Get AP with the least amount of time

[berrystrawberry 0]

Hi everybody, I just discovered this website. It provides so much information and the people here are so nice and helpful! I am really glad I found this. I have a difficult situation that I do not know what to do with. It would be great if someone could advice on that.

I am currently on OPT with F-1 visa. I am not employed right now. With everything that is going on in the market, it does seem like I could find a permanent position anytime soon that is directly related to my major field of study. I need to go back to my home country soon, because my mom will be taking a surgery, and I need to be home for that. Since I do not have an employment, once I leave the country, I cannot come back here on OPT. My boyfriend and I have been looking into the marriage-based immigration, so that I could return after my mom has taken and recovered from the surgery. We know very little about this, and have just started reading online. There seems to be so much information and the procedures are rather complex. If we understood correctly, there is a certificate called "emergency Advanced Parole" that could be obtained before a "conditional green card" is issued, which will generally take longer. And the AP can be used for re-entry without a visa or the conditional green card. Could anyone please provide us a list of steps that we need to go through in order to get the AP with the least amount of time? Is it possible that we submit all the application forms, and wait for them to be approved while I am outside of U.S.? It would really help us out! Any information is appreciated!

P.S. We are in Texas.

Edited October 19, 2008 by berrystrawberry

[Ana&D 0]

I suggest you look through the guides and find the visa option that suits your specific situation. You have several choices here:

1. Go home and file for fiance visa (K1)

2. Get married, go home and file for one of the spousal visas: K3, CR-1

3. Get married and file AOS (adjustment of status). This will work if on your last US entry you had no intentions to marry. That's when you file for AP (takes about 90 days to get one).

Again, read the guides, check out the processing times for each visa type and see what works bets for you. Good luck!

[berrystrawberry 0]

Hey Ana, thank you for the reply!

I did some research about the K1/K3 visas, they seem to take about 1 year+ to get approved. We are thinking about filing the adjustment of status. I read a post on this forum about a couple getting their AP very shortly after they got married (like 3 weeks from what I remember), because the foreign spouse had a family emergency. It is much like my situation. I cannot find that thread anymore! Did anyone else have knowledge about getting expedited AP? Can you please share your experience?

Thanks to all of you again!

[berrystrawberry 0]

I suggest you look through the guides and find the visa option that suits your specific situation. You have several choices here:

1. Go home and file for fiance visa (K1)

2. Get married, go home and file for one of the spousal visas: K3, CR-1

3. Get married and file AOS (adjustment of status). This will work if on your last US entry you had no intentions to marry. That's when you file for AP (takes about 90 days to get one).

Again, read the guides, check out the processing times for each visa type and see what works bets for you. Good luck!

Ana- about the guides you referred to, are they the messages showed as “pinned” in the top of the screen? The information is about AOS for K1 and K3 visa holders. Since I am within the States, do I follow a different set of procedures when I file AOS, or it does not matter?

Thanks a lot!