Consular or adjustment of status

[ifyU 0]

Hi everyone, 

newbie here.

We are on the F4 visa with PD of April 2007, I believe  the bulletin is currently in Nov 2006.

 

We are also documtarily qualified.

 

We meaning my husband (the beneficiary) and Me (a derivative). our two kids are American citizens as they were born there.

 

Last year my husband was transferred to the US for work on the L1 visa so we live there now in DC.

 

Do you suggest we transfer our case to the US and go through adjustment of status or should we continue with the consular processing

what are the pros and cons of each?

thanks in advance

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

If you are and will continue indefinitely to be living in the US it may make sense to adjust, especially if you already have visas that allow you to work while waiting for LPR status.

 

cons of going back for CP:-  cost of travel back, having to do medicals there (so you’d probably need two weeks or so to spend there for medicals, getting visa back etc), potential to get stuck there for weeks or momths if you are put on administrative processing 

pro of CP: you get an immigrant visa and immediately become an LPR on re-entry to US

 

cons of AoS : cost to transfer case via i824, long time periods to wait first for interview then for EAD/AP green card. These cons are mitigated if you can maintain the conditions of your L visas which will allow you to continue working legally and also allow you to leave and re-enter the US without AP. 
pro of AOS: you don’t have to disrupt day to day life with traveling and possible AP required for consular processing; if Trump ban PP10014 is still in place you can still do AOS but no visas for F4 will be issued at consulates 

 

By the way Jan 2021 visa bulletin uses dates for filing chart for determining eligibility to AOS for family based visas, this means your date  is already current (before 15 Sept 2007) unless you are from India, Mexico or Philippines. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[ifyU 0]

Thank you for your response

1. "potential to get stuck there for weeks or months " - if we are placed on AP can't we still leave Nigeria and enter the US with our L1/ L2 visas? and come back when necessary

2. "if Trump ban PP10014 is still in place you can still do AOS but no visas for F4 will be issued at consulates"  - does this mean AoS if we file for adjustment of status we won't be F4 again? would we still need to wait to become current?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

5 minutes ago, ifyU said:

Thank you for your response

1. "potential to get stuck there for weeks or months " - if we are placed on AP can't we still leave Nigeria and enter the US with our L1/ L2 visas? and come back when necessary

2. "if Trump ban PP10014 is still in place you can still do AOS but no visas for F4 will be issued at consulates"  - does this mean AoS if we file for adjustment of status we won't be F4 again? would we still need to wait to become current?

1. They probably won’t give you your passports back, and if they did then you’d have to get the passports back to the embassy for them to issue the visas.

2. I don’t think you understand the point. Under the PP anyone in the US can file adjustment of status but no visas in the same categories can be issued at consulates overseas. Of course you have to be current to file AOS, but the dates are different for AOS  vs CP.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[ifyU 0]

Seen. Thank you. Guess it’s best to wait and see what biden does then 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

1 hour ago, ifyU said:

Seen. Thank you. Guess it’s best to wait and see what biden does then 

If you do AOS what Biden does is irrelevant. 

Let’s turn this around. Can you explain what you think the benefit of doing consular processing is, given that you are already in the US on a dual intent visa and a case number that is already current for filing AOS ?

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[ifyU 0]

1 minute ago, SusieQQQ said:

If you do AOS what Biden does is irrelevant. 

Let’s turn this around. Can you explain what you think the benefit of doing consular processing is, given that you are already in the US on a dual intent visa?

Processing time I guess. Don’t want any further delays. Seems consular will be faster since we are already DQ over there. 
 

We want to buy a house and put some other things in place and those things are easier when you have a green card. Also with employment, he’s on the L1 has a fantastic job as a quite senior staff at a multinational , I’m on the L2/EAD which has been a turn off to some potential employees.

 

I think I’m leaning to which will be faster.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

51 minutes ago, ifyU said:

Processing time I guess. Don’t want any further delays. Seems consular will be faster since we are already DQ over there. 
 

We want to buy a house and put some other things in place and those things are easier when you have a green card. Also with employment, he’s on the L1 has a fantastic job as a quite senior staff at a multinational , I’m on the L2/EAD which has been a turn off to some potential employees.

 

I think I’m leaning to which will be faster.

How long ago did you get DQ? Bear in mind the embassies/consulates have been pretty much closed since March for Covid, and there has been a huge backlog building up in (1) interviews across the board because of this and (2) for F1-F4 categories in particular because of the ban on visa issuance since April. If you only just got DQ, I’d expect you to be waiting at least a year for an interview slot. If you got DQ say a year ago or so it may not be so bad. You may want to try find out what the current wait for IR/CR visas in Nigeria is (the only immigrant visas that they are currently issuing) as a broad gauge as to the minimum wait you might expect once the consulates reopen for F-category visas, whenever that might be. 

Something else to bear in mind is that it is entirely possible they will retrogress priority dates once visa issuance restarts after the ban is lifted, as that may be the only way to properly deal with the massive backlog. Backlog or no, the maximum quota per fiscal year remains in place. 

 

you may be already DQ over there, but you are still plenty of months from current over there (possibly very many if they retrogress) and you are already current over here.  Seems to me you are potentially giving up two birds in the hand for one in the bush.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by SusieQQQ

[ifyU 0]

DQ was in November. 
 

you are right though, probably better to move it here. Will discuss with my husband and explore this possibility.

 

thanjs

[retheem 564]

16 hours ago, ifyU said:

Hi everyone, 

newbie here.

We are on the F4 visa with PD of April 2007, I believe  the bulletin is currently in Nov 2006.

 

We are also documtarily qualified.

 

We meaning my husband (the beneficiary) and Me (a derivative). our two kids are American citizens as they were born there.

 

Last year my husband was transferred to the US for work on the L1 visa so we live there now in DC.

 

Do you suggest we transfer our case to the US and go through adjustment of status or should we continue with the consular processing

what are the pros and cons of each?

thanks in advance

Chill for now and do nothing, because the Biden administration may change a whole bunch of changes pretty shortly. After that evaluate and see.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

31 minutes ago, retheem said:

Chill for now and do nothing, because the Biden administration may change a whole bunch of changes pretty shortly. After that evaluate and see.

He can’t magic away a 200k backlog of people DQ and awaiting visa interviews in family categories though. (Plus the 163k backlog in IR categories, which will probably take precedence in scheduling.)

Edited January 20, 2021 by SusieQQQ