Stepchild of US Citizen Petition Approval for Haitian National

We recently received an approval of an immediate relative petition for the stepchild of a US citizen who is a national of Haiti. Congratulations to our client!

Stepchildren are treated the same as biological children under the U.S. immigration laws for purposes of petitioning a relative for lawful permanent residence. To create a legal stepparent/stepchild relationship, the biological parent and the stepparent must be married prior to the child turning 18 years of age. Even if the biological parent is a lawful permanent resident, it often is beneficial for the U.S. citizen stepparent to petition for the child rather than the lawful permanent resident biological parent. Children of U.S. citizens have petitions that process more quickly, are not subject to visa backlogs, and have their age frozen at the time of filing the petition so they can benefit from the petition even if they eventually age out (turn 21) before obtaining lawful permanent residence.

I have over a decade of experience with family based immigration. If you’d like to set up a consultation, don’t hesitate to contact me at amir@rasoulpourlaw.com.