my excellent advice..
vpampatt.. please take what I say with a grain of salt... here's what I did
Applied I-140 with AOS option.
Got it approved (Jan2001) but then the priority dates weren't current. when they did become current, i asked my lawyer about switching to consular. they told me that it would be better to just stick with AOS as the I-824 (to switch from AOS to consular) was taking 9 months to get approved and then there was another 6 months after the case went to the NVC till the interview so we were looking at 15 months anyway. As of this year, i discovered the AC140 process, and within 3 weeks of filing my 824, with the receipt, had a case number at bombay and then 2 weeks later had my interview date.
I don't know what sense it makes to actually file the 485. It costs a lot of money and will be deemed abandoned anyway the moment you file the 824 to initiate your AC140 process (mumbai only needs the 824 receipt, not the approval to do AC140). What I would suggest is this...
Since you haven't filed your I-140 yet, just file it with the consular processing option and go that route. True, if you file with the AOS option and then do AC140 it is faster by about 3-4 months, however, note that AC140 is at the DISCRETION of the consulate. Right now mumbai is accepting any AC140 case even though on their website they talk about being less likely to accept EB3 cases (I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering but my company refused to do EB2). So my case is sadly EB3, but this hasn't been a big deal, except that had I been EB2, I would have had my green card right now because I wouldn't have had to wait for the stupid priority dates to be current last year. Stinks.. oh well...
So here's what I'd say
Do CP straight off. Don't mess with the AOS option. Who knows, the processing times could get longer. Also banking on the AC140 doesn't make sense, i wouldn't recommend it as a strategy to get your green card, rather use it for what it was intended. you filed the 485 and now changed your mind. This is because mumbai could very well say they're stopping AC140 case processing because of "load" so then you will get totally jacked as you will have to wait for the 824 to get processed in addition to the regular consular processing time. Finally only do CP if your job is rock solid.