -- so please encourage them to do that), so add another 3 or 4 months to the 1 or 2 months for the labor certification itself. So if things go reasonably well, your labor certification is done in about 6 months, which is months before your son turns 21.

But if your labor certification is audited, it is likely to take over a year, and your son will age out before the I-140 and I-485 can be filed.

I was under the impression that applying for a green card on an L1B visa was a fairly lengthy process (several years)... Note that the L1B visa itself doesnt directly have anything to do with the length of the green card process. It just happens that most people who work in the US with an L1A visa also happen to meet the criteria for the fast-tracked EB1, and most people who enter with an L1B visa dont. But its possible to be in the US with L1B, H1B, TN, or O1 and qualify for EB1. And its possible to have an L1A and not qualify for EB1, depending on the specifics of the job. Its not your L1B visa that may cause your process to take long, its your qualifications and the nature of the US job you will have.