When DNA Testing is Critical to Your Immigration Case
Most people simply file their petition for a relative who resides in a country outside of the United States and its holdings. They complete the necessary forms required by Immigration / Homeland Security and they pay the required fees. Immigration / Homeland Security acknowledges their petition by sending them a receipt which contains the “case number” which must be referred to every time one has to correspond with the consulate or Homeland Security, every time you contact them whether in writing or by the telephone. It is most important to always have this case number as it is in your best interest. Immigration / Homeland Security deals with millions of cases each year and that is the only way they will know who you are and to which case you refer every time you contact them. Homeland Security / Immigration then asks you to provide several pieces of documentation which establishes that the petitioner (the person making the request or asking permission to bring another person into the country) has the right to make this request.
The petitioner is then asked to prove one of several things 1) they are a legal resident of the United States [a green card holder]; 2) they are a citizen of the United States, either by birth or by naturalization; or 3) their petition meets with the refugee guidelines or some other guidelines whereby the sponsor themselves were granted refugee or some other permanent status and has the documents they were given then to prove it. Quite often if those documents do not satisfy the consulate, then the consulate may ask for several additional items, including but not limited to DNA Testing. The sort of DNA testing requested will depend upon the case itself and can range from a Maternity DNA Test; a Paternity DNA Test; or some other relationship testing which they will specify in their correspondence with the beneficiary.
The requesting Consulate / Homeland Security will make their request in writing, setting forth additional guidelines one of which is that only an AABB-Certified laboratory in the United States should perform the testing. They will further stipulate that, the resulting DNA Report must be sent back to the requesting entity directly from the AABB Certified Lab. The results of the DNA testing is used to establish a biological relationship with the sponsor who is the person who is asking them to grant residency to the person who wants to come into the country [also referred to as the beneficiary]. Our lab knows how critical this request is and testing is done immediately upon receipt of the samples. A report is then sent directly back to the requesting agency and the participants will be sent a file copy of what was sent to the Consulate or Homeland Security. The file copy sent to petitioner and beneficiary is simply for their personal use, and must never be presented to immigration. This copy, however, may be used in any other court proceedings as it is a legal document and will be recognized as such by a court of law.
