I-131 Advance Parole processing time

[spiritof1776 0]

Short version: How long should I expect it to take from filing AOS from F-1 to receiving AP? How should I interpret the VJ and USCIS data (see below)?

Longer version:

Apologies for what seems a newbie question but the more I have learnt the less I know...

I am going to be moving to Germany at the start of August, with some flexibility, to join my USC wife, who is on a one-year fellowship and will be moving from DC (where we currently both live) to Germany at the start of July. We want to return to the U.S. in June 2015. I am deciding (still) between filing AOS in the U.S., requesting AP, and coming back to complete the process in the U.S.; and leaving the U.S. and filing via DCF in Germany.

It seems like the advantages of Germany are more friendly, efficient processing, and lower cost; meanwhile, the big advantage of AOS is having the flexibility to come back sooner if needed. The big downside is the prospect of having to stay in the U.S. for an indeterminate period of time before I can move to Germany and rejoin my wife.

The VJ data says two things:

• Over the past 180 days, average total time from filing to AP receipt is 69 days; and
• Currently, people who applied around March 18 are just getting their APs (=78 days).

The USCIS website appears to say it takes three months. (I'm not totally sure which option to select on that website, but most of them seem to say three months.)

If 69 days, we might go for AOS; three months (or a reasonable risk thereof) would probably make us plump for DCF in Germany.

[Hypnos 6,576]

AP is usually issued within 90 days. The median seems to be about 70 as you indicate, but that's by no means a guarantee. Once your wife has been in Germany for six months then DCF is certainly an option, since you'd probably have the visa within a couple of months of applying.

If you chose AoS, your wife would also need to return to the US for your interview, which would be later this year.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Hypnos

[spiritof1776 0]

Great, thanks so much Hypnos. Having to return to the US for an interview is a great point I'd not really considered, I think because I had somehow understood that interviews would take around 12 months or so. I guess I was looking at the wrong data though (perhaps standalone I-130s). I see from the VJ AoS stats that average times are currently 121 days (although there's considerable variance, and Washington DC is averaging 257 days, albeit based on a very small sample size).

As I mentioned, DCF is looking like the best option, especially if, as you say, we could expect the visa within a couple of months of applying. I'll look into that further and then I think we can decide!