Traveling alone to a foreign country to study can be extremely scary to some people. Having loved ones with them can ease this pressure and allow for an easier transition from one country to another. In this article, the ins and outs of spouses and children joining you in the US – bringing your family to the USA on a US Student Visa – are discussed.
How can someone bring their spouse and children along on their student visa?
In most cases, bringing spouses and children to the United Sates is possible for those who hold a student visa. Generally, the spouses and children can get dependent visas, after an application is completed. Many regulations go into this generalization, as the US government has clear definitions of what defines a spouse and a child.
Bringing a child to the United States
The requirements for bringing a child on a dependent visa are clear cut. In the application, the birth certificate of the child needs to be submitted, showing that the parents name on the birth certificate matches the name of the parent’s official passport. While this is simple for parents who gave birth and live with their children, it may get slightly complicated for parents who did not give birth to their children. In these scenarios, consulting legal assistance is extremely beneficial, as a professional will know all the specifications and will be able to guide that parent on what steps to take.
Spouses and dependent visas
While bringing children on a US student visa is a moderately easy process, spouses serve as a great challenge for a lot of people. In modern society, marriage is becoming less common, same-sex couples are more common, and different rules in different countries create a gray area. To begin, for a couple to be seen as married in the student visa’s applications eyes, an official marriage certificate needs to be present. This certificate needs to exist because in order for the spouse to be granted entry to the United States on a dependent visa, the US embassy of the country where the marriage was officiated needs to authenticate the certificate.
Same-sex couples
The gray area emerges where same-sex couples and marriage is concerned. If a country does not grant wedding certificates to same-sex couples (such as Israel), that couple now has no marriage certificate to get authenticated by the US embassy. However, if the couple lives in a country where same-sex marriage is officiated, that couple will be able to bring their marriage license to the US embassy, and the spouse will be able to travel to the United States with their dependent visa.
Scenarios where dependent visas will not be granted
While in most cases dependent visas are granted to spouses and children of those holding a US student visa, there are some cases where this is not possible. For instance, if a born US citizen is living in another country, such as Israel, and wishes to be a student in the US, their family may have problems if they are not US citizens as well. The family of this person would be unable to acquire dependent visas, as the student is student is already a US citizen and cannot hold a visa themselves. The visas that this family would need are independent visas, a separate process. Another option for this family would be to apply for a green card, or the children applying for citizenship themselves.
Overview
All in all, it is quite possible for the spouses and children of people obtaining a US student visa to gain dependent visas to go with them. After learning about the various rules and regulations, a family can be equipped to face the application processes, and for cases that are not black and white, legal assistance can be a great help to ensuring happiness and success to the family.
The article was written in collaboration with Samara Becker.
