APRIL 2010 FILERS

[Nartaki 7]

If you have a previous overstay of 180 days or more or you have been out of status 180 days or more...then you incur a ban of 3 years from entering the US again.

The funny thing is that the USCIS will approve AP for people have overstayed or been out of status. I know many people who were out of status for 6 months or more, applied for AOS, got their AP approved, left the US, came back and their AOS was denied because they were found inadmissible at their recent entry into the US (because of the ban).

My advice: dont leave the country until you have the greencard in hand.

[hoppla 1]

No! she has an AP so she CAN travel.

If you have an AP you can theoretically travel, but it is not recommended if you have overstayed since that might still cause problems when you return. As everything else I'm guessing it depends on the officer upon arrival. My attorney advised me not to travel on AP just because of that reason.

I do understand wanting to go back home if someone in your family is ill. I don't know what I would do if I was in the same situation. Please note that I don't know if sensii has overstayed or not, I just read the previous posts In any case good luck to you!

Oops! Seems as Nartaki & I wrote our posts at the same time

Edited June 23, 2010 by hoppla

[GabiandVi 34]

thnX JANNAH

krys n nova...hopefully none of us will forever go bck to it

I HAVE A QUESTIONS...I JUST RECEIVED MY APPROVAL NOTICE, MY DAD IS NT OK AND I WANNA GO THERE NOW IF I COULD

BUT I OVERSTAYED BEFORE...N MY HUSBAND IS IN IRAQ...SO IM ALONE HERE....DO U THINK ITS A RISK TO TRAVEL?I MEAN I L BE GETTING MY WORK PERMIT IN THE MAIL BY THEN N WILL GET A SOCIAL...N THEN I WANNA GO N COME SHRTLY BEFORE MY INTERVIEW DATE...

i should be ok right?

n btw i didnt cross the border i flew to the us when i ws young, my parents brought me here...

i think there is a difference between uninspected crossing n flying in with a visa...right?

Natarki is correct. DO NOT leave until you have your greencard in hand!!!!! If you leave, you abandon your AOS and you will face a ban. I've heard you can make an infopass and get a stamp in your passport once you are approved, but don't leave until you have that or your greencard.

I hope your dad gets better soon.

[luxx 1]

and you can find all these information in Instructions for I-131. You are subject to 3/10 years ban and your AOS is going to be denied. and, also, you can google various forums on that topic and they say the same. Sorry about your dad, but you cant leave until you get your green card. GOOD LUCK!

P.S .Even if officer lets you back with AP , you trigger 3/10 years ban when you leave and your AOS will be denied because of that.

'If you accrued more than 6 months of unlawful presence, your departure could trigger a bar and the U.S. CBP could refuse your reentry even with an advance parole. If you were allowed to return, your triggering the bar could result in a denial of your adjustment application'

Edited June 23, 2010 by luxx

[Visahelpz 0]

iphone u mean?? lolCONGRATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Thank you!! And no, it was my ipod touch! It has wifi and the restaurant where we were had free wifi!

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE IS DOING SO GREAT!

Thanks!!!!!!!

Oh wow. Soo happy for the progress everyone is making. I wish i was too. Glad to see we're supportive of each other. Congrats to those who got approved in their interview. Kudos!

Thank you and your progress will come before you know it!

ha well there goes my whole theory.... lol you know wat it is, they just throw all the applications into a big box and just randomly pull one out, but someone spit out a piece of gum into the box so that our applications got stuck to the bottom... LOL thats my new theory on how USCIS works.. pretty official huh? lolCONGRATZ!! thx for sharing right away! Enjoy ur celebration!!!

That sounds like as likely a scenario as any!! And thank you! We have been celebrating all day (and night!)

Congrats hon... Woooooooooooo HHHHhhhooooooooooo

Thank you so much!

SUPER AMAZING!!!!!I have NEVER been this stressed in MY LIFE... My husband calls me obessed with visajourney (maybe I am lol). I just feel off; physical, spiritually, mentally I just feel not like my usual self. I took for granted being a born Canadian... I never once thought about or really understand the immigration process. NEVER AGAIN WILL I DO THAT!!!!Me too!! I would have drove my husband batty. It will be your turn soon. You wait, sooner than you think this will all be behind us (for atleast 2 yrs).

Thanks! And you are right! Once it has happened it will all seem much less long than it actually was!

We got to our appointment at 9:30 (our time was 10:00) and they called us back at 9:50! She asked for id, and for my husbands (he is the UK citizen) passports. Well, we had a bit of a scare for a minute! He had a name change a couple years ago (his father changed their last name when my husband was a baby because his father had a funny name combination...like if your last was Pigg and your parents named you Ima...not too funny to his dad!) but my husband changed his back to his birth name so at that time, the UK took his passport and issued a new one. Well, the interviewer asked when was my husbands first entry to the US and he said 2005 but his passport didn't have that because the UK government had taken it! He had a really old passport from when he was like 18 and this current one! She seemed concerned he didn't have it. We had totally forgotten about all those visits to the US being stamped on that passport! I just knew we were about to have a problem but she kept asking questions about dates and thankfully my passport had a ton of stamps showing how much I had gone to England and my husband had a funny newspaper clipping from the UK when his sister was born (relating to the funny last name) and that made her laugh and then she understood better and seemed to believe us!

