U.S. CITIZEN STEPPARENT CAN PETITION ADULTERINE OFFSPRINGS

An adulterine is one born of adultery. Some refer to them as adulterine bastards. In the Philippines, we simply refer to them as illegitimate children. How does immigration treat them? I believe the law should not treat them differently. They should not be punished for the sins of their parents.
Family petition is the most common way of gaining legal permanent resident status in the United States. Immediate relative petition is the fastest way of gaining this status. Immediate relatives include minor unmarried children of U.S. citizens. Under immigration law, minority ends at age 21. Children under this category include stepchildren, whether or not born out of wedlock. However, the child must be under 18 years old when the marriage between the stepparent and natural parent occurred. Formerly, the stepparent must show “active parental interest.” This is not required now. The stepparent relationship can outlast the marriage that created it. For example, when the natural parent has died after marriage to the stepparent, the stepparent can still petition for the stepchild. If the stepparent and the natural parent divorced, the stepparent can still petition for the stepchild. However, it must be shown that the stepparent and stepchild relationship continued despite the divorce.
An interesting case came to me last week. The child to be petitioned was born five years after the marriage between the natural father and stepmother as the result of an illicit relationship between the natural father and a woman to who he was never married. The natural mother abandoned the child. Can the stepmother file an I-130 petition on behalf of the child? Does he qualify as a stepchild? Common dictionaries define a stepchild as “a child of one’s spouse by a previous union.” In the instant case, she was not a child by a previous marriage but a product of an adulterous relationship. She is an adulterine.
Immigration law defines child to include “a stepchild, whether or not born out of wedlock, provided the child had not reached the age of eighteen years at the time the marriage creating the status of stepchild occurred.” Several cases have evolved and helped clarify the definition of “stepchild.” In one case, the child was born out of wedlock. Five years later, her natural mother got married to a U.S. citizen. The court held that the child was a stepchild under immigration law and eligible for non-quota status. In another case, the petitioner was a stepchild, who had been born out of wedlock, and the beneficiary was the stepmother. When the stepchild reached the age of 21, she filed a petition for the stepmother who remained married to the natural parent. The court held that the husband’s illegitimate daughter was classifiable as a stepchild under immigration law despite the fact that there was no preexisting family unit including the stepparent, stepchild, and the natural father.
The case on point is one decided in 1974, which involves an adulterine. Formerly, the court refused to accord adulterine the status of stepchild. The court held that adulterine children are the issue of adulterous intercourse and are regarded unfavorably than the illegitimate offspring of a single person. The court declined to consider the adulterine child as a stepchild because the marriage that should have created the stepparent relationship did not occur after the birth of the child. The court concluded that there was no stepparent relationship. In 1974 the court changed its position. The rule now as it stands now is – adulterine children should be treated like other illegitimate children. They both fall under the category of stepchildren.