Regarding AP, my Laywer and many others in this board suggested to keep your H1 status and travel on h1. As far as i know after once you enter the contry using AP you lose your h1 status [gurus comment please]. Dut to the volume of cases AP may take somewhat longer, usually it takes 3 months time.I heard some people getting the reciept notices from TSCs already (those who filed on June 1) so 2 weeks is a reasonable conservative estimate. i hope it comes sooner.
re: visa numbers availability this time, i agree with you that majority of the cases until Mid-02 were cleared from most states. But a good number of cases from NJ, NY, VA did go to the backlog centers, those cases (such as you and me) are going to file now.. DOS expects to move the dates further in next visa bulletin. Let's just hope they don't move it back again before the 2003 mark, or else it will be forever wait again.
I have a business travel to China in late July - not sure if i'll get the AP by then. Any ideas. My H1B extension is pending too, I hope I can get it stamped in Canada before my travel to China. Any ideas on the processing times for the APs?
I would suggest to get the h1 ext and get it stamped in Canada.