maximum days outside US with AP??

[Maya&Matt 2]

Hi everybody,

I filled for AOS, EAD and AP on January 4th. My biometrics appointment is on February 6th. My husband (he is the USC) and I are going to spend this summer in Europe as he will be doing an internship there. I was wondering how long can I stay outside the US while my AOS is still pending, with the AP. Would I have any problems coming back to the US after staying in Europe for 3-4 months?? Does anyone have similar experience? Is there any reason I would not get an AP? does everybody get it?

Also, looking at the timelines, we think our interview for the AOS could be in summer, while we are away. Would it be fine to just come back a few days for the interview? could we have any problems doing this? how difficult is it to change the interview date?

thank you!

[Little_My 464]

AP is routinely approved, so it is unlikely there would be any issues with that. However, if your interview is scheduled for the time you're supposed to be abroad - which it most likely would - it is very risky to try to re-schedule the interview, and there's a chance the information would never reach the particular IO in charge of the interview, and you would essentially be deemed a no-show and your AOS would therefore be considered abandoned. Personally, not a risk I would be willing to take.

I and my husband literally flew to the US for 3 days for our interview. We were in Finland where our wedding party was taking place a week after our scheduled interview, and we flew in a day before the interview and flew out the day after. My GC was issued while I was back in Finland, but I used the AP to return to the US without any problems, and was told by the CBP officer at JFK that as long as I travelled out of the US within 12 months so that my status in their system would change from "parolee" to a permanent resident, I would be fine. Even if your GC has been issued in the US while you were abroad, CBP cannot enter you in their system as a permanent resident if you do not physically have the card with you when you're re-entering the US, but you'll be admitted back to the US as a parolee under the AP. You can also come back to POE later with the GC, and have them manually change your status from parolee to permanent resident.