Visa To Permanent Residence?

[KhoOnxNouxWanxJai]

To make a long story short my uncle has a friend who is on a travel visa and want to become a permanent residence or u.s citizen whichever is easiest to obtain or acquire. He has about 6-8 months left on his travel visa before it expires. He is willing to renew it if he has to but he wants to work, get a driver license and etc which a travel visa doesn't allow you to do. If the process takes longer than a year or whatever then he is willing to renew it and apply for permanent residence or us citizenship

Does anyone know if the process is difficult or not? Is it possible (I highly think it is) but just want a double opinion.


Only serious responses please. I'll report you if you joke about this. Seriously I would.

Thank You,
Tina

 

[Linn]

If he is still single, he can renew his visa first, then marry a u.s citizen. That is the only way I know for someone to obtain residency and years later, citizenship.

 

[darvil]

Applying for permanent residence or us citizenship takes a LONG time.

I believe the requirement is that you have to be living here 5 years and that is legally (permanent residence) first before you can apply for citizenship. If he doesn't even have the permanent residence then he has to get some other stuff like a work visa or something. Or just stay there illegally.

 

[dfemc]

there is a 5 year requirement to becoming a permanent U.S. residence DEPENDING on how he's filing, that is in the case of filing on his own behalf without a proper sponsor. the criteria, in which he files for residency will determine how long he has to be in the country and what his preference level for being admitted is. so the time that it takes to obtain permanent residency and eligibility requirement are different for each method of filing. the fastest way (taking less than a year) is to have an immediate family member (ie. brother, sister, father, mother) or a spouse as a U.S. citizen, who can file to sponsor him or petition on his behalf, and that will make him a permanent residence the quickest (by criteria). OR by JOB Offer.

Note: "Immediate relatives have special immigration priority and do not have to wait in line for a visa number to become available for them to immigrate because there are an unlimited number of visas for their particular categories."

this is where all the legal forms and framework for applying can be found: http://www.uscis.gov/
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Family Based

Some relatives of U.S. citizens, known as immediate relatives, do not have to wait for a visa to become available. There is no limit to the number of visas that can be utilized in this category in a particular year. Immediate relatives include:

* Parents of a U.S. citizen
* Spouses of a U.S. citizen
* Unmarried children under the age of 21 of a U.S. citizen

Note: U.S. citizens must be at least 21 years old to apply for their parents

The qualified relatives of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident in the remaining family-based categories may have to wait for a visa to become available before they can apply for permanent residency. These categories include:

* First Preference: Unmarried, adult (21 years of age or older) sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
* Second Preference A: Spouses of permanent residents and the unmarried children (under the age of 21)) of permanent residents
* Second Preference B: Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years or age or older) of permanent residents
* Third Preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, their spouses and their minor children
* Fourth Preference: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens, their spouses and their minor children

For more information on green card eligibility through a family member, see the “Green Card Through Family” link to the left.

and the exact link to information on the different ways and how long it will take to obtain permanent residence is on this specific link:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ae853ad15c673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=ae853ad15c673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD
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i've worked on filing for permanent U.S. residency for my grandfather (though he's been here for over 10 years before and have abandoned his residency by being out of the country for over 10 years), and it took 3-4 months to process w/ constant follow-ups, while he was here under a travel visa. we sorta bent the rule a bit to speed up the process by bringing him in under a travel visa, then doing a concurrent filing that adjusted his residency status within the period of the travel visa, which is something your dad's friend can also do, since he's already here on travel visa. the moment you file/petition for your residency, you can extend your travel visa to stay as long as your permanent residency is being processed. in my gramps' case, it was some major paper filing and i made sure EVERYTHING was in there the way they wanted and made the paperwork as easy to go through as possible for them, just like preparing a clear and concise research report. so i'm sure if your dad's friend meets all the criteria for permanent residency, and files his paperwork properly, it should take a minimum of 3-4 months to process.

best of luck

 

[darvil]

The problem with the family is that it literally takes years before the sponsor is approved. I know sponsoring someone from Burma takes 10 YEARS. But its probably faster in some other regions depending on a few factors I suppose.

To be honest.. THE FASTEST way is probably to get married to an American. Its basically a shortcut. Or joining the military perhaps (not sure about this one).

 

[dfemc]

The problem with the family is that it literally takes years before the sponsor is approved. I know sponsoring someone from Burma takes 10 YEARS. But its probably faster in some other regions depending on a few factors I suppose.

To be honest.. THE FASTEST way is probably to get married to an American. Its basically a shortcut. Or joining the military perhaps (not sure about this one).

well, from my experience, sponsoring an "immediate" family was the quickest route. u may be right about regions affecting processing time. but i'm sure paperwork filing may have a lot to do with it too. there's so many ridiculous paperwork involved especially for proving family ties that most of the time does not exist in countries where formal documentation isn't prevalent. and that's where the creative part comes into play. what i mean by creative is to stay within legal realms, of course. it helps to know the best alternative to providing documentation that doesn't exist, and that of course involves proper explanation as well as notarized letters from the country of origin, which can take a lot of time, unless you're really smart about it. so yeah, it is a simple process made complex, unfortunately. i'm not a big fan of our immigration laws or system either, but it's something that must be followed. so it's probably best to find a knowledgeable immigration lawyer or consultant from non-profits who are far more familiar with the system to assist you if possible.

if ur in california, i could probably recommend a few non-profits depending on the person's situation. if anything, maybe the non-profits in Cali can refer you to help within ur specific region of the U.S. let me know if ur interested.

however, if this is in the case of filing for an "immediate" family member, i'd be more than happy to share my SPECIFIC experience with you on what i did that allowed for quicker processing. i even implemented my own set of forms to make the beauracrat's lives easier but of course, i'm not a professional of any sort, so i can't speak to every case, as they all have varying factors like Tim says.