First of all Congrats to sanz72 ...so finally your battle is over...
I need your advice in my case .. Appreciated your reply....
I am in little confused situation....my 140 is approved.
I am planning to apply for AC21 after 180 days... I have already got my AP and EAD. I am still on H1 and wife on H4.
Wife is planning to travel to India before I apply for AC21 and she is coming back after i apply for AC21 and then after applying AC21 , I am also planning to visit India and we both will come back to usa...
so will there be any issue while coming back at the POE ?
Will there be issue like 485 Denied etc...?
I heared from couple of people on forum that they had some issues while entering at the POE....
I will Address the Travel issue first :-
We got our Advance Parole in July 2002, Since then I have travelled to India 3 times, my wife travelled 5 times, NO PROBLEMS at all, except that you are made to wait a little longer, which does cause some concern to some people, but IMO nothing to worry. Please keep in mind that when my 485 was denied, We were in India and entered the country 1 week after denial, we were still allowed to enter the country.
So I would say, No need to worry as far as Travelling on AP goes, It doesn't matter whether or not you have invoked AC-21, as long as her AP is valid, you are fine.
Now Invoking AC-21 :-
Do you have a copy of your approved I-140 ? If you dont and you cant get it from your employer, I wouldn't suggest invkoing AC-21, because that is the first document you will need in case of an I-485 denial.
How comfortable is your GC sponsoring Employer going to be with your decision to invoke AC-21 ?
If he is okay with you leaving his company for better opportunities then no Problems at all and you need not worry.
If he is going to Withdraw the Approved I-140 (Yes they can withdraw even an approved I-140) then there is a good chance that you will get an RFE for Employment Offer, there is a slight chance of I-485 Denial esp of the Officer assigned to you is negligent and ignores your AC-21 lntent. (which is why my case was denied).
If your case is indeed denied (which I hope and pray doesn't ), then it is a problem and you need to act fast. You also have to make sure that your lawyer is competent enough to handle this situation and both mentally as well skillwise. You may need to file your MTR, you lawyer will/should know the procedures.
Also if you are on EAD and your I-145 is denied, your employer may ask you to stop working even though your EAD is valid. In my case, my employer allowed me to work until the EAD expired. Although when me existing EAD expired and the application to RENEW my EAD was denied, I had to stop working and it took 2 months before my MTR was opened and a new EAD application had to be filed. Bottom Line - I was unemployed for 2 months, It could have been a lot longer, had my employer not allowed me to work on Existing EAD.
To avoid this kind of situation - I STRONGLY recommend that, if you are going to invoke AC-21, continue to maintain your H1 status, which means that ask your new employer to transfer the H1. If the new employer doesn't want to do it, find someone who wants to do it. It is a safer option.
Safest option is ofcourse to continue with your present employer, Which is very hard sometimes. In the end you have to make a decision, Please let me know if you have any doubts.
FYI - Please note that - I invoked AC-21 twice, once in July 2003 and again in March 2007.
