Sorry to hear you're caught up in such a mess. I hope they do approve it quickly. You still have a few days.
I leave on Saturday (no matter what) so if my GC doesn't arrive today I'm hoping to get the stamp on Friday morning (I have an INFOPASS).
If they don't give me a stamp, then I'm just going to leave anyway and have my GC mailed over. That could be a last resort option for you too, no? I know you mentioned the difficulties with mail in your home country (I'm familiar with that type of thing, I lived in Belarus for a while and I'm not sure anyone there gets any mail ever either) but perhaps you could use Fedex and get them to hold it at an office/depot for you to collect? I've quickly checked and I'm pretty sure they have operations there.
thanks. Yes we have Fedex and UPS too, so that would work.
However, I went to Cleveland today, and took care of it. I showed the INFOPASS Immigration Officer my AP and told her what the problem was. She did not seem very familiar with this situation, she kept saying "oh, if your AP is bad, you have to get a new one and that takes time...". I tried to explain to her that the last remaining file is being transfered from Lincoln to Cleveland and was sent out Monday, so my GC can be approved soon, and maybe I could get a stamp once it's been approved. Her response was telling me that the postal service is slow and there is Priority Mail, regular first class etc. and it will take time for it to arrive in Cleveland
So she wasn't that helpful, so another IO came over she showed my AP to him, and he said I should be OK at the border, they will let me in. And they pretty much finished the conversation with me...
So I thought, OK they will let me in, but I don't want the border officer to classify/parole me as a TPS alien when I enter the US.
So I left but I just went over to the other side of the waiting room. I was determined to wait for Officer Vega who interviewed us 2 weeks ago, and even called me on Monday telling me he would approve my GC on only June 4th, a day after I get back using my AP. When I talked to him on Monday I did not yet know my AP wasn't perfect.
Anyway, it was about lunch time and I knew he was going to lunch soon. He came out along with 2 other interviewing officers. He recognized me, and I showed him my AP. The other 2 officers also joined in the conversation like a mini committee
They are all about my age, 35. They saw the AP was granted to me as if I was in TPS status, which I'm not. They said I would be allowed to enter the US with it though. Still, they modified it by writing the following on the front:
"Applicant has a pending I-485. Parole him into US pursuant of 212 (d). Cleveland DO, 4/30/2009, John Vega" and his signature. 212 (d) is adjustment of status classification. They all said I will be fine. One of them even used to work 4 years as a border officer and he said he would let me in with no problem, even without the added modification
So looks like I'm set. I'm happy to say the least.