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DV 2025 AOS (Adjustment of Status) Process Only

azatinusa said:
I will let the experts respond, but I'll give you my personal opinion. I would pay the DV fee now and then take advantage of early filing option when available. And then hope you get your green card by late June. I personally would not wait to file the AOS package until late June (who knows what monkey wrenches the new administration may inject into the process) nor would I travel with AP as there are no guarantees you will be admitted and you lose your F1 status. There is risk you may miss the wedding, but I guess it depends on what you want to prioritize.
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Thank you for your input! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to file until mid-to-late January, as I'll be outside the U.S. from mid-December to mid-January. If I decide to pay the DV fee as soon as I’m back in late January, should I go ahead and apply for AP as a backup? Ideally, I’d receive the green card before the wedding, but if that’s not possible and I’m close to getting it, AP might be necessary.
 
MaryJks said:
I haven't received my bio letter itself until like 3 and a half weeks after the lockbox delivery date. I've called agent at some point using infopass, it was not scheduled yet. I chatted with Emma couple days later and I was able to get the date for my appointment which was 3 weeks in the future. I immediately rescheduled it for the next day and printed the notice in USCIS online account.

Interestingly, when you reschedule it asks you for a reason. Not sure if anyone ever looks at it, but I said "DV Timeline".
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But you put the date here incorrectly, or I don’t understand something...
 
jerryg said:
Thank you for your input! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to file until mid-to-late January, as I'll be outside the U.S. from mid-December to mid-January. If I decide to pay the DV fee as soon as I’m back in late January, should I go ahead and apply for AP as a backup? Ideally, I’d receive the green card before the wedding, but if that’s not possible and I’m close to getting it, AP might be necessary.
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If I were you I would apply for AP if you apply before. but you should also find out from your school what the consequences are if you are readmitted on AP.
i will also point out that plenty people submit in late June or later and get through the process fine.
as mom said, you need to weigh up the various pros and cons vs your own risk tolerance, while understanding that some of the process is just out of your control.
 
SusieQQQ said:
If I were you I would apply for AP if you apply before. but you should also find out from your school what the consequences are if you are readmitted on AP.
i will also point out that plenty people submit in late June or later and get through the process fine.
as mom said, you need to weigh up the various pros and cons vs your own risk tolerance, while understanding that some of the process is just out of your control.
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OP also needs to be mindful of the fact that AOS approval is never guaranteed. Being paroled back on AP means there’s no fall back status if their AOS application is not adjudicated by the end of the FY.

They certainly don’t want to be in the situation of the 2024 selectee who intentionally dropped out of school as soon as their AOS package was accepted as far back as September/October 2023, because they took their AOS application approval as guaranteed, only for their case to subsequently get denied in September 2024, just before the end of the FY.

Plus with the incoming new administration and its anti-immigration stance, (considering the new administration will also have control of congress), I personally wouldn’t be departing from the US (with the plan of returning on AP) prior to case approval.
 
Sm1smom said:
OP also needs to be mindful of the fact that AOS approval is never guaranteed. Being paroled back on AP means there’s no fall back status if their AOS application is not adjudicated by the end of the FY.

They certainly don’t want to be in the situation of the 2024 selectee who intentionally dropped out of school as soon as their AOS package was accepted as far back as September/October 2023, because they took their AOS application approval as guaranteed, only for their case to subsequently get denied in September 2024, just before the end of the FY.

Plus with the incoming new administration and its anti-immigration stance, (considering the new administration will also have control of congress), I personally wouldn’t be departing from the US (with the plan of returning on AP) prior to case approval.
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But that also means they would have to drop out of school if coming back on AP? the person you were talking about, it seems was one of those who always tried to use a student visa as a stepping stone. If someone is actually a serious student then the thought of having to drop out of a course is also a big concern. Depending what they are doing maybe even a bigger concern than not getting a green card.
 
