Going to India on May 7. AP is still not approved. Need help - Urgent

G

gc_howlong

Registered Users (C)
Gurus,

I need your help. I am going to India on May 7. My H1 is expired and I am working on EAD. I applied for AP on 3/16. Going by the current processing trends it looks like it's very unlikely that I'll get my AP by May 7. What are my options? Will talking to IIO help?

Your expert adivise will greatly help me. Thank you all in advance.

gc_longwait
 
working on EAD invalidates your H1; you cannot use your old H1 to either work or enter the U.S. in this case, AP is the only document that can get you back in.

if it is an emergency situation, you can get an emergency AP from your local BCIS office. otherwise, don't count on being let back in in the U.S. if you choose to travel without AP or H1
 
Thanks Pork Chop.

If I go to the local BCIS office, will I have to reapply and pay the application fee again or will it be issued on the basis of the receipt notice from NSC?
 
From Experience

I just went through this one with my wife's case. In our case her AP had been approved, just forwarded on to our old address. We went to the BCIS office in Portland OR, to try to get an emergency AP because she was due to travel in about 3 weeks. Their position was that because our case was with the NSC they had no jurisidition in the case. They also did not see that this was an emergency. My guess is that they take a very literal interpretation of emergency.

Our next step was to contact the offices of both our state Senators (they very easy to deal with and very helpful). The recomendation that came out of that and our discussions with the lawyers was that we should apply to the NSC again and request an expedited approval of the case. This involves another application and fee payment. This was on 2/28 and she was due to travel on 3/12.

The strong chorus of opinion we got from our lawyer, senators officer and from this site was that she should not travel without an approved AP document in hand.

As it turned out, her original AP document got returned to the NSC and they mailed it back on 3/7 and everything worked out in the end. The second expedited AP document did not get approved until 4/1.

Now, she was not asked to show the documents when she left the country, so did she need to be carry the documents with her? This depends on your risk tollerance.

My recomendations would be to try at your BCIS office, they may help (especially if you have a real emergency), apply again to NSC, involve your Senators office and ask them to expedite. This process is too long and hard to risk screwing it up over a holiday.

Good Luck
 
Hi paulclarke1,

Thanks for such a detailed response. As you and prok chop advised, I am going to try the local BCIS office first. If it doesn't workout then I'll try the senator's office. In my case, since the AP is still not approved I am hoping that I will be spared from the pain of resubmitting the application. Hope they'll just try to expedite the process.

Thanks again for your input.
 
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