Family relationships are important on a social and legal level. Immediate family members provide support in a social and financial sense. They can also extend valuable opportunities to one another. For example, if one member of a family moves to the United States, they may be able to help their loved ones achieve the same goal. Children may travel to the United States as students who want to attend college or graduate school. They might also secure work visas.
Other times, they marry United States citizens or have other family members who can help them legally enter the country. If an immigrant has parents still living in another country, they may hope to help their parents legally enter the United States. What are the requirements for children to sponsor their parents?
Reaching adulthood
Particularly ambitious and intelligent young adults might secure job opportunities or college enrollment while they are still minors. They might also navigate the immigration opportunities using other family relationships while they are still young. Typically, children hoping to sponsor their parents for green card eligibility must be at least 18 years old. Once they reach adulthood, they may have an opportunity to support their parents if they immigrate.
Citizenship
Some types of immigration are available to the family members of people with visas and permanent residents. Immigrants with visas and green cards can help their children or spouses legally enter the United States. Other opportunities are only available to those who have relationships with citizens. Parents seeking to join their adult children in the United States are only eligible if their children become citizens. Naturalized and natural-born citizens can sponsor their foreign national parents for green cards. Permanent residents and those in the country temporarily cannot.
Proof of a parental relationship
In some cases, establishing a parent-child relationship is quite simple. An adult child seeking to bring their mother to the United States generally only needs proof of citizenship, appropriate identification and a birth certificate listing their mother. Those adopted by their parents may require additional documentation to navigate the immigration process successfully. Adult children hoping to reconnect with their fathers may need a birth certificate, marriage certificate or paternity document. In cases involving unmarried fathers, proof of paternity and even child support might be necessary.
With the right documentation and paperwork, adult children in the United States can help their parents access family-based immigration. Learning more about different immigration rules can help families explore their options and reconnect with one another.