Even your little one needs a visa to travel to the United States. There are no exceptions to be made for this rule, not even for the babies. Your child can attain a non-immigrant or immigrant status in the U.S. by obtaining a visa successfully. There is one possible exception though. Your child who is under 14 might not have to attend their visa interview. You as a parent or legal guardian could do that instead.
If your child is planning to visit the U.S. as a tourist, they’ll need to have a place to stay and enough funds to cover their journey. They could have an invitation letter from their U.S. point of contact where it could state that their accommodation and travel expenses are going to be covered by the invitation sender. Nevertheless, traveling alone to the U.S. comes with written consent from a parent or legal guardian. In case they’re going to transit the U.S., for which they’ll need the C1 Transit visa, they can only travel accompanied by their parent or legal guardian. These are some of the peculiarities that you should consider before embarking on the journey of getting your child a U.S. visa.
If you’re an F1 Student visa holder, your child qualifies for the F2 Student visa as your dependant. The same goes for the M2 Student visa and the J2 Exchange visitor visa. In either case, your child will need to submit proof of their parent or legal guardian holding any of the aforementioned visas. The rest of the process is similar to applying for a visitor visa.
If you’re a U.S. citizen who wants your child to come to the U.S. to join you permanently, consider the IR2 Child visa for your child. As a parent, you should have had lived with your child for at least two years before the petition for the visa is filed. As a legal guardian, you’ve supposed to have legal custody of your child for at least two past years. During the process, you will act as the petitioner while your child will be the beneficiary. The process is much longer than the non-immigrant visa process because you need to provide supporting documents that show you’re going to provide for your child in the United States.
Not everyone has to attend their Embassy visa interview. However, this stage of the visa application process is as equally important as every other form or supporting documentation that shows your child’s visa eligibility. The U.S. has waived their in-person visa interview for visa applicants under 14 years of age, babies included. Thus, there is a strong possibility that your child’s in-person visa interview will be waived.
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