Advice & questions regarding schedule of AOS filing

[Timeshifter 1]

Hi everyone, I'm new here, and I'm thankful to find such an information-rich and helpful community of people who have shared their own experiences. I'm hoping you can draw upon what you know about your own experiences and those of people you know to advise on this situation:

I am a US citizen, and she is here from Taiwan on an F-1 student visa with an I-20 that will expire at the end of 6/2012. Our plan has been to get married within the next few weeks and file for adjustment of status (AOS) immediately thereafter here in Boston, MA. Due to poor planning, she currently has a plane ticket purchased to depart the US on 4/21/12 (to take care of some family-related things at home). She will be done with her study program in 4/2012, so there may be issues returning thereafter on the F-1 visa. I'm concerned with how this would affect the timeline of the AOS process, since it seems like it takes many people about 3 months, and the process is not entirely flexible from the USCIS side. Other options would include a K-3 visa or, if either of these first two processes seem like they will not go well, an undesirable--but still possible option--would be waiting to get a K-1 visa and getting married thereafter. My concerns, in no particular order, include:

1. Do you share my concern about all of this getting done prior to her leaving on 4/21/12?

2. What happens if she leaves the country while the AOS process is still taking place? Will this be a large red flag or grounds for rejection?

3. I imagine there must have been circumstances though, where there was a family emergency and somebody needed to leave the country while the AOS process was taking place--any stories about what happened in these cases?

4. If approval proceeds smoothly, and the interview is done, but green card is not issued prior to her leaving, would this be ok? That is, would there be any issues with me mailing her the green card to use to get back in to the US?

5. Conversely, what would happen if the AOS process is proceeding normally, and an interview date is offered after she is already out of the country? Is there any flexibility to choose an alternate date? (Besides, not sure how she would get back in to the country....)

6. Will there be any issues with the AOS process if they know that she plans to go back to Taiwan for a month or two? She has some personal affairs she needs to take care of, wants to get some personal stuff done (such as cheaper dental work than in the US), and also needs to get some extra belongings to plan to move in together long-term with me.

Finally, the plane ticket can be changed if necessary after a $300+ fee, but ideally this will not be need to be done. Thank you for any help that you can offer!

Edited January 26, 2012 by Timeshifter

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

1. Apply for Advance Parole then she can leave, it is about 2.5 months to get (assuming you don't have any RFE) so she can come back.

2. No, but she needs Advance Parole to come back.

3. You can write a cover letter to explain your situation, no biggie. You can even expedite the process of AP which an emergency reason.

4. You can definitely do that, but I doubt you can have an interview before 3 months. So again, Advance Parole fit her time-frame.

5. Assuming she got her AP document, yes you can change the interview date.

6. No, she will state it on the AP application I-131 that her trip will be 2 months or so.

Good luck.

[Timeshifter 1]

1. Apply for Advance Parole then she can leave, it is about 2.5 months to get (assuming you don't have any RFE) so she can come back.

2. No, but she needs Advance Parole to come back.

3. You can write a cover letter to explain your situation, no biggie. You can even expedite the process of AP which an emergency reason.

4. You can definitely do that, but I doubt you can have an interview before 3 months. So again, Advance Parole fit her time-frame.

5. Assuming she got her AP document, yes you can change the interview date.

6. No, she will state it on the AP application I-131 that her trip will be 2 months or so.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your reply. I didn't know about the I-131 advance parole until your post, and it seems like that would solve many of my concerns.

Nevertheless, after speaking to several USCIS staff today and looking at the uncertainty of whether advance parole would be granted before she left, we're also considering going on one of these two alternate routes:

1. K-1 route; if we start the application process soon, it may be ready sometime in the summer, which is when she would plan to come back anyway. I understand that all the other work like adjustment of status will still be needed, so this lengthens the entire process, but it provides some extra reassurance that 1) her leaving the US in 4/2012 will not affect the ability for her to come back (as it may if she left before and 2) she will have no issues coming back once the K-1 is granted.

2. CR-1 route; assuming the application could be filed while she is still here, this would seemingly streamline the process of her getting permanent resident status compared to the K-1 route, and offer additional reassurance that she would be allowed to reenter the US.

Any thoughts?

