Can my aunt sponsor me for US immigration?

Question

I have a friend that lives in Germany, she is 26 yrs old, she wants to know if her aunt (who is a US Citizen) can sponsor her in getting her legal immigration status.

Answer 1

No. She needs to be first-line related to her. Sister, mother, adopted parent etc.

Answer 2

No.  Only immediate blood relatives who are US citizens can sponsor immigrants (parent, sibling, adult child), or a spouse.

Answer 3

No, that wont work :(

You can read it here-site of the US-embassy in Germany .

http://germany.usembassy.gov/family_base...

and here is the link in German :

http://german.germany.usembassy.gov/immi...

and another  one (more specific)

http://german.germany.usembassy.gov/unmi...

Family based immigration only works with husband/wife/ son /daughter/parent/brother and sister .

Answer 4

I am sorry, but the answer is no.

Answer 5

Here is a link to the United States Immigration Support website.  It list the family members that can sponsor a relative for a Green Card and Residency, the application and the cost.

Hope this helps.

Crystal

MLIS Student

Answer 6

No, her aunt is not a close enough relative. The immigration route for a relative is started with the I-130 form.

Here are the form instructions..

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-130ins...

These are the relatives a US citizen can file for straight from that site..

"If you are a U.S.citizen you must file a separate Form I-130 for each eligible relative. You may file a Form I-130 for:

A. Your husband or wife;

B. Your unmarried child under age 21;

C. Your unmarried son or daughter age 21 or older;

D. Your married son or daughter of any age;

E. Your brother(s) or sister(s) (you must be age 21 or older); F. Your mother or father (you must be age 21 or older).

So, her aunt could file for whichever one of her parents is the aunts sibling. But, it's about a ten year wait for siblings to get a green card. Then, after your friends parent got citizenship in another 5 years, she could then apply for her daughter. Immigration for children over 21 years old is about 5 years to get a green card.. So, you're looking at easily over 20 years going about it that route..

Here is the site with different links on the different routes for getting a green card.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/m...

Probably her best bet would be just to enter the diversity lottery each year and hope she wins it. Either that or if she has a special skill, she may be able to find an employer to sponsor her.

Here's more information on the diversity lottery

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/m...

Here are the diversity lottery instructions, they are from last year, but most of it should be about the same..

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/2009DVInstru...

Registration only happens for a short amount of time and usually starts at the beginning of October. Sometime in August they should post more info on that site along with which countries are not eligible. Last year Germany was eligible, but it may not be this year.

Be careful of scam sites! Registration for diversity lottery is free, you only have to pay application fees if it's accepted. There are plenty of scam sites that charge people to apply for them for diversity lottery..

Hopefully that helps somewhat..