Q. I am in Jamaica and enjoy reading your column in the Tuesday Gleaner each week.

My friend is a Jamaican and is planning on getting married early next year to her fiancé who is a United States citizen and lives in Florida.

She is planning on getting married in the States, as she is the holder of a 10-year visitor's visa, and staying there while her papers are being filed and processed. She has three children — aged 20, 18 and an eight-year-old from a previous relationship.

What she would like to know is if after getting married and her husband is going to file, would the process take a longer time if she adds all three children? Or, would it make a difference if she only adds the eight-year-old to the filing? The eldest child has a five-year student visa and lives on campus at a University in Florida. The other two live with her in Jamaica and also have visitors' visas.

Please advise the advantages and disadvantages of her husband filing for her and the three children at the same time.

- S.J.

A. Your friend needs to be aware that the purpose of a United States visitor's visa is to travel to the United States and return to your home country.

If a person travels to the United States and attempts to change their status within 30 days of arrival, the presumption on the part of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, (USCIS) is that the visitor (non-immigrant) intended to change their status at the time they entered. That presumption can lead to the denial of any change of status by USCIS, as it is seen as misuse of the visitor's visa. If, however, on a visit to the US your friend decides to get married, after being in the United States for more than 30 days, then she can petition to change her status from a visitor to that of a lawful permanent resident through marriage to a US citizen.

The change of status, through marriage to a US citizen, allows the intending immigrant to remain in the US and obtain work authorisation that allows them to work or attend school while their petition is pending. Once the petition to change status is filed, the non-citizen cannot leave the United States without prior permission from USCIS.

Different challenges

Your friend's children, aged 20, 18 and eight, will face different challenges. The only one who can be petitioned for by the stepfather is the eight-year-old child. That child will be treated as an immediate relative, in the same manner as the wife, and a separate adjustment of status package must be filed for the child. The petition will not take a longer time if the husband files for his wife and stepchild at the same time.

The US immigration laws only allow immigration benefits for stepparent/children if the marriage that creates the stepparent/child relationship takes place before the stepchild is 18 years old. Your friend's 20- and 18-year-old children cannot be petitioned for by their stepfather. If your friend is able to change her status to a lawful permanent resident, she can then petition for her other children.

Work permit

You mention that the eldest child is currently in the US on a student visa. Once that child completes his/her education application should be made for a one-year work permit that would allow him/her to remain in the United States and work full-time in a job in his/her field of study.

Hopefully, the wife will receive her green card before her eldest child reaches 21. If she files while her child is under 21, he or she would remain a 'child', for immigration purposes, and face a shorter waiting period. If however, the child is over the age of 21 at the time of filing, they will be considered a 'son or daughter' for immigration purposes and placed in a different category to await a visa.

The 18-year-old should apply for admission to a US college or university so he or she can be in the states when the mother and younger siblings migrate. If not, the family will be separated during the filing process.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practices law in Florida in the areas of Immigration, Family, Corporate & Personal Injury Law. She is a Mediator, Arbitrator and Special Magistrate in Broward County, Florida. email: info@walkerhuntington.com or editor@gleanerjm.com