OzDean

Thank you everyone. Very helpful.

And the fact that when we applied for the AP we gave specific dates and reasons no longer has any bearing on when she is allowed to travel?

Hey, so I read through this forum, and I think I found the answer, but this is a stressful process so me and my wife would appreciate the advice of the more experienced.

It's been a long process for us but I'll skip to what I believe is the relevant part.

I'm an American citizen. My wife came into the United States on a tourist visa in August, and her visa stamp gave her 6 months in the US, until February. We applied for AOS in November, went through the regular process of biometrics and she received her EAC / AP card February of this year. We are still waiting for the notification of interview (we think New York City, especially Queens, is a bit backlogged right now). My wife wants to travel abroad and visit her family, but it's been roughly 100 days since her tourist stamp officially expired. We aren't sure if it will seem like she's overstayed her tourist visa when she tries to return to the States, and if that will cause problems at border control.

From what I read on these forums an overstay of less than 180 days is not very problematic, and that if we started the AOS process before the tourist stamp expired, then it's not even considered an overstay. Is that correct? Can the CBP agents (she will re-enter through JFK) see that information? If we bring documents showing when she applied, had certain things approved, does that help if the CBP start asking difficult questions?

Also, when we applied for the AP the form asked us to give a specific reason with specific dates, but the letter and card we received says it is valid for the whole year... is it?

Thank you in advance for your help.