Longest Time before GC outside USA

S

sandeep_wxyz

Registered Users (C)
I am on H1B visa. I also have valid AP/EAD (thru Jan 2011) which I have not activated so far.

I went out of USA on 3 months of company approved vacation (partly paid) from Dec08 thru Feb09. I came back on H1B visa.

(I need to take care of some family related topics in India)

Question#1:
If now I resign the job and leave USA for some more time,
how much is the longest time before I can leave USA and come back on my valid AP ?
Is it 3 more months...is it 6 more months?



Question#2:
Current Eb2 priority date is at Feb 15, 2004. My priority is date of Jan 26, 2006.
It practivcally means it may take 2 more years for me to get a green card.

Theoretically I wish to live outide USA as much as possible before getting my green card.
If I wish to live outside USA till I get my green card, is it legally and practically possible to do so ? If yes how ?


Thanks
 
sandeep_wxyz said:
I am on H1B visa. I also have valid AP/EAD (thru Jan 2011) which I have not activated so far.

I went out of USA on 3 months of company approved vacation (partly paid) from Dec08 thru Feb09. I came back on H1B visa.

(I need to take care of some family related topics in India)

Question#1:
If now I resign the job and leave USA for some more time,
how much is the longest time before I can leave USA and come back on my valid AP ?
Is it 3 more months...is it 6 more months?



Question#2:
Current Eb2 priority date is at Feb 15, 2004. My priority is date of Jan 26, 2006.
It practivcally means it may take 2 more years for me to get a green card.

Theoretically I wish to live outide USA as much as possible before getting my green card.
If I wish to live outside USA till I get my green card, is it legally and practically possible to do so ? If yes how ?


Thanks
Click to expand...

You are not the only one thinking like that especially those days with unstable job market but you have to keep in mind few things:
1- Being away from current priority date will not put you away from RFEs. You mostly will get FP notice every now and then (~1.5 years) even without current PD, you may get RFE to confirm working in the same field, RFE for medical forms......actually you can get any RFE ad you should respond in time fashion.
2- Resigning and leaving the country for prolonged time almost will put your pending I485 in very bad situation and highly expose it to possible denial even if you do not have current PD
3- Theoretically you can stay overseas with valid AP till its last day of expiration and come back to apply for new one and stay in US till its approval and fly again and so on. But, as said above, if your I485 get denied, the AP will not work by then even if it is not expired.
4- With pending GC, you should be cautious by keeping your job, minimize un-necessary changing address, minimize unnecessary prolonged overseas trips ......etc till approval of GC.
5- Some people withdraw the pending I485 by going to do consulate processing which will protect them to great extent from denial of their I485 and can stay overseas till its approval. You may entertain this option too and live in peace till decision will be taken in your GC.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MMED...Thank you for response.
I'll appreciate your response to my further questions below...


You are not the only one thinking like that especially those days with unstable job market but you have to keep in mind few things:
1- Being away from current priority date will not put you away from RFEs. You mostly will get FP notice every now and then (~1.5 years) even without current PD, you may get RFE to confirm working in the same field, RFE for medical forms......actually you can get any RFE ad you should respond in time fashion.
Yes...but am I required to be within USA to respond to any RFE ?


2- Resigning and leaving the country for prolonged time almost will put your pending I485 in very bad situation and highly expose it to possible denial even if you do not have current PD
Why is that so? Any specific reason ? Any sample examples of this ?

3- Theoretically you can stay overseas with valid AP till its last day of expiration and come back to apply for new one and stay in US till its approval and fly again and so on. But, as said above, if your I485 get denied, the AP will not work by then even if it is not expired.
Isn't it true even if I am inside USA ?
Even in that case, I will be staying illegally untill my defense is acknowledged. How does being inside USA put me to advantage?


4- With pending GC, you should be cautious by keeping your job, minimize un-necessary changing address, minimize unnecessary prolonged overseas trips ......etc till approval of GC.
I may be wrong on this one...Theoretically, is it suggested that I keep the same (or any) job ?

5- Some people withdraw the pending I485 by going to do consulate processing which will protect them to great extent from denial of their I485 and can stay overseas till its approval. You may entertain this option too and live in peace till decision will be taken in your GC.
New thought for me. I need to educate myself more on this point.

Thank you again,
best regards
 
sandeep_wxyz said:
Yes...but am I required to be within USA to respond to any RFE ?

No, you do not have to be in US, but what if it FP notice, what if it is questioning your job in US

Why is that so? Any specific reason ? Any sample examples of this ?
Your application and pending status is an employment besed application which does mean that you have to be in that type or similar job to keep your application in good shape. In a similar trend, if you have a pending application based on family based (e.g. marriage), you have to be married to the same spouse who you applied as a spouse to till approval and so on. If you need examples, just check this forum

Isn't it true even if I am inside USA ?
Even in that case, I will be staying illegally untill my defense is acknowledged. How does being inside USA put me to advantage?

With pending I485 you will be never in illegal stay, the pending I485, with or without EAD, with or without AP, with or without job will protect you form illegal stay. The problem as said being without job will expose the pending I485 itself to adverse effacts to the extent of denial.

I may be wrong on this one...Theoretically, is it suggested that I keep the same (or any) job ?
You have to be in the same or similar field (not same job). For example, if your job is professor of biology in university X and university X changed you job to be help desk expert, then you are not in the same field despite you are with the same employer (university X). If you moved as chemistry professor in university Y, you are still in similar field with almost no adverse effects on your pending status.

New thought for me. I need to educate myself more on this point.
Yes, you can search the CP section of this forum to explore more

Thank you again,
best regards
Click to expand...

Yours
 
Hi MMED.
Thank you again for clarification.

I am seriously considering CP. Have created a question thread in the section Consular processing... heading is...
"For Moving to India, Switching from AOS to CP. Please Advise"


I'll appreciate if you have some suggesions for me...

best regards
 
Reg. CP and different employer's job offer during interview

Continuing to this while waiting to hear responses in my situation...
- If after switching to I-824 and then moving to India till I get my CP interview date (2 years worst case?), is it acceptable to have an offer letter from a different USA employer with similar position offering ?
(assumption is the current employer may not be in position to offer similar positions after 2 years of break with them)

A thread of someone who has gone thru this experience will be valuable too.

regards
 
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