Visa & More: Frequently Asked Questions

Below, you will find a selection of visa questions we have been asked by our customers over the last few days. Please note that none of the answers below is an actual substitute for individual consulting and can only touch on the real issues. We would like to point out that we do not take responsibility for the correctness of this information.

If you need fats and individual information, our service team is there for you on the phones from Tuesday to Friday between 10am and 5pm. Find the phone number on our homepage and get our experts' advice on everything visa as quickly and as conveniently as possible. Please note that our phone number has changed due to legal requirements!

And as usual, for all questions concerning the green card lottery just call our service team.

YOUR QUESTION: Our family will be traveling to the US and Canada with two children. The children are listed in our passports. Do they need their own Child IDs?

OUR ANSWER: Your children will definitely need their own passports (not child IDs!). They have to be either machine-readable, or - what is more likely at present - biometric passports (as far as we know, machine-readable passports are no longer being issued). It is not enough anymore to just be listed in the mother's passport. If this isn't possible, your children will need a visitor visa instead.

YOUR QUESTION: I just passed my Abitur (German university entrance qualification) and now have the opportunity of working for a friend in the US for 6 months. For what visa do I qualify under these circumstances? Will it be difficult to obtain such a visa until September 1, 2006?

OUR ANSWER: We don't see a way for you to obtain a work visa just now. The petition would have to be submitted in the US by your friend. However, he would have to prepared right now to prove that no American is available for the position. In addition, a formal certification by USCIS is required and later a visa application to the US consulate. That's not possible on such short notice. One alternative would be the J-1 Trainee Visa, but for that you would have to have a completed professional education/training. The US are in general not a very suitable country for "jobbing abroad."

YOUR QUESTION: I am currently in San Diego and attending language school. I am holding the student visa F1. In February I would like to do an internship at the Orlando EPCOT Center, it is organized by our employment agency for 12 months. The F1 visa is valid until May 2007. What happens if I have to apply for another visa?

OUR ANSWER: It might be possible to expand the F1 visa to include an internship. That is called Curriculum Practical Training (CPT). For that, the course curriculum has to include an internship and the "Designated School Official" (DSO) has to support the internship for the USCIS application. You will need form I-538 (Application by Nonimmigration Student). USCIS has to formally approve the application. Please make sure to submit the application at least 45 days before your status (not the F1 visa) expires, otherwise it cannot be approved.

YOUR QUESTION: I am married to a US citizen and have been waiting for my immigrant visa since May 2006. I already received the date of my interview with the US consulate, which, unfortunately is not before September 29, 2006. My husband is already in the US and I would like to visit him for three weeks at the beginning of September. How are my chances?

OUR ANSWER: We cannot recommend traveling to the US. You have to be prepared to be turned away at the US border. Since your name is in the system and you will have to state that your immigrant petition has been approved and you will soon have your interview appointment, this is very likely.

YOUR QUESTION: Our son has been a US citizen for 6 years now. He wanted to apply for a green card for us, but his wife didn't want that. Now we are retired and would like to stay in the US, what can we do?

OUR ANSWER: Unfortunately, there is no other good option for you to get a green card - family-based immigration is the best way (no waiting times). If you are not already participating in the green card lottery, we would recommend to register there. In the meantime, you could apply for the B-2 visa, that would at least allow you a maximum stay of 180 days. (You can apply for that at your local US consulate.)

YOUR QUESTION: My daughter (4 years) was born in the US while I was studying there and is a US citizen. Is it possible to get a green card for me, the father, and for the mother? In the consulate I was told that my daughter would have to be 21 for that. This means she will not have the chance of growing up in the country where she was born. Is there a loophole?

OUR ANSWER: Unfortunately, we don't really see an alternative. Your daughter's citizenship cannot be automatically transferred to you to secure you a residence permit for the US. This is a measure of preventing "pregnancy tourism." You could consider applying for a temporary work visa or even a green card via a US employer and a specific job offer.