How can my child who will be studying abroad receive his green card?

Your son (if unmarried under age 21) should be included in your I-526 petition and then consular process with you. When he receives his conditional green card, he should obtain a reentry permit if he plans to stay outside the United States for a period of one year. A reentry permit is valid for two years and may be renewed.

If he could come home for school break every few months, it would best. If that is not possible, I would suggest that he obtains the re-entry permit after getting the green card to go study. The re-entry permit will have to be renewed every two years.

Your son may study abroad and receive his green card as a derivative dependent child on your EB-5 visa. Your first concern is to apply early enough so that your son does not reach the age of 21 years before your application is approved and a visa is available to you. Currently it is taking 13.8 months for the USCIS to process the I-526 Form, the application for an EB-5 immigrant visa. In a previous answer to an F-1 Student, I have discussed processing times and availability of visas and refer you to that answer on the EB5Investors.com website for more detail.Assuming your EB-5 application is approved and a visa is available to you, your son would likely process through the U.S. Embassy in your national country, enter the U.S. as a conditional permanent resident, and then apply for permission to return to his U.S. domicile following some time abroad. The document is "advance parole." After applying, your son must wait in the United States until his or her fingers are printed and then may be in Europe for two years. After two years, he must return to the United States to renew the advance parole. In our firm, we prepare the application for advance parole and file it as soon as the student arrives at the airport in the United States. That way, a minimum length of time is required before the student returns to his or her studies. Generally the process is timed to match breaks in the study year. Depending upon school breaks, some student clients return for seasonal breaks and are not out of the United States for six months or more at any time. In that manner, the student does not need advance parole. With or without advance parole, your child will be able to come and go as a U.S. permanent resident and visit you as his medical schedule permits. He is not required to be physically in the United States full time, but the United States must be maintained as his domicile to which he intends to return from abroad. Attending an interview to remove the condition from your son''s status is the only other time he must be in the United States. Assuming application approval and availability of a visa, your son, like you, would have been granted U.S. conditional permanent resident status on entering the United States. Prior to the second anniversary of having entered the United States, you and he must apply to remove the condition. Some months after applying, the USCIS will schedule an interview to meet to determine that you are eligible to have the condition removed. Your son will also have an interview scheduled. It is possible to reschedule an interview if the appointment cannot be met. But, simply failing to attend an interview would cause the conditional status to expire by law resulting in no U.S. status. We express to you and your child a welcome to the United States, assuming your investment goes as planned.

Based on your question, if he does move forward with obtaining conditional permanent residency, your son may be found to have abandoned it if he is spending so much time out of the United States. He should still be able to obtain visitor visas in the meantime and try to use one of the many other permanent residency processes in the future.

Your son can be included in your EB-5 petition. Upon his admission into the United States as a lawful permanent resident, he would need to request a reentry permit with the explanation that he plans to be temporarily away from the United States studying. He will need to demonstrate that his domicile, or place of abode or residence, is in the United States. With the right strategy in place, he can seek to keep his green card. Otherwise, the alternative would be for him to one day seek his own residence petition or temporary visa into the United States.

I believe he will need to be present in the United States to receive his card. You may have to schedule an interview or conference with a USCIS official to present your special problem.

Since your son is younger than 21 years old, he can apply his green card together with you. After he obtains his green card, his green card will still be valid when he studies in Europe, provided that he does not have the intent to abandon his U.S. permanent residency.

If you are in the United States, I would suggest consular processing for all of you. Your son will need to then come to the United States, obtain his green card, and then apply for a reentry permit before leaving for overseas. This must be renewed every two years and he must be in the United States to do the renewal. Be sure he maintains evidence of his intent to reside here, pays taxes on worldwide income in the United States, etc. If he wants to ultimately practice in the United States, he should check out ECFMG for his residency.

He will be eligible if he applies with you before he turns 21. He can maintain permanent residency as long as he files taxes, has ties to the United States, and visits every 364 days, but ideally every 179 days.

If he enters the United States with you he gets a green card.

Your question can be really broken down into two parts: (1) Can your 18-year-old son receive a green card based upon your EB-5 investment? (2) How is he able to maintain the green card during the two years of conditional residency and beyond, if he spends most of time outside the United States? The answer to the first question is YES. As he is under 21 years old at the time of filing I-526, he is protected under the Child Status Protection Act; therefore he will receive both the conditional green card and the permanent green card in the same manner as you - the principal investor parent. The second question needs a solution. Your son can certainly visit the States during vacation time from time to time. But it would be much more secure if he applies for a re-entry permit, which is designed for people in his situation who - as a green card holder has to spend substantial time outside the United States, having no intent to give up the green card. It is valid for two years, which can be renewed for another two years. After he obtains the conditional green card, your son can apply for the re-entry permit. Lastly congratulations to your son; he is so young, yet already determined to become a doctor. Very admirable.