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

K-1 or CR-1 is a proper way for fiance/ spouse of USC, if the spouse is oversea. There is chance she will not pass the interview there. By the way, K-1/ CR-1 she will not be able to re-entry to the US until she has the visa on hand. She is in the US right now, so AOS here is way more convenient. But pay some attention to the time frame, because if she gets marriage to close to her graduation, it might cause red flags at the interview. IMHO, to get married then file concurrently I-130 + I-485 + I-765 + I-131 when she is still in the US is the choice.

[Timeshifter 1]

K-1 or CR-1 is a proper way for fiance/ spouse of USC, if the spouse is oversea. There is chance she will not pass the interview there. By the way, K-1/ CR-1 she will not be able to re-entry to the US until she has the visa on hand. She is in the US right now, so AOS here is way more convenient. But pay some attention to the time frame, because if she gets marriage to close to her graduation, it might cause red flags at the interview. IMHO, to get married then file concurrently I-130 + I-485 + I-765 + I-131 when she is still in the US is the choice.

Thank you again, Nancy. Our concern is still with the timing of being able to even obtain the advance parole in time. Additionally, she would be abroad for about 3 months, so it would be risky that it would be difficult for her to return in time for the AOS interview. With this information that I forgot to share about it being part of our plan that she will return around or sometime after 8/2012, does this change your assessment of whether the CR-1 is a good choice?

In speaking to USCIS staff today, it was confirmed that the K-1 application process could start even if she were still here in the US. I'm still trying to find out about the CR-1.

[Little_My 463]

Both K-1 and CR-1 can be started while the foreign spouse/fiance is in the US. The difference is that with AOS, she can stay here throughout the whole thing until she gets her greencard. With the other two options, she has to leave when her current authorized stay ends, and wait out the rest of the process abroad.

Out of those two options, personally I always think CR-1 is better. It is much cheaper than K-1, and because it does not involve the AOS part, once she gets the CR-1 visa and enters the US with the visa, she immediately becomes a permanent resident. With K-1, she is issued the K-1 fiance visa, enters, then must marry you within 90 days, and then still has to go through the AOS process to actually become a permanent resident and be allowed to work, for example.

I honestly think easiest would be to push back her plans to go to Taiwan and just get this out of the way. Depending on how fast you can get married and get all the necessary paperwork together, she could have the AP that allows her to travel by end of April/early May. She shouldn't plan any long trips abroad though until she has the GC, because the interview appointment cannot be moved or re-scheduled for anything short of a life-and-death emergency situation, so she would have to come back for that. Usually the whole AOS process takes between 4-6 months - 3 months sounds very fast to me, I've rarely seen anyone go through the whole process in that short of a time period.

If you manage to file by mid-February, if everything goes smoothly she could have the greencard by July, and be free to work, study and travel as she pleases.

[Timeshifter 1]

Both K-1 and CR-1 can be started while the foreign spouse/fiance is in the US. The difference is that with AOS, she can stay here throughout the whole thing until she gets her greencard. With the other two options, she has to leave when her current authorized stay ends, and wait out the rest of the process abroad.

Out of those two options, personally I always think CR-1 is better. It is much cheaper than K-1, and because it does not involve the AOS part, once she gets the CR-1 visa and enters the US with the visa, she immediately becomes a permanent resident. With K-1, she is issued the K-1 fiance visa, enters, then must marry you within 90 days, and then still has to go through the AOS process to actually become a permanent resident and be allowed to work, for example.

I honestly think easiest would be to push back her plans to go to Taiwan and just get this out of the way. Depending on how fast you can get married and get all the necessary paperwork together, she could have the AP that allows her to travel by end of April/early May. She shouldn't plan any long trips abroad though until she has the GC, because the interview appointment cannot be moved or re-scheduled for anything short of a life-and-death emergency situation, so she would have to come back for that. Usually the whole AOS process takes between 4-6 months - 3 months sounds very fast to me, I've rarely seen anyone go through the whole process in that short of a time period.

If you manage to file by mid-February, if everything goes smoothly she could have the greencard by July, and be free to work, study and travel as she pleases.

Thanks for your reply! It definitely seems like people in general favor doing an AOS. We're going to be having lots of plus/minus discussions with the families over the next few days.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

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