Green card for children along with my spouse green card ?

[AwesomeMrT]

I am processing a spouse visa CR1 for my wife. I am a Citizen. It is now at the stage of with the consulate (South Africa) and we are awaiting the interview date. I have noticed that her two (17 & 19) unmarried children, even though always mentioned in all applications, are not mentioned at all for interviews etc.
1) How do we include them to get derivative visas under the CR1 at this stage in the process without halting or changing any timelines.
2) Can they work at places like McDonalds if they were granted a visa under CR1 as derivatives
3) How to they get a green card?
4) Do I need to fill I-130s for them? And if yes, how can I do this and add it to the existing case file to be processed together as a family?
5) On the DS-260: I answered No for the two children "is the child immigrating to the US with you" : Can I change this?

[newacct]

Your wife is in the Immediate Relative category which cannot have derivative beneficiaries. Each of the children would need to be petitioned separately. You can only petition the stepchildren if you married their mother before they turned 18. So the one who is 17 is fine and you can file an I-130 for him/her, but for the one who is 19, did you marry before or after he/she turned 18? If you married after he/she turned 18, then you cannot petition that child; your wife can petition that child as soon as she enters the US, but the processing of that will take a few more years. (In that case, it would have been better for you guys to have gone the K1 fiance visa route, as the unmarried under-21 child of a K1 can get K2, but since you guys are already married, that ship has sailed.)

[AwesomeMrT]

Thank you for your reply.
- both children were under 18 when we got married.
1) So if I fill in an I-130 for each child immediately, will they make it in time for them to be given the same Green Card along with their mum (my wife) in approx 3 months?
2) What will be their [approximate] processing time? (another year?!)
3) Is there no way for them to accompany us when we go to USA in 3 months?
4) Do we risk an "age out" scenario?


The problem is that I am getting conflicting information from official and other law sites

[AwesomeMrT]

Thank you for your reply.
- both children were under 18 when we got married.
1) So if I fill in an I-130 for each child immediately, will they make it in time for them to be given the same Green Card along with their mum (my wife) in approx 3 months?
2) What will be their [approximate] processing time? (another year?!)
3) Is there no way for them to accompany us when we go to USA in 3 months?
4) Do we risk an "age out" scenario?


The problem is that I am getting conflicting information from official and other law sites

[newacct]

I think it is highly unlikely they will get through the whole process (for I-130 to be approved, and then go to NVC and the consulate for the immigrant visa processing) in 3 months. Maybe you can ask if they can expedite it or something given the situation. Your wife might have to delay her immigration in order to wait to immigrate at the same time as the children. (On the bright side, if your wife waits until she has been married for more than 2 years before entering the US, she will become a non-conditional permanent resident, and save the hassle and cost of having to remove conditions later.)

They will not age out. Under CSPA, their age is frozen at the time the I-130 is filed.