If you leave without AP, you risk a lot
Anyone who leaves the US with under the impression that their AP will be approved, and their significant other will mail to them, be warned.
It is becoming increasingly routine for NBC to delay the AP, because they have send your file to the DO and your interview notice is being mailed. As such, when you naively leave the country with the hope that this is going to be approved and husband or wife will mail the AP abroad, you will be in for a rude awakening.
Once the USCIS send an interview letter, getting them to work on your AP is really difficult as they feel like you should be more concerned about getting your GC and travel freely. Also, they can't pass an opportunity to screw you for the fee of AP.
So, when your interview letter arrives in the mail and you husband or wife is the only person in the US, you are abroad, how the heck do you plan to come back to the US when your AP isn't approved?
It is best to wait to see the AP in the mail, and go crazy on your world tour before the interview, knowing that you will be allowed back into the country as soon as your interview date is set.
For all of you who leave with the hope and trust in the USCIS that all will be done as you wish: do leave at your own peril. For most people, it is a lot easier to fight an injustice from USCIS from within the US instead of being abroad.
There are people never get their AP approved, and their GC are approved because of the fast processing in some DO. Lastly, if you were an overstay of more than couple of years, my advise is that stay put till you have a GC physically in your hands because the POE officers can mistreat you and deny you entry to the US, even with a valid AP. So, unless there is a major pressing issue forcing you to leave the US, then please stay here before you cause unnecessary issues for yourself and spouse.
Again, leaving without an AP cause an abandoment of your case if the AP isn't approved, because the I-94 will be taken from your passport and send back to USCIS, who will immediately kill your petitions as you left the country. You can't expect USCIS to read your mind, oh.... she or he applied for AP, so once he or she is approved she or he will back into the country. Oh...then let us not cancel or deny this petition because we have been so slow in processing her or his AP. No... no...no... you are going to lose big time...
