I-130 approved, possible adjustment of status?

[littlekiwi 0]

Hi,

Here is our long story.

My husband (US Citizen by birth) and I (NZ Citizen) married in Aug 2013 while he was living in NZ. January 2014 we decided that we should return to the US for my husband to do his masters degree. We sent in an I-130 which was received January 30.

My husband started study in late July and so I travelled with him to the US in mid-July on the VWP, first to visit his parents and then to get him settled in/buy furniture for the house etc. My plan was to return to NZ in October (within 90 days) to await an interview via consular processing. At POE, the only question I asked was when I was leaving, to which I gave my return ticket date (I had ticked holiday on my entry form).

Just before coming the US, we found out that I was pregnant. This was not a problem and I was still planning to return to await processing and then come to the US once my conditional green card was approved. However, the I-130 was just approved on July 27 and is in transit to NVC. When i phoned today, NVC said to expect five weeks before it is even received, and we have read that currently there is a back-log and so each stage of processing has been extended to 60 days, possibly meaning it will be up to 7 months before it even gets back to NZ for the consular interview. This would mean I would have to stay in NZ until after the baby was born (since even if it was approved prior I wouldn't be allowed to travel being 8 months pregnant), which would also mean that my husband would probably quit his masters program so that he could be with me to support me.

We were advised today informally by an immigration lawyer that we should apply for adjustment of status since I am already here in the US. I know that technically this is possible but we did not want to do it in case they thought our intent was always this, thus committing visa fraud. We left half our belongings in NZ, I had a part time job I was due to start in October while awaiting visa processing and we still have money in a NZ bank account (although we had sold our house and had bought a new house in Texas just before moving here).

Please give me your wisdom - what are the chances of being deported/being accused of fraud and not being allowed back in teh country? Obviously we would like my husband to complete his masters degree and also would like to be able to visit family here in the future so would not want to do anything that could jeopardize future travel, however if the AOS was highly likely to be approved this would be great as would mean we could have baby here without the stress of being separated etc.

Does anyone know what the local Texas rulings are for AOS? I have heard that it can vary depending where your interview is.

Thank you in advance for any advice and wisdom! (and sorry for the long winded post!)

[blueniv 5]

It sounds like you have absolutely nothing to worry about. File the I-485 with the NOA from your I-130. No one is going to organize a manhunt to deport you back to NZ, and even if you did enter the country with intent to immigrate, since you are married to a USC, that alone would not be enough to deny your petition, according to US law.

[ValerieA 350]

You are fine. I had been planning the same thing, we had a CR-1 in process when I visited my husband and certain issues caused us to decide to switch over to AOS. It was easy and quick (about 3.5 months, if I remember rightly). Intent is not an issue.