US citizen has a 9 years old daughter with girlfriend who has 16 years old child

[gaej]

Hello.
I'm a US citizen living abroad with my girlfriend and we have a 9 years old daughther together, she has a 16 years child that I had been raising since she was 2 years old, we are planning to move to US.
My question is what is the right procedure to do? get married then adopt her daughter? married and then what? I really need help on this, I have no idea what to do.
Thank you.

[newacct]

Hello.
I'm a US citizen living abroad with my girlfriend and we have a 9 years old daughther together, she has a 16 years child that I had been raising since she was 2 years old, we are planning to move to US.
My question is what is the right procedure to do? get married then adopt her daughter? married and then what? I really need help on this, I have no idea what to do.
Thank you.

There is no need to adopt your girlfriend's daughter. As long as you marry your girlfriend before her daughter turns 18, you can petition her daughter as your child. (And an adoption must be done before a child turns 16 for it to count for immigration purposes anyway.)

So either you marry your girlfriend first, and then you file two immigrant petitions, one for your wife and one for your stepdaughter. They will get CR1 and CR2 immigrant visas, respectively.

Or, you can petition your girlfriend for a fiance visa, and your girlfriend will get a K1 visa and her daughter (who is unmarried and under 21) will get a K2 visa, and once you marry your fiance in the US, both her and her daughter can do Adjustment of Status in the US.

The only