leaving the us...

[syl-nyc]

since my aos has been denied me and my wife have decided to leave the country. We'd rather relocate for a while than stay in this situation during the re-opening process.
Question: I'm i free to leave the country with out formalities ? I last entered as a visitor and filed for adjustment a few month later. You'd think leaving the country woulb be easy but i dont know, the letter i received said something about having to aply for "volontary departure" so i'm comfused and i dont wanna book plane tickets if they're gonna give me a hard time at the airport...

 

[hadron]

Nobody is going to keep you from leaving the US. There is no 'exit control' at the airport.

'Voluntary Departure' is a somewhat more friendly name for 'deportation light'. If you agree to VD, you will get a reasonable timeframe, I believe a couple of months to get your affairs in order and leave.

You rightfully don't divulge too much about your case, but you might want to seek advice from an attorney. There is a good chance that you will encounter difficulties on future attempts to enter the US, especially as a non-immigrant.

 

[Jim Mills]

Don't need voluntary departure unless you are in removal proceedings. The only other exception where you would want Voluntary Departure would be if you have an overstay of more than 180 days and less than 365 days. You then get yourself placed in removal proceedings, get the Judge to order Voluntary Departure, and depart before overstay reaches 365 days. This avoids the 3 year bar.