should we stay ??Just filed 140 and 485 on Physical Therapy EB3 catagory

[Dev_recruit]

Hi Friends,
Here is my situation. I am on H1 rightnow and my wife is a Physical Therapist. Our 6 years of H1 are completing on 11th December, now our lawyer just filed our I 140 and 1 485 on 18th November on EB3 catagory of Physical Therapist from Vermont center. , i.e. few days back and we are expecting to receive 485 receipt in few days, but what if we do not get this receipt before 11th.
Should we leave US and wait in India for 140 to clear and do the consular processing or Should we stay back here and wait for 485 reciept to come, which may come in very few days. It is EB3 catagory so we did not require labor also, now Attorney is advising not to leave till advance parole comes.. but my question is can we stay in US legally even if we have submitted forms for 485 and 140. What if we do not get the reciept till 11th and we stay back then is it illegal??, or it is valid stay??
Please advice if anyone knows about it. I can't file extension on H1 as i have not taken any vacation in six years. and there is no reciept of 140 or 485 to file extension....
Thanks...
Dev

 

[grunggy]

Don't worry I did the exact same thing. My H-1B expired on Jan 22/04 and my lawyer applied for I-485 etc. in Dec 2003.They received it on Dec 24, 2003. I didn't get the receipts till sometime late January. You have filed your I-485 or adjustment of status and you have done it before H-1B expiry. You are fine. There is no need to leave the US. You are now considered in Adjustment of Status catagory.Your lawyer is correct on saying you should NOT TRAVEL without advance parole. Because soon your H-1B and H-4 status will expire and to get back into the US you would need Advance Parole. Also, you will not be able to work without an EAD. If it's not processed before your H-1B expires you will not be able to get an interim EAD until 90 days have passed from the time they received your application.

 

[chongyip]

I don't understand why you can't file H1 extension. It is always advisable to keep your H1 status until your I140 is approved. It is risky to just maintain your I140/485/EAD/AP because if I140 gets denied everything will become invalid.
Anyways, going back to the original question, I think you should be ok as long as you filed I485 and you have this "adjustment of status" pending. You should not travel until you get your advance parole. Normally it takes 4-6 weeks nowadays to get it. With my case, because they issued an RFE on my I140 at the very beginning, they put my EAD/AP application on hold for half a year. So never take it for granted that you'll get AP in 4-6 weeks (that's why my lawyer told me at time of filing and it didn't turn it that way, I almost had to stop working at that time).