She only asked how long we knew each other before getting married, how many visits he made here, how many children he had, why we waited so long to do the AOS and that was it. She didn't look at any co-mingling of finances, no photos, nothing. We were in there about 15 or 20 min max. I now wonder why we waited so long too! She told us if he had to leave the country before his green card arrived, he would have to get his passport stamped (or whatever, I forget what that process is called) and about 10 min after we left, we got the first text message update from USCIS we ever received saying "Your file has been updated" LOL

I know someone who filed (Norway) last year and took them 5 months to finalize and they have a 30 year age gap!! But they were approved. So anyone waiting, just know there will always be the few that have to endure a little more waiting and I am so sorry for all of you! I think our waiting was in the last 2 and a half years he lived here all the while thinking "We HAVE to get the AOS done!" It was looming over us like a cloud.

So we are good to go for 10 years (or rather after 3 he will naturalize) and I will say a prayer now for all those who are waiting!

Thanks for all the help and encouragement!

[dr_no3man 1]

Congratulations visahelpz. That was really a long time till you applied for adjusting your status. But anyway you played it right

[Noth 4]

sorry, my bad for my previous statement! I thought that AP was the document to travel, I had no Idea about overstays (I never overstayed before getting married)

I'm sorry to hear that then. That means you can't do anything about your dad. I know how it's frustrating! I didn't even asked for AP (I'm confident in the future i guess) but 3 weeks ago my step dad (he raised me) got a serious injury at work. I felt soooo holpless and worried about my family!Fortunately, It was nothing they couldn't fix and he is in remission now. that was a big relief to know that he'd still be here with my mom to take me down the isle for our second ceremony in August.

I have a question, that probably is going to sound stupid, but I really wonder.

We have to go to Hawaii next week, for a wedding and a week vacation. Is it risky to take the plane then? I know that Hawaii is part of the us, but I fear when they are going to check my passport and see my I-94 is void.

Is it enough to take the EA card with me to prove i'm "legally" authorize to stay?

I just don't want to ruin my husband's vacations, he's been working hard for us so he deserves some piece of mind.

Thanks in advance for your input!

have a good night!

[Felipe23 2]

I have a question, that probably is going to sound stupid, but I really wonder.

We have to go to Hawaii next week, for a wedding and a week vacation. Is it risky to take the plane then? I know that Hawaii is part of the us, but I fear when they are going to check my passport and see my I-94 is void.

Is it enough to take the EA card with me to prove i'm "legally" authorize to stay?

I just don't want to ruin my husband's vacations, he's been working hard for us so he deserves some piece of mind.

Thanks in advance for your input!

have a good night!

well the worst it can happen is the TSA official want to check your status and is going to show pending if you have a DL its better but the passport and the EAD I'm not sure ... but just to make sure you can get in contact with your airline ,USCIS or maybe even the TSA .

good luck and have a safe trip

[Kerrin 4]

Edit: hehe! i just got an email regarding EAD approval! this really is a GOOD day!

I haven't got any e-mail notice about "EAD Approval notice sent" yet since last Friday(2nd card production ordered). Don't know if they have printed my EAD out or not...

[sensible 2]

No! she has an AP so she CAN travel.

DATS WWUT I THOUGHT Y WOULD THEY GIVE IT?

[Noth 4]

well the worst it can happen is the TSA official want to check your status and is going to show pending if you have a DL its better but the passport and the EAD I'm not sure ... but just to make sure you can get in contact with your airline ,USCIS or maybe even the TSA .

good luck and have a safe trip

Muito Obrigado pela tua resposta! ( sim sim eu falo português )

This doesn't make any sense! If I'm allowed to work in the USA and that i can't travel inside the USA then it's useless to have the EACard!?

I will not have my DL before I pass the written and driven test, and i've heard it takes them 3 weeks to send it to you, so i will try with EAC anyway, I'm not leaving the country!

[GabiandVi 34]

sorry, my bad for my previous statement! I thought that AP was the document to travel, I had no Idea about overstays (I never overstayed before getting married)

I'm sorry to hear that then. That means you can't do anything about your dad. I know how it's frustrating! I didn't even asked for AP (I'm confident in the future i guess) but 3 weeks ago my step dad (he raised me) got a serious injury at work. I felt soooo holpless and worried about my family!Fortunately, It was nothing they couldn't fix and he is in remission now. that was a big relief to know that he'd still be here with my mom to take me down the isle for our second ceremony in August.

I have a question, that probably is going to sound stupid, but I really wonder.

We have to go to Hawaii next week, for a wedding and a week vacation. Is it risky to take the plane then? I know that Hawaii is part of the us, but I fear when they are going to check my passport and see my I-94 is void.

Is it enough to take the EA card with me to prove i'm "legally" authorize to stay?

I just don't want to ruin my husband's vacations, he's been working hard for us so he deserves some piece of mind.

Thanks in advance for your input!

have a good night!

I think if the EA card has a picture on it, that should be enough to show the airline workers. If you are flying domestically, you usually don't have to show your ID to anyone but the airline. Regardless, no one will be looking to check your residency status. They will only be concerned about your picture ID matching the name on your ticket. But bring everything with you just in case, including your 797s.

[GabiandVi 34]

DATS WWUT I THOUGHT Y WOULD THEY GIVE IT?

They gave it to you because you applied for it. However, apparantly, it does not trump an overstay. The overstay trumps the AP, but it only comes into play when you try to reenter.

Edited June 23, 2010 by GabiandVi

[sensible 2]

thnx everyone

i ll just chill out

hopefully get this interview letter soon

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

NOTH - IT'S FINE! You can travel within the US!! don't get mad

I read in a competing forum about someone doing some super research on the issue, they called the Dept of State, and were told...

You should carry your passport and a copy of your correspondence with the USCIS. The TSA is not supposed to check, or has jurisdiction over Visas, so they shouldn't check it, or hassle you. They are just there to confirm your identity.

Have fun in Hawai'i!

Edited June 23, 2010 by Harpa Timsah