Sm1smom said:
OP also needs to be mindful of the fact that AOS approval is never guaranteed. Being paroled back on AP means there’s no fall back status if their AOS application is not adjudicated by the end of the FY.

They certainly don’t want to be in the situation of the 2024 selectee who intentionally dropped out of school as soon as their AOS package was accepted as far back as September/October 2023, because they took their AOS application approval as guaranteed, only for their case to subsequently get denied in September 2024, just before the end of the FY.

Plus with the incoming new administration and its anti-immigration stance, (considering the new administration will also have control of congress), I personally wouldn’t be departing from the US (with the plan of returning on AP) prior to case approval.
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Hi Mom, thank you so much for your input! The AP route does seem pretty risky, and I really don’t want to put my current status in jeopardy, especially since I’ll be doing CPT during that time. For now, I’m thinking I’ll just start the process after I get back from the wedding in late June. I really hope it’s enough time to process everything smoothly and on time.
 
SusieQQQ said:
But that also means they would have to drop out of school if coming back on AP? the person you were talking about, it seems was one of those who always tried to use a student visa as a stepping stone. If someone is actually a serious student then the thought of having to drop out of a course is also a big concern. Depending what they are doing maybe even a bigger concern than not getting a green card.
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AFAIK, they do not have to drop out of school if coming back on AP, as they will be parole in as adjustment pending.
 
jerryg said:
Hi Mom, thank you so much for your input! The AP route does seem pretty risky, and I really don’t want to put my current status in jeopardy, especially since I’ll be doing CPT during that time. For now, I’m thinking I’ll just start the process after I get back from the wedding in late June. I really hope it’s enough time to process everything smoothly and on time.
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As long as you're also mindful of the possibility of the incoming administration putting in place new laws that may bar immediate submission of AOS application following a recent admission into the US.
 
Sm1smom said:
As long as you're also mindful of the possibility of the incoming administration putting in place new laws that may bar immediate submission of AOS application following a recent admission into the US.
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Has this been an issue before? How long should I wait before applying?

This is making me consider the Consular Processing option. I could return to my home country as early as May next year to handle everything there, but I’d need to be back in the U.S. by mid-August for classes. Could this be a better or safer option? Just for context, I'm from a small South American country.
 
jerryg said:
Has this been an issue before? How long should I wait before applying?

This is making me consider the Consular Processing option. I could return to my home country as early as May next year to handle everything there, but I’d need to be back in the U.S. by mid-August for classes. Could this be a better or safer option? Just for context, I'm from a small South American country.
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Yeah, I vaguely remember a similar attempt by the incoming administration to enforce the 90-Day rule for AOS filing back in 2017. USCIS only removed this requirement for their Policy Manual in 2021.

I don't know how CP might work out for you, so I can't tell you if it could be a safer option for you or not.
 
jerryg said:
Has this been an issue before? How long should I wait before applying?

This is making me consider the Consular Processing option. I could return to my home country as early as May next year to handle everything there, but I’d need to be back in the U.S. by mid-August for classes. Could this be a better or safer option? Just for context, I'm from a small South American country.
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Unfortunately at this stage you have no way of knowing when your number will actually be current or if there would be any delay in scheduling your interview, so I think this is actually an impossible question to answer at this stage.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Unfortunately at this stage you have no way of knowing when your number will actually be current or if there would be any delay in scheduling your interview, so I think this is actually an impossible question to answer at this stage.
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Oh wait, I just went back and read your initial post. If you expect your number to be current in Feb, why are you taking about going back in May for CP?
 
SusieQQQ said:
Oh wait, I just went back and read your initial post. If you expect your number to be current in Feb, why are you taking about going back in May for CP?
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I'll be doing an internship under CPT from late January to early May. I could head back to my country once it’s over (and even attend the wedding in June!) and handle everything from there with the U.S. Embassy while on summer break, but my main concern is how safe this option is, as I’d need to return to the U.S. by mid-August for classes.
 
jerryg said:
I'll be doing an internship under CPT from late January to early May. I could head back to my country once it’s over (and even attend the wedding in June!) and handle everything from there with the U.S. Embassy while on summer break, but my main concern is how safe this option is, as I’d need to return to the U.S. by mid-August for classes.
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I’m still not understanding, or maybe you’re not realizing that the CP process works quite differently to aos. with CP, most often, you will interview in the month your number is current. If you miss the interview, you lose out. Some countries let you reschedule (before you miss it), some don’t, some make you cancel before you can reschedule, some never get you back on the schedule. So basically if you have an interview with CP you need to get there in time. If you try delay the interview by delaying ds260 submission then all bets are off as to when you will actually get an interview scheduled. You can’t expect it to time it for the period you will be there. It may work out to what you want, but chances are more likely that it won’t. That’s why most people going home for CP plan travel back to home country for once they know their interview date.
 
SusieQQQ said:
I’m still not understanding, or maybe you’re not realizing that the CP process works quite differently to aos. with CP, most often, you will interview in the month your number is current. If you miss the interview, you lose out. Some countries let you reschedule (before you miss it), some don’t, some make you cancel before you can reschedule, some never get you back on the schedule. So basically if you have an interview with CP you need to get there in time. If you try delay the interview by delaying ds260 submission then all bets are off as to when you will actually get an interview scheduled. You can’t expect it to time it for the period you will be there. It may work out to what you want, but chances are more likely that it won’t. That’s why most people going home for CP plan travel back to home country for once they know their interview date.
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I see—I didn’t realize that with CP I could only interview in the month my number becomes current. Since I’ll be in the middle of my internship in February, it would likely be challenging to return to my country for the interview. Reentering the U.S. after showing immigration intent could potentially jeopardize my student or CPT status. Am I understanding this correctly? So in my case, CP wouldn't be a viable option?
 
jerryg said:
I see—I didn’t realize that with CP I could only interview in the month my number becomes current. Since I’ll be in the middle of my internship in February, it would likely be challenging to return to my country for the interview. Reentering the U.S. after showing immigration intent could potentially jeopardize my student or CPT status. Am I understanding this correctly? So in my case, CP wouldn't be a viable option?
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I didn’t say you could *only* interview in that month but you are pretty much stuck with whatever month they schedule you in, which is most likely to be the month you’re current in.

i don’t understand your second point. If you do CP in your home country you’ll be coming back with an immigrant visa. So immigrant intent is meaningless as you won’t be using your student visa to renter.
 
SusieQQQ said:
I didn’t say you could *only* interview in that month but you are pretty much stuck with whatever month they schedule you in, which is most likely to be the month you’re current in.

i don’t understand your second point. If you do CP in your home country you’ll be coming back with an immigrant visa. So immigrant intent is meaningless as you won’t be using your student visa to renter.
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My main concern is that I won’t be able to travel to my home country for the CP process in the middle of my internship, as I’ll be on CPT at that time, and I assume the CP process may take a while. It would make the most sense to handle this after my internship is complete in May. I hope this clarifies things. But as you mentioned, there’s limited flexibility with interview dates for CP, which means I’ll likely need to go with AOS instead.
 
jerryg said:
My main concern is that I won’t be able to travel to my home country for the CP process in the middle of my internship, as I’ll be on CPT at that time, and I assume the CP process may take a while. It would make the most sense to handle this after my internship is complete in May. I hope this clarifies things. But as you mentioned, there’s limited flexibility with interview dates for CP, which means I’ll likely need to go with AOS instead.
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Typically - assuming no issue with background checks etc - the CP process can expected to take 1-2 weeks, probably allow for 2 to be on the safer side. You’ll need to do the medical in the same country and usually that is done around a week in advance of the interview (but check the local doctor site for their specific information), and assuming all is good with the interview, a few working days to get your passport with visa back. Yes, it may be too long for an intern on CPT to take as leave, depends on your employer. and as said before its unlikely that you’d get to time a CP interview to suit you for after the internship.
 
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