Family based green card - Petitioner passed away

[Newyork121]

Hi,
My mom filed green card petition for my Brother (and his family) in Oct 2004. We received a letter from national visa center to submit the documents and pay 120 dollars for his green card petition file in end of June. We have been in process of collecting all the required documents and haven't submitted anything yet.

Mean while two days ago on November 16th, my mom passed away (very unfortunate thing in our family). She was the only one who filed for my brother’s family. My dad and I, both are US citizen but we haven’t filed for him.

We met our immigration lawyer yesterday and he told us that they can only try for humanitarian basis but chances are very rare to get any success. However when I called the local USCIS office as a general inquiry I was asked to send a letter to make my father as substitute petitioner. I am confused. My father is in India at this point and he can come back to US anytime if needed. He is retired at this point so can't submit the financial documents to support my brother's family. I can be his financial sponsor; and submit the affidavit of support.

Do you guys have any suggestion in this case? If you guys have any suggestion about good lawyers please let me know and I will reach out to them. I really want my brother and his family to come here to US.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[rayb]

Your attorney was exaggerating the potential difficulty of using a substitute sponsor after death of the petitioner. This is done routinely for other family-based petitioners on a regular basis. But your substitute sponsor must be domiciled in the U.S. with Green Card or citizenship status and must be a relative of the deceased

--Ray B

Hi,
My mom filed green card petition for my Brother (and his family) in Oct 2004. We received a letter from national visa center to submit the documents and pay 120 dollars for his green card petition file in end of June. We have been in process of collecting all the required documents and haven't submitted anything yet.

Mean while two days ago on November 16th, my mom passed away (very unfortunate thing in our family). She was the only one who filed for my brother’s family. My dad and I, both are US citizen but we haven’t filed for him.

We met our immigration lawyer yesterday and he told us that they can only try for humanitarian basis but chances are very rare to get any success. However when I called the local USCIS office as a general inquiry I was asked to send a letter to make my father as substitute petitioner. I am confused. My father is in India at this point and he can come back to US anytime if needed. He is retired at this point so can't submit the financial documents to support my brother's family. I can be his financial sponsor; and submit the affidavit of support.

Do you guys have any suggestion in this case? If you guys have any suggestion about good lawyers please let me know and I will reach out to them. I really want my brother and his family to come here to US.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Newyork121]

Thank you for reply. I forgot to mention that my brother lives in India and my mom also passed away in India. She went to India in 2010 and couldn't travel back to US because of her health. My father was also with her during this time.

Your attorney was exaggerating the potential difficulty of using a substitute sponsor after death of the petitioner. This is done routinely for other family-based petitioners on a regular basis. But your substitute sponsor must be domiciled in the U.S. with Green Card or citizenship status and must be a relative of the deceased

--Ray B