The short answer to this question is yes, under certain conditions, as long as your child is under 21 at the time he applies for immigration, and as long as he is unmarried both at the time he applies for immigration and at the time he enters the United States.
U.S. immigration will recognize your child as a child of the petitioning spouse as well, as long as:
- you and the petitioning spouse are the biological parents of the child and you were married to each other at the time your child was born (biological child eligibility); or
- you are the biological mother of the child, you were unmarried at the time the child was born, the petitioning spouse is the biological father, and the petitioning spouse either had a bona fide relationship with the child or took steps to legitimize the child before he turned 18 (biological child eligibility); or
- you married the petitioning spouse before your child turned 18, even if the petitioning spouse is not the biological parent of the child (stepchild eligibility), or
- the petitioning spouse has legally adopted your child (adoption eligibility).
The immigration of your child is not automatically authorized, however. If the petitioning spouse is a U.S. citizen, the child will need to file a separate immigration application; if the petitioning spouse is a lawful permanent resident, on the other hand, the child will have to be included on your application. As with any immigration application, your child must not be otherwise inadmissible to the U.S. (due to a criminal record, for example) and his financial support must be guaranteed through proof of financial resources in order to prove that he will not become a public charge. If all of these conditions are met, your children should be able to immigrate at the same time as you do.
A word of warning — if your child marries before he actually enters the U.S. on an immigration visa; or if he is living in the U.S. while his application is pending and he marries before he obtains an adjustment of status to permanent residence, much more paperwork will be required and he may have to wait years before he can immigrate to the U.S. This is because once he marries, he will be considered “emancipated” and he will be treated the same as if he had turned 21 before he applied for immigration.
Same-Sex Couples
Although same-sex unions cannot produce biological children, the child of a same-sex couple is entitled to immigrate to the U.S. as an adopted child or a step-child, under the same terms available to the children of opposite-sex couples. The only major condition on this eligibility is that same-sex marriages must have been legal at the time and place where the marriage took place. This would include anywhere in the United States after June 26, 2015, but would not include countries such as Turkey where same-sex marriage is illegal.
It is important to remember that none of these conditions apply to a child who was born in the United States – as long as you can prove this, your child is a U.S. citizen by birth and will not even require a visa to enter the United States.
