What if emergency happend before AP

[jackson6658 13]

This idea came to my mind recently. If I get married in US waiting for Advance Patrole, and something happend in home country. What shall we do? I know the back entry and AOS can be declined due to going out of US without AP.  This is just in case. The  AP waiting time can be 4-6 months. Who knows what can happen during this time. I don't want to mention what kind of emergency can possibly happen. You know it. Any one ever experience this? Thank you! 

 

[K & R 343]

1 minute ago, jackson6658 said:

This idea came to my mind recently. If I get married in US waiting for Advance Patrole, and something happend in home country. What shall we do? I know the back entry and AOS can be declined due to going out of US without AP.  This is just in case. The  AP waiting time can be 4-6 months. Who knows what can happen during this time. I don't want to mention what kind of emergency can possibly happen. You know it. Any one ever experience this? Thank you! 

 

You CANNOT leave the USA without AP or a greencard. If you do you WILL abandon your AOS petition. If you leave before you apply for AOS but after using K-1 you cannot renter using the K-1 visa again. It is a 1 entry only visa. If you are worried about emergencies at home and not being able to leave the US I strongly recommend filing for a CR1/IR1 visa instead. You would get married in your country and then your spouse would petition for you as a spouse. You would enter the US as a LPR and receive your greencard a few weeks after entry. This will allow you to travel and work almost immediately after entry. If there is something going on in your country (ie a sick family member) maybe you should consider staying their and having your USC S.O move to your country. Good luck!

[mushroomspore 3,044]

You can ask for emergency AP at an Infopass appointment with evidence of your emergency but there are no guarantees. It depends if the IO feels nice that day or hour. The other alternative is leave, stay in your home country, file the spousal visa (if married) and then wait until you get that to come back. If you're not okay with those options, then your only choice is to accept you are stuck inside the US and wait until you get AP.

[kiwihurricane15 34]

6 minutes ago, jackson6658 said:

This idea came to my mind recently. If I get married in US waiting for Advance Patrole, and something happend in home country. What shall we do? I know the back entry and AOS can be declined due to going out of US without AP.  This is just in case. The  AP waiting time can be 4-6 months. Who knows what can happen during this time. I don't want to mention what kind of emergency can possibly happen. You know it. Any one ever experience this? Thank you! 

 

To be honest I worried about the same thing....unfortunately you are just going to have to roll with it and cross your fingers. I managed to get through in 4 months which was lucky- got my EAD card and AP combo. You can't control everything and unfortunately there is no real decent process to leave without AP or Greencard. You are gonna just have to take a risk and go for it. Deal with that when it happens because the chances are slim of an emergency...unless you know something I don't?

[jackson6658 13]

10 minutes ago, kiwihurricane15 said:

To be honest I worried about the same thing....unfortunately you are just going to have to roll with it and cross your fingers. I managed to get through in 4 months which was lucky- got my EAD card and AP combo. You can't control everything and unfortunately there is no real decent process to leave without AP or Greencard. You are gonna just have to take a risk and go for it. Deal with that when it happens because the chances are slim of an emergency...unless you know something I don't?

I hope I will be as lucky as you were. Cross fingers. Thank you.

[jackson6658 13]

16 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

You can ask for emergency AP at an Infopass appointment with evidence of your emergency but there are no guarantees. It depends if the IO feels nice that day or hour. The other alternative is leave, stay in your home country, file the spousal visa (if married) and then wait until you get that to come back. If you're not okay with those options, then your only choice is to accept you are stuck inside the US and wait until you get AP.

 

19 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

You can ask for emergency AP at an Infopass appointment with evidence of your emergency but there are no guarantees. It depends if the IO feels nice that day or hour. The other alternative is leave, stay in your home country, file the spousal visa (if married) and then wait until you get that to come back. If you're not okay with those options, then your only choice is to accept you are stuck inside the US and wait until you get AP.

Thank you for your opinion and advise.

20 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

You can ask for emergency AP at an Infopass appointment with evidence of your emergency but there are no guarantees. It depends if the IO feels nice that day or hour. The other alternative is leave, stay in your home country, file the spousal visa (if married) and then wait until you get that to come back. If you're not okay with those options, then your only choice is to accept you are stuck inside the US and wait until you get AP.

Thank you for your opinion and advise.

[jackson6658 13]

23 minutes ago, K & R said:

You CANNOT leave the USA without AP or a greencard. If you do you WILL abandon your AOS petition. If you leave before you apply for AOS but after using K-1 you cannot renter using the K-1 visa again. It is a 1 entry only visa. If you are worried about emergencies at home and not being able to leave the US I strongly recommend filing for a CR1/IR1 visa instead. You would get married in your country and then your spouse would petition for you as a spouse. You would enter the US as a LPR and receive your greencard a few weeks after entry. This will allow you to travel and work almost immediately after entry. If there is something going on in your country (ie a sick family member) maybe you should consider staying their and having your USC S.O move to your country. Good luck!

Thank you for your opinion and advise.

[geowrian 22,337]

You can try for emergency AP if an emergency arrives.

Or you can leave and abandon AOS.

Or you can stay and not go to the emergency.

[Crazy Cat 41,858]

Such is the life of a K-1 spouse, unfortunately...

[*Snowdrop* 604]

 

That's one of the reasons I chose to do the spousal visa and which meant we spent the first 16 months of our married life living in two separate countries. 

 

I could not face the thought of having to choose between an emergency at home and my US immigration status. 

 

It's also why I never really understand why people from ESTA countries do the AOS from the VWP. 

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to Working & Traveling During US Immigration forum.

[mushroomspore 3,044]

2 hours ago, Trellick said:

 

That's one of the reasons I chose to do the spousal visa and which meant we spent the first 16 months of our married life living in two separate countries. 

 

I could not face the thought of having to choose between an emergency at home and my US immigration status. 

 

It's also why I never really understand why people from ESTA countries do the AOS from the VWP. 

Well people have their reasons. Some people don't have families at all or don't care to continue their relationship with their family in their home country. For them, there's no real need to go back. Or more commonly (especially with the spousal-based AoS process), people just aren't thinking all that rationally because they get too excited at the suddenly-real and tangible prospect of being with their loved one permanently and will take whatever negative aspects the process contains.

Edited November 10, 2018 by mushroomspore

[Roel 7,192]

14 hours ago, jackson6658 said:

This idea came to my mind recently. If I get married in US waiting for Advance Patrole, and something happend in home country. What shall we do? I know the back entry and AOS can be declined due to going out of US without AP.  This is just in case. The  AP waiting time can be 4-6 months. Who knows what can happen during this time. I don't want to mention what kind of emergency can possibly happen. You know it. Any one ever experience this? Thank you! 

 

If something happens then you'll have a choice - apply for emergency AP and wait or don't want and sacrifice your AOS.

Not sure what kind of experiences you're looking for, but those are only 2 options.

 

If this already bothers you, cancel K1 and apply for CR1.

 

[Boiler 45,517]

CR1 would be the obvious solution.

[MapleLeaf29 247]

I want to add that if it takes longer than a year to schedule your green card interview, you will also need to stay in the United States during your AP renewal.  This is a recent change, so it is not something my husband and I considered.  Be aware that there may be more than one long chunk of time when you cannot leave the United States.  Here is our timeline as an example:

 

May 2017 - fiancé entered the United States on a k-1 visa

June 2017 - we got married and submitted paperwork for AOS, EAD, and AP

November 2017 - husband received EAD/AP card

July 2018 - submitted EAD/AP renewal paperwork; still waiting for renewed EAD/AP card

October 2018 - green card interview; still waiting for green card

 

Total time without being able to leave the United States:

Entry --> EAD/AP card: five and a half months

EAD/AP card renewal: have not yet received new card; we have been waiting for four months

Green card: we had our interview five weeks ago and were approved, but we have not yet received our card

 

Total time without being able to leave the United States: nine and a half months (and counting).  We had a straightforward case with no RFE's.  If you go the k-1 visa route, be prepared for extended periods of time where you cannot leave the United States.