Has anyone had to move back to home country before AOS completed?

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Hi, everyone

Has anyone gone partway through the permanent resident process, only to have to move home for family reasons before the process was completed? There is a slim chance--very slim, in fact, but still a chance--that my husband will want to move back to England within the year because of an ill parent. I wonder how much of a headache it would be if we wished to return to the U.S. at some point thereafter. Because we are stuck in FBI background check limbo land with no end in sight, he doesn't have his green card and thus would be unable to apply for a reentry permit. It seems a shame to discontinue an application that has been in the works for well over two years, but I guess some things are just beyond our control! (I'm fine with moving to England, by the way--I know the grief of being away from an ill parent, so that's not an issue.)

I figured with all the people on this board, someone must have dealt with a situation similar to this. Is it possible to get some sort of "credit" for all the waiting and fees, or does one just have to start all over? And must the application be terminated in some sort of official capacity to ensure that it's not considered abandoned?

Thanks!

Julie

[Dr_LHA 3]

Visiting the UK on AP is fine. "Moving" to another country means AOS is abandoned in the eyes of USCIS. However there should be no problem going through the process again in teh future, if you can stomach it.

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

You might want to ask about getting your AOS application expedited. It says on the USCIS website that an "extreme emergency situation" is one they will consider expediting an AOS for, and after waiting so long, I personally don't think it would hurt to ask.

Here is the info:

USCIS Expedite Criteria

All expedite requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and are granted at the discretion of the Director. The criteria are as follows:

* Severe financial loss to company or individual

* Extreme emergent situation

* Humanitarian situation

* Nonprofit status of requesting organization in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States

* Department of Defense of National Interest Situation (Note: Request must come from official United States Government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to our Government)

* USCIS error

* Compelling interest of USCIS

If your case is at a local office at the time you need to make your emergency request, please go to the local office in person to make your request. Please be sure to take all supporting documentation with you.

If your case is at one of our Service Centers or the National Benefits Center, please call customer service at 1-800-375-5283 to receive further instructions on where and how to send your request.

You might also want to get your congress person and senators involved as waiting 2 years is a long time, and with the change in circumstances that could, potentially mean you have to start the AOS process again should you leave before the name check is done, all this together might be enough for the USCIS to speed up their processing.

As I said,I cannot promise it will work, but it doesn't hurt to try, and it is what I would do.

Best wishes

Annie

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Thanks for the replies. I'd be shocked if anything would be expedited if our intent is to leave the country, but you never know. As most of us have gathered, common sense does not seem to be driving the USCIS policies!

I actually did request senatorial assistance in December regarding the background check delay and just yesterday heard back from a staff member--a pleasant and somewhat spacey sounding lady who let me know that the FBI "has a huge backlog" and that my application status is "normal." I conversationally mentioned that Saturday marked a year since our AOS interview, and she made some remark about us being lucky (??) and that some people wait for years, which was an odd comment on many levels. I politely noted that it had taken us 14 months to get to the interview and that we had begun the entire process in March 2005. She sounded surprised. I would have been sorta pissed off at the lucky comment--it's hard to feel lucky when the delay has caused us so much stress, and who's to say we won't wait another year or two?--but she was quite nice, and I didn't want to shoot the messenger. I imagined her looking like Ruth from Six Feet Under.

A rather disheartening aspect of the emergency AP rules is that the stated emergency must involve a parent, spouse, or child. My husband's ill parent is actually a stepparent, which doesn't count (incidentally, nor does a grandparent or sibling--#######?). My husband and I inquired about this at an INFOPASS appointment a while back. Both our jaws dropped when the CIS lady said, "Stepparents don't count." She then shrugged.

We do have an AP renewal in the works--another $180.

I am trying hard to be philosophical about all this, but it's a challenge!

Julie