Should I use AP or GC to enter?

[AJD]

Here is a dilemma and I am not sure what to do. My 12 year old daughter is studying in India. When she left, she took advance parol that is still valid. While she was gone, her green card (and so is for the entire family) got approved. I went to local office and gave her approval letter and filled I-89. We all got plastic cards in the mail in a month. We now have a GC. I am going to India and she will be coming back with me to US for a short duration. The question is,

Should she use AP or GC?

[AJD]

Thank you for your quick reply.

My worry is, she may be questioned about AP. She was not here when the approval letter came and form I-89 was filled. So is this valid? That is to get GC in absentee. (I did it on her behalf because she is minor and under 14 and did not have to be present for index finger printing while filling out form I-89 at local USCIS office.)

Thanks in advance.

[AJD]

Thank you again for a prompt reply.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by AJD

My worry is, she may be questioned about AP. She was not here when the approval letter came and form I-89 was filled. So is this valid? That is to get GC in absentee. (I did it on her behalf because she is minor and under 14 and did not have to be present for index finger printing while filling out form I-89 at local USCIS office.)

Actually a person should not be approved when he/she out of country temporarily. In theory his/her approval remains "pending". His/her AOS processing "continues" when he/she comes back on AP. Now, very often adjucators approve cases without the knowledge of absense (if the absense is very short). That's USCIS problem and you should be worried that. She has GC, therefore she should use GC.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

The issue here is not the I-485 approval. That was fully according to the book. The issue is the card ordering with I-89 while she was abroad. That's the unusual part.

Card order is part of I-485 process (it's not a new process). Going to district office is for stamping and providing index FP + ADIT pics is recent thing. In old days these items were submitted with I-485 application. People did not need to go to district office. Applicant does not order card, but USCIS itself does.

[AJD]

I was hoping to do Deferred Inspection. In Deferred inspection, she would enter through AP and then go ahead and stamp passport within 14 days and show that stamp to officer at airport.

I just filled out the I-89 form and gave ADIT style photos on my daughter's behalf. I did that because of following reasons,

1. I was not sure when my daughter would visit again and in the process her AP may expire.

2. At the airport, the officer would see her approved and then put deferred inspection. It is OK as long as the period between approval and entry back into US is short. But because she is studying in India, the period was long and thought that could raise some questions.

3. I thought that anyway the passport stamping is optional.

Now I am weighing pros and cons on what will happen when she enters US?

[pralay]

Originally Posted by AJD

I was hoping to do Deferred Inspection. In Deferred inspection, she would enter through AP and then go ahead and stamp passport within 14 days and show that stamp to officer at airport.

I just filled out the I-89 form and gave ADIT style photos on my daughter's behalf. I did that because of following reasons,

1. I was not sure when my daughter would visit again and in the process her AP may expire.

2. At the airport, the officer would see her approved and then put deferred inspection. It is OK as long as the period between approval and entry back into US is short. But because she is studying in India, the period was long and thought that could raise some questions.

3. I thought that anyway the passport stamping is optional.

Now I am weighing pros and cons on what will happen when she enters US?

I would recommand you discuss with lawyers because as she studying abrpad for long duration and "visiting" USA, it's much complicated.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

Define "recent." This is standard procedure at least since the time I learned about the process in the late 90ies. Besides, FPs and pictures are only valid for a certain time.

I have number of friends who got GC without showing up at district office. In fact they got very surprised when I was going to district office for stamping. They got their GCs around late-90s. Even when I applied my I-485 on 2001, my lawyer asked me to fill-up a form where I had to provide my index-FP and also I had to provide ADIT pics with my application. But these items are no longer required with I-485 application. So I guess the rule changed around that time.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

Well, I didn't need to go to any district office, either. But I did CP, and the I-89 got filled out right at the border when I entered.

We are ALL talking about I-485 here. Therefore I mentioned about I-485. I don't care you did CP or whatever.

Originally Posted by ****

Stamping was in effect at least since 1997. At that time I met somebody who had to go to the DO.

One couple got their GC on 1997 and another family got on either 1998 or 1999 (I don't recall exactly).

Originally Posted by ****

Yeah, but these had to do with the FBI background check.

I was talking about index-FP that you provide while passport stamping (and that shows up on your plastic GC card). I was definitely not talking about FBI check (plam + all five FPs for both hands).

Originally Posted by ****

They nowadays send separate FP appointments, and it is done at special centers.
Still, that has nothing to do with the actual ordering of the card.

Did anybody claimed here that it has anything to do with FBI check?????

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

The I-89 is an internal form not handed out to anybody, so without going to a DO, no GC. And that was true in 1997 (and most likely before that, i.e., since fingerprints go on the GC.)

As I mentioned before people used to get GC plastic card without going to district office (instead of approval notice - they used get a "welcome notice"). That because it was possible to provide index-FP along with I-485. Even I myself provided that with my I-485 (I had to go to district office though). It' was a light green color postcard size form. I don't know whether it was I-89 or something else.
When around 2002, 2003 some of my colleagues applied for their I-495 (with same lawyer), they did not require to fill-up (plus index FP) that green form anymore. The lawyer said that it was not required anymore - because after approval they would have to go to district office anyway.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

A self-provided fingerprint... allow me to laugh out loud... how would they know that the fingerprint came from you??? This thing doesn't make any sense at all.

Why do you show such an adolecent ego-maniac attitude without knowing everything (I would accept that if you knew everything). Let me enlighten you with some more info (in case you don't know). Do you know couple of years back even EAD cards used to have finger-prints? All the recent EAD cards have a blank blue box. In case you ever had an EAD card with FP on it, did you ever go to DO office to provide your FP? If so, how did they knew it was your FP? How did they know it was your ADIT pictures? Even in current EAD card, how do they know it's actually applicant's picture? In past, it's the same green form that was being used for producing EAD card, that's was being used for producing green card. Make sense, dude? If you want, do some research and come up with something that contradict whatever I said. This my personal experience.

Probably it was same reason that you described, they asking all the applicants to go to DO office. But that does not make the past produce "untruth".
Secondly, the quality of FP matters. Even I had a hard time to have a good quality FP at home.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

As I said, I don't know what your lawyer gave you, but is was most likely not for CIS/INS.

As I mentioned earlier, it WAS an INS form.

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

So what? But you didn't provide the FP in the application...

Then where did the FP come from? Any idea?

[pralay]

Originally Posted by ****

If you put an FP on the actual EAD card, it was of course easily verifiable with your actual FP if you presented the card somewhere.
The same with the pictures.

No, dude. FP was printed on EAD card by INS - just like GC card. I did not put my FP on EAD card.

[AJD]

Nope. A PR needs to have proof of the LPR status. The stamp or GC is such proof (the approved I-485 is not.) The stamp is in effect the same thing as the real GC. It even has the same number: I-551.

Yes, stamp on passport is I-551. But in my case the stamp has a duration of only 1 year whereas plastic card has a validity of 10 years. Secondly, it is not necessary to have stamp on passport, some folks had I-551 stamped on a piece of white paper where their photo was attached. Please search in this forum. Because plastic card could take longer, I-551 serves as a temporary proof of GC. Yes, both are valid GC ids but one has a validity of 1 year while other one has a validity of 10 years.

[AJD]

So having said and understood about passport stamp, is it necessary once you have a plastic card?