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:hi:
Firstly, your representatives can only help you in immigration matters if you have already filed something and, generally speaking, only once that 'something' has been processing for a long time or when the situation is highly unusual. I have dealt with numerous congressional liaisons and one of my closest friends is an immigration liaison for congressman from NC. While in NYC, I dealt with both Sens. Schumer and Clinton (their staff, not the senators themselves) and both were very helpful.
As for the question at hand, you are correct. Unfortunately, you can only sponsor an immediate relative. Spouses, parents and children younger than 21 of US citizens have first priority. Then you have spouses of permanent residents, children older than 21 but unmarried, children older than 21 but married and brothers and sisters. Since these categories are allotted decreasing numbers of visas in relation to their priority, the lower categories usually take 10 or more years. I know this personally, as I was the older daughter of a permanent resident for a long time and, had I not gotten married to a US citizen, I would have had to wait a total of 13 years based on my priority date.
Unfortunately, your avenues when it comes to a family sponsorship are limited by law. It doesn't matter if you have a million dollars to support her. Let me also add that there are two forms for the affidavit of support. A previous poster indicated the I-134, but that is used under limited circumstances usually related to employment-based sponsorship of family members (such as when an employee on a visa applies for a green card, s/he would have to prove via the I-134 that s/he earns enough or has sufficient assets to support his/her family). The affidavit of support that is most often used for family cases is the I-864. It uses a formula for the income. It calculates how many people the sponsor is financially responsible for and then, based on that number, there is a corresponding 'poverty level threshold' income. If you make more, then you are ok. If you make less, you need to have sufficient assets or a co-sponsor.
As for the employment visa route, that is tricky, though not impossible, but it depends on your niece's qualifications, education and your business. It encompasses a variety of visa categories, some of which are numerically limited (such as the H-1B) and others (such as the L, E and O) have very peculiar criteria. If your niece is a well known hairstylist and has worked on prestigious projects, she could try to find an agency to represent her in the U.S. and then the agency could then petition on her behalf for a visa. Again, this is a complex area that would require reams of paper to explain.
I strongly suggest you contact a competent and qualified US immigration expert to see if anything can be done.
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