Travel with AP after i-485 approved but no Stamping?

R

robin_m

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

My wife's greencard(i-485) has been approved on 8/27/04 and she received a copy of the notice few days later. She couldn't get the
appointment for passport stamping at local INS office. Meanwhile,
She left US as planned on 9/20/04 without the passport stamping and will plan to return on 12/6/04. Now we are realizing that this may be a mistake. If anybody has experience, please answer following questions.

Q1) can she return to US on the advanced parole, which is valid till 8/2005
Q2) Can she return on the approved i-485 notice? if not what is the
procedure to come to US? like can we get the passport stamped at US consulate abroad?

Q2) how long can one wait to get passport stamping after the
greencard is approved. we are afraid that there may be some
expiration dates on i-485 if we don't do the stamping in time.

Thank you in advance!
 
robin_m said:
Hi,

My wife's greencard(i-485) has been approved on 8/27/04 and she received a copy of the notice few days later. She couldn't get the
appointment for passport stamping at local INS office. Meanwhile,
She left US as planned on 9/20/04 without the passport stamping and will plan to return on 12/6/04. Now we are realizing that this may be a mistake. If anybody has experience, please answer following questions.

Q1) can she return to US on the advanced parole, which is valid till 8/2005
Q2) Can she return on the approved i-485 notice? if not what is the
procedure to come to US? like can we get the passport stamped at US consulate abroad?

Q2) how long can one wait to get passport stamping after the
greencard is approved. we are afraid that there may be some
expiration dates on i-485 if we don't do the stamping in time.

Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

she can definately enter on AP. DO NOT mention anything about
ur 485 approval unless asked. U dont need to show 485 approval notice
POE officers will probably be aware of it.

I dont think u can get PP stamped outside this country.
 
How long can one wait before I go for stamping if their I-485 has been approved and AP is valid for a year?

Thanks in advance.

-Life
 
I've contacted an attorney and provided all the information about the case. even the attorney hasn't heard such a weird scenario as one travelling without stamping after knowing that the greencard is approved. I'll update you all what they says.
 
Life Laugh said:
How long can one wait before I go for stamping if their I-485 has been approved and AP is valid for a year?

Thanks in advance.

-Life
Click to expand...

I don't think there is any time limit, but the stamping initiates the plastic card order, so why would you want to delay it? Also, you will need the stamp for traveling. Traveling on AP when you know your 485 is approved can cause issues. APs and EADs are theoretically void once you become an LPR.
 
Hi Wik and others,
thanks for your respnses. It may be a mistake to travel on AP (after knowing that the i-485 is approved, It was partly due to not getting the appointment via iPass system).

Anyway, i'm trying to understand what is the process now. if anybody has experience or know the law please share your knowledge. perhaps the only option right now is to enter US on the AP and see what happens at POE.

The other questions is how long can one (after greencard approval) wait before initiating the plastic card?

thanks in advance!
 
update - The company attorney called me, they are still looking into this this, they will bill me $250 per hour for consultation. i hope it's only a