Hi!
I am contacting you because I have a doubt concerning an immigration issue.
I am Portuguese and I am currently working under a J-1 visa. My husband (French) is exactly in the same situation as me. We both have a J-1 visa not subject to 2 year foreign residence.
Last year, we applied for the Diversity Visa Lottery (Green card) and I was selected for further processing (unfortunately, not my husband). We got married last June in order to apply together for the adjustment of status (I-485). We sent all the papers in the beginning of September, we received the e-mail confirmation with the receipt number and we will receive our official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) by mail anytime soon.
We have no idea how long all this process can take until we have the green card (if it will be accepted) and what are the next steps. We want to visit our families on Christmas in Europe but we heard that we might not be allowed to leave the country if our process is still pending. Do you know something about this? I also heard that we might be allowed to do it if we apply for an advance parole document using the form I-131. As you can imagine we don’t want to take any risks after all the time and money we spent applying for the green card, so we are completely OK by not going on vacation if it’s safer.
Do you think it is worth applying for an advance parole? If yes, when do you think it will be the best timing to send this form, taking in consideration we were supposed to travel the December 21st? Any other advice concerning our actual situation will be more than welcome as you can imagine this is all new for us. We applied for the adjustment of status without the help of any attorney (too expensive) so we really hope we are doing the right thing.
Thank you so much for your help. Have a great week!