AOS & Advanced Parol

[Noela]

Hi,

I am making an enquiry on behalf of my partner who is an RN in California. First, a few facts about her case:

-- Aug 2000: Entered US on Visitors Visa
-- Oct 2000: Visa extended for additional 6 months
-- Mar 2001: Married a US Citizen in NY
-- Apr 2001: Applied for Work Permit and AOS
-- Jul 2001: AOS Interview was cancelled because hubby was uncorporative; new date set for Nov 2001.
-- Nov 2001: Got work permit and moved to Calif due to problems in marriage. Was unable to attend the AOS interview, so the application was abandoned.
-- Jul 2002: Began employment green card application process: applied AOS, AP simultaneously. Did Medicals
-- Dec 2003: Got new work permit,since 2001 permit expired.
-- Feb 2004: (re AP application) INS asked for all entry/exit documents (I-94s) & extension of stay documents & explanations for absence of any supporting documentation.The RFE to be submitted by April 16 2004.
-- Mar 2004: Fingerprinting done

Now I have two questions:

1. INS website does not usually give any specific dates for completion of application processes, but given that they have sent her an RFE, does that give any indication as to how soon they would be able to adjudicate on her AP application - in otherwords, does the request for evidence, and fingerpriting indicate how close they are to completing the assessments - both AOS and AP?

2. Between Nov 2001 and July 2002, though she had a work permit and was working, she was technically out of status since she had abandoned her marriage-based application for AOS (by not showing up at INS interviews). Does this (ie, the fact of being out of status) mean that she would experience difficulties in getting her AP and AOS ?

thanks in advance for your thoughts..

MN

 

[140_takes_4ever]

1. RFE is usually signifies that the case has moved into a IIO's domain and he/she is looking at the file and has requested additional information to adjudicate on the file. RFE in the AP stage signifies nothing as far as AOS is concerned.

2. Being out of status for a short duration, might not completely jepordize her Green Card but it might lead to problems if she leaves the country. Re-entry into the country is done by immigration officiers who will go through her past history and if she has any descrepancies they might reject her entry into the US. But as far as AOS is concerned, she should be okay if she gets a good lawyer and has a good story to explain the lapse.

You will offcourse need to discuss this with your lawyer since it is a slightly more complicated case and more details are required along with a better understanding of the immigration law!

Good luck!