Legal Question in Immigration Law in Texas

My mother's spouse

As a naturalized citizen I was able to get my mother her residency, but not her spouse of 12 years. As he is a British citizen the INS will not even accept an application for change of status at this time. He is a retired (55yrs) Royal Navy air traffic controller and was lent to the US Navy during certain conflicts. I own a small civil engineering company and willing to hire him if need be, although I�m not keen on hiring family. Do we really have any other viable options?

We have read through the INS home page and thought we had numerous options, but were cut off at the pass when submitting the applications due to the INS backlog. Question, can one request a spacial hearing or meeting with the INS for extenuating circumstances, and if so how?


Asked on 5/23/02, 11:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Carolyn Goldfarb Carolyn S. Goldfarb, Esq.

Re: My mother's spouse

Unfortunately, your case does not present extenuating or unusual circumstances and there is no way to request a hearing. It is rather typical. Since immediate relatives cannot immigrate with derivative spouses and a step parent relationship relationship cannot be created for immigration putpose if the child is over 18 at the time of the marriage, you are out of luck.

It used to be not so long ago (about 15 years)that a new resident who immigrated as an immediate relative could petiion for thier spouse and the process could have been done in less than a year because there were no quota backlogs.

Now the quota back log for this category is almost 6 years. So absent an Act of Congress, the only solution would be for you to offer your step father a real professional job as an engineer, if you are able, and for you to petition for him as an H-1B.

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Answered on 5/23/02, 1:51 pm


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