I 94 expiration date...

I

i485Jan

Registered Users (C)
I Went to india and came back on Advance parole. My Advance parole expires on Feb 2003. But my EAD expires only on May. In my new I 94, the immigration offiicer put a seal saying that 'Advance parole until Feb 2003'.

My question is, do I need to apply for a new I 94. What is the validity of my current I 94 after Feb 2003??
 
Theoretically whatever I-94 you may have is entirely irrelevant as far as maintaining legal status as long as you were in status when your I-485 was filed.
Nevertheless INS still requires you to use I-94 when entering on AP. Previously they used to parole you "indefinetely", but recently the policy changed to issuing I-94 for the validity of AP. Nobody knows exactly why the practice has changed or what it means, because, again, as long as your I-485 is pending your are authorized to stay in the US, regardless of what your I-94 says.
Bottomline - talk to your lawyer if you're worried, however I-94 is of no importance to adjustees and long as I-485 is pending. ( As a re-assuring example, consider a situation of a person who originally stayed in US on H1-B and then filed I-485 and never left US until AOS got approved. His H1-B- based I-94 expired before the approval...and he was still considered in status ).
 
This seems right but I happen to remeber someone from INS talking about need to renew I-94 and/or AP in this situation. I am not sure if INS has issued a memo in this regard or it was just a loose talk. I think I read it on some immigration website. This, however, does not make any sense to me. But, then, stamping I-94 to a specific date does not make sense either.

Please talk to your lawyer and post his openion.
 
I did ask my lawyer about this right about the time they started practicing that - end of October. Here's what he said:

We have noticed this INS practice. So far, it hasn’t been a problem but I understand your discomfort. When a person has both H and AP, I advise them as a precaution to travel on the document that gives the longest time on the I-94, though this is unnecessary. The I-94 becomes irrelevant once an AOS (I-485) is filed because the INS has a written policy that the filing of the I-485 stops any unlawful presence. Therefore, expiration of the I-94 has no effect.
 
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