[MYITS]

I am 15 years old and would like to know if my lawyer took a correct route to help me get a green card.My father is a permanent resident of the United States,so he is helping (sponsoring) me to optain a green card.My lawyer had told me it would take take 6-9 until I would have a result,but I would have to be get out the United States for 3 or 4 weeks because I had entered illegally.I'm afraid this may take a long time and I understand in some cases it may since I wasn't promised anything.By the way I entered in the United States few months after I turned 5 in 2005.

[tickle]

No, don't think this is true. If your father is sponsoring you, then you should be able to stay. You would not be able to get a green card until the age of majority, depending on what state your father lives in. So he said it take 6 to 9, what years to have a result or 6 to 9 months to get a result.

Where have you been living since this all started. If it is the US, then it is okay, but I think you have been taken for a ride because you are starting to qualify for this at only 15.

More background would be necessary for one of our immigration people to even start to give you an answer. Of course you know this is not an immigration site, and in no way replaces the US immigration to give you a proper answer.

[newacct]

It sounds correct. You are not eligible for Adjustment of Status (the process of getting a green card in the U.S.) because one of the conditions of Adjustment of Status is to have entered the U.S. legally. The other process of getting a green card is called Consular Processing, which is getting an immigrant visa through a U.S. consulate abroad. Therefore, you must be outside the U.S. at least for the part of the process where you get the actual immigrant visa in person at the U.S. consulate.

You are in the F2A category (spouse or under-21 child of a permanent resident), which has a wait (visa numbers are not available immediately; they are currently available for petitions filed 2+ years ago). This means after your father files the petition, you need to wait maybe 2+ years (this length of time fluctuates) to go to the next step (Consular Processing). You don't need to actually leave the U.S. until the Consular Processing part to go to the U.S. consulate. Leaving for a few weeks sounds reasonable.

I don't know what the "6-9" in your question means. But if that's the number of years to wait, then he is mistaken, and he might have misread the wait for the F2B category (over-21 child of permanent resident), which is currently 7 years.

[MYITS]

Sorry it's 6-9 months.My father and i was given 3 options.First for my father to become a US Citizen.Sadly we couldn't take that option due to the lack of money.Second option was a work authorization because it could give me benefits of a social,drivers license etc because it won't be long until I turn 16. Finally the third option was the one we took which was a permanent resident. When I had a consultation with him on December of 2013 he explained everything to me. I had to be outside of the Untied States when the Consular Processing is going on and,it was a good route to take since we couldn't take the first one.He explained to me their wasn't anything to be afraid of since I would be out 3 to 4 weeks which is what all his clients usually have to stay out. I don't know if we would have filed a asylum but it may take up more time and cost more so we just didn't. I called a couple weeks ago and got some info. I found out that my application was sent out on February 3 of 2014 which means this month of July is barely the 6th month in the process so I'm going to give it time and be patient. I was told this process usually takes 6-9 months or a year. That makes since to me since I have faith I will have a result on the 10th month,but I'm no expert that is just what I believe. I also believe it is how well and how much a lawyer is paid to tell time on a immigration case unless there is more to it. I believe in my case there is no more to mine case other having entered the US illegally but I'm a student and entered at a young age I don't know if that helps my case but I'm just giving out information on my case.

[newacct]

Those are not really 3 "options". The "second option" is DACA, which doesn't give you any legal status or path to legal status, and so is not a solution at all. It just makes you temporarily not deportable.

The "first option" and "third option" are the same -- your father sponsoring you for a green card (i.e. for you to become a permanent resident). This is the only real solution. I am guessing for the two "options" they were trying to describe your father becoming a citizen and then petitioning you vs. him petitioning you as a permanent resident directly. There is not really that much difference between the two; maybe they were not described clearly to you. In both cases, you are not eligible for Adjustment of Status, so you would have to do Consular Processing which involves leaving the country for a little bit.

If you were applying as the child of a citizen, you would be in the Immediate Relative category, which has no wait for visa numbers; whereas if you were applying as the child of a permanent resident, you would be in the F2A category, which currently has a 2+ year wait for visa numbers. However, in the case of child of citizen, instead of waiting for visa numbers, you would still have to wait for the petition to be approved, which takes a few months; this in addition to the fact that in order for your father to become a citizen (if he wanted to), he would have to go through the naturalization process, which itself takes some time. So in all it would be shorter but not be that far off from the 2+ year wait for F2A category. Also, the two "options" are not mutually exclusive because your father can petition for you as a permanent resident, and then if he becomes a citizen, your petition can be "upgraded" to IR category, so there is no harm in petitioning you now regardless.

Also, I am not sure what you were told about this "6-9 months", but you are not going to be done with this in 6-9 months; it might be more like 2-3 years* in the F2A category. I am guessing they were basing this on the visa bulletin at the time your father filed the petition earlier this year. In the first few months of this year, the visa bulletin showed September 2013 for F2A, giving the false impression that the wait for visa numbers was just several months. But that was a fluke cause by the fact that in Aug and Sep 2013, the F2A category was current. After Sep 2013, the visa bulletin hasn't moved at all, being stuck at Sep 2013, and in June 2014, it retrogressed to May 2012, where it remains now, so it is more than 2 years back. It is possible that more weird shifts will happen to the date in the future, but it's hard to predict.

(* Note: it's longer if you were born in Mexico.)

You can check the visa bulletin every month here.

[newacct]

Also, it's weird that your father is not naturalizing because of lack of money. It's a once in a lifetime thing, and it's not that much money. Money comes and goes, but citizenship is forever and brings many benefits for him and for your immigration down the line. Plus if he is really poor he can apply for a fee waiver.