Ms. L had just received her green card and had been retired for years. She wanted to get a green card for her daughter, C, who was studying in the U.S.

• No U.S. income for the sponsor: Ms. L retired in 2018 and had no U.S. tax records, so her income fell short of USCIS's financial support requirement.
• Age-out risk: C was already 19 at filing. Turning 21 would move her into a category with a much longer wait.
• Several cases in one family: her son had already petitioned for the parents, and now the mother was petitioning for her daughter soon after arriving, so the information across the cases had to be consistent.

• We brought in a joint sponsor whose recent tax returns and wages met the support threshold.
• We filed the I-130 online first to lock in the priority date as early as possible and guard against aging out, then filed the green card, work permit and advance parole applications by mail.
• We checked the family's status and household information against the parents' immigration case we had handled for them earlier, so all the cases matched. The mother filed the I-130 for her daughter just over a month after arriving.

Date	Milestone
March 4, 2026	I-130 family petition filed
June 5, 2026	Green card, work permit and advance parole applications filed
October 19, 2026	Work permit approved

The work permit came through just over four months after filing.

Being retired with no income does not mean you cannot sponsor your child. With the right joint sponsor to make up the income, your child can get a work permit and work legally while waiting for the green card.

Work permit approved October 19, 2026, just over four months after filing.