Opinion ID: 173076
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The application process for lawful permanent residence

Text: Under the applicable immigration laws, an alien with children who is engaged to a United States citizen and who seeks to enter the United States with them and become a lawful permanent resident must proceed through a detailed procedure involving six steps. See generally Choin v. Mukasey, 537 F.3d 1116, 1118-19 (9th Cir. 2008) (describing the process of applying for an adjustment of status). First, on behalf of the alien and his or her minor children, the affianced citizen must file a petition for a visa with the Secretary of Homeland Security. See 8 U.S.C. § 1184(d)(1). In order to obtain the visa, the citizen must establish that he or she and his or her fiancé(e) had previously met in person within 2 years before the date of filing the petition, have a bona fide intention to marry, and are legally able and actually willing to conclude a valid marriage in the United States within a period of ninety days after the alien's arrival[.] Id.; see also Form for I1-29 Petition, available at http://www.uscis.gov/files/ Form I-129. Second, upon the USCIS's approval of the citizen's petition, the citizen's fiancé(e) and his or her minor children must apply for K visas with the United States consular office in their country of origin. See 8 U.S.C. § 1184(d); 22 C.F.R. § 41.81 (State Department regulation addressing the issuance of K visas by consular officers). In this context, a child is defined as an unmarried person under twenty-one. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(1). The fiancé(e) and the child must file various documents establishing their eligibility for the visas and submit to a medical examination. See Verovkin v. Still, No. C 07-3987, 2007 WL 4557782, at  (N.D.Cal. Dec. 21, 2007) (discussing the application process). The consular office must determine that the K-2 applicant is a child ( i.e., under twenty-one years of age). See id. ; 22 C.F.R. § 41.81(c). Third, once the K visas are issued (requiring action in both the United States and the country of origin), the fiancé(e) and his or her minor children may enter the United States. Fourth, the citizen and his or her fiancé(e) must marry within ninety days of the fiancé(e)'s entry. 8 U.S.C. § 1184(d). If the marriage does not occur within that period, the fiancé(e) and his or her children must depart from the United States, and they are subject to removal if they do not comply. Id. Prior to 1986, the status of the non-citizen spouse and minor children was automatically adjusted to that of lawful permanent resident as soon as a valid marriage occurred. However, in 1986, Congress passed the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments (IMFA), Pub.L. 99-639, 100 Stat. 3537 (Nov. 10, 1986), which sought to deter fraud by aliens seeking to acquire lawful permanent residence in the United States based on marriage to United States citizens or lawful permanent resident aliens. Under these amendments, the now-married alien spouse and his or her children must complete a fifth step: they must file an application for an adjustment of status to that of . . . alien[s] lawfully admitted to the United States on a conditional basis. 8 U.S.C. § 1255. The relevant statute provides in part: (a) The status of an alien who was . . . admitted . . . into the United States . . . may be adjusted by the Attorney General, in his discretion and under such regulations as he may prescribe, to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence if (1) the alien makes an application for such adjustment, (2) the alien is eligible to receive an immigrant visa and is admissible to the United States for permanent residence, and (3) an immigrant visa is immediately available to him at the time his application is filed. . . . . (d) . . . The Attorney General may not adjust, under subsection (a) of this section, the status of a nonimmigrant alien described in section 1101(a)(15)(K) of this title except to that of an alien lawfully admitted to the United States on a conditional basis under section 1186a of this title as a result of the marriage of the nonimmigrant (or, in the case of a minor child, the parent) to the citizen who filed the petition to accord that alien's nonimmigrant status under section 1101(a)(15)(K) of this title. Id. The 1986 amendments also provide that the initial adjustment of status granted to K-1 and K-2 visa holders is conditional. See 8 U.S.C. § 1186a(a)(1) (stating that an alien spouse . . . and an alien son or daughter . . . shall be considered, at the time of obtaining the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, to have obtained such status on a conditional basis). [D]uring the 90-day period before the second anniversary of the alien's obtaining the status of lawful admission for permanent residence, the couple and the children of the non-citizen may proceed to a sixth step in the adjustment process: filing a petition to have the conditional status removed. See id. § 1186a(d)(1). In the joint petition, the couple must affirm that they are still married and that they did not enter into marriage for immigration purposes. Id. They must also provide information about their places of residence and their employment histories over the previous two years. Id.