Unmarried minor children below the age of 21 years of
the K3 applicant are entitled for a K4 visa. The U.S.
citizen who files an I-129F petition for an alien spouse
does not have to file a separate I-129F petition for
a child of his/her spouse. These children should be
listed on the I-129F petition for the spouse. While
the U.S. citizen must also file an I-130 petition for
the alien spouse, there is no requirement to file a
Form I-130 immigrant visa petition on behalf of the
alien's children seeking K4 nonimmigrant status, since
K4 is a derivative nonimmigrant classification.
However, if the U.S. citizen parent/step-parent never
files the I-130 petition, the immigrating parent may
do so once s/he has obtained legal permanent resident
(LPR) status, but the child would have to wait for an
available visa number. Finally, the immigrant parent,
upon adjusting status will no longer be in K3 status,
therefore, the child will no longer be in lawful K4
status, since this is merely a derivative classification,
and that child would begin to accrue unlawful presence.
Checklist
For K4 Visa (PDF)
Disclaimer
" Any information on this website should
not be construed as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. The information is intended to be
general and should not be relied upon as being specific".
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