(1) In order to qualify as an illegitimate son or daughter under section 203(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1153(a) (1982), one must have once qualified as an illegitimate child under section 101(b)(1)(D) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(1)(D) (Supp. IV 1986).
(2) Section 101(b)(1)(D) of the Act, as amended by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359, is applicable to all visa petitions filed after the effective date of the amendment, even if the son or daughter was over 21 at the time the new law went into effect.
(3) Section 101(b)(1)(D) of the Act, as amended, is applicable to all immediate relative petitions filed and pending at the time the change in the statute went into effect.
(4) In all cases where immigration benefits are sought by virtue the relationship of an illegitimate son or daughter to his or her natural father, it must be shown that a "bona fide parent-child relationship" was established when the son or daughter was unmarried and under 21 years of age.
(5) Congress' expansion of section 101(b)(1)(D) to allow illegitimate children to receive or bestow immigration benefits through their natural fathers, provided a "bona fide parent-child relationship" is shown, was clearly intended as a generous provision, and it should be generously interpreted.
(6) In considering whether a "bona fide parent-child relationship" exists under section 101(b)(1)(D) , the key is a genuine parent-child relationship in fact, not merely a tie by blood.
(7) To establish a "bona fide parent-child relationship," there should be a showing that the parties at some point actually lived together, or that the father held out the child as his own, or that he provided for some or all of the child's needs, or that in general the father's behavior evidenced genuine concern for and interest in the child.