Who is a Child for Immigration Purposes

Law Publications and Articles

Who is a Child for Immigration Purposes

How One Can Bring Their Children to the US to Live With Them

Generally speaking, a “child” for Immigration purposes is an unmarried child under 21 years old. When the Immigration law refers to a “son” or “daughter”, the law means a son or daughter who is married and/or over 21 years old. It is important to know this difference in order to correctly determine eligibility for Immigration benefits.

Children of the US Citizens

When a parent is a US citizen, he or she can petition for their children to come to the US. If a child is unmarried and under 21 years old, the child is considered to be an immediate relative of the US citizen for whom an Immigrant visa number is immediately available. It means that as soon as US citizen’s petition for his or her child gets approved, the child can apply for an immigrant visa, and will receive permanent resident status shortly.

When a son or daughter of a US citizen is over 21years old and/or is married even if under 21, such a son or daughter will have to wait for the immigrant visa number to become available. The wait time varies, and usually takes years. The information on wait time is provided by the U.S. Department of State on a monthly basis, and can be found here: U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin.

Children of Permanent Residents

A permanent resident likewise may petition for his or her children. However, the children must be under 21 years old, or if they are older, must be unmarried. The wait time for immigrant visas for these categories of applicants is also very long.

You can read the whole article here:

Who is a Child for Immigration Purposes