Immigration Corner | Do I have to return to Jamaica for my Green Card?

Mrs Walker-Huntington:

I’ve been in the United States for several years. I’m now 34 years old and from Jamaica. My mom is married to a US citizen for two years and is awaiting an interview date (she also lives here). Can she file for me as soon as she becomes a permanent resident? If yes, do I have to go back to Jamaica to complete the process? And, how long would it take?

Thanks
C.F

Dear CF:

As a permanent resident of the United States, your mother would be able to file a petition for her unmarried sons and daughters to obtain US residency. They would go through consular processing to have an interview in their home country before being able to migrate to the US. A permanent resident cannot file for a married son/daughter.

Although you are already in the US, you too would have to consular process and have an interview at the US Embassy in Jamaica. As you are out of status, once you leave the US, you would trigger a mandatory bar to returning to the US – three years if out of status for six months to a year; and 10 years if you are out of status for 10 years. Note that this mandatory bar applies to those who are out of status and leave the US.

The mandatory bar can be waived ahead of leaving the US for your immigrant visa consular interview if you apply for a provisional waiver. This waiver is applied for between applying for approval of the Petition for Alen Relative from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the visa processing with the National Visa Center. The provisional waiver among other things must demonstrate that the qualifying permanent resident or US citizen relative would experience hardship without the intending immigrant in the United States. Once approved, the immigrant would complete the consular process and appear at the US Embassy for an immigrant visa interview. If the immigrant is otherwise admissible to the US, they would be approved for their immigrant visa and be able to return to the US.

However, please bear in mind that there currently is an immigrant visa pause for persons from 75 countries including Jamaica. If you are scheduled for an immigrant visa interview now amidst the pause, you would likely be forced to remain in Jamaica until the pause is lifted. Likewise, if you leave the US without the provisional waiver, you would be forced to remain in Jamaica while a hardship waiver of the mandatory bar is processed, and this takes several years.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal & international law in Florida.  She is a mediator and former special magistrate & hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com