18 month extension letter expiring soon - trying to plan travel. Advice wanted!

[kevecca 2]

Hello! 
I’m a November 2018 filer and my 18 month extension letter is expiring on August 20. I’m have a MSC number and am in NYC, which is a very slow field office, it seems. My case has been “ready for interview” since April 4 2019. 

I have plans to travel for research to Canada (my home country) in the summer, and ideally would be gone for 1.5 months straight for time/budget reasons. At first I was planning on travelling July and August, but since my extension letter is expiring in August I decided to move it earlier, which is fine.
 

Except I’m worried that if I try to re-enter the states with say, 20 days left on my extension letter that will cause issues? 
I would LOVE to go the route of getting a stamp in my passport, but I read that the NYC office will only let you schedule an appointment within 30 days of your letter expiring. 
 

so long story short, here are my two options and I’d like to get a consensus as to what would be better.

 

1). Travel from say, mid June to the end of July, knowing that there will be less than a month less on my extension letter when I enter and hope that that doesn’t cause me issues 

 

2) break up my travel, travel from end of may to mid June, come home with in 30 days of the expiry so that I can make a field office appointment, then make a second research trip after I have the stamp in my passport. 
 

plan 2 sounds convoluted, I know, but I’ll do it if need be. 
I would really like to hear opinions, or hear what other people have done as they are/have approached the expiry of their extension letters! 

Of course, this is all assuming that I will not hear anything about my case before then, haha. 

[Sukie 1,460]

Option 1 is fine.  As long as your extension letter is still in date, you will not have any issues.  Border patrol officers know that things are taking an abysmally long time.

 

Have fun!

 

Sukie in NY

[Thegirl 225]

Once the extension letter is valid, it's valid. Doesn't matter if you have 20 days or 200 days. Option 1 is fine as Sukie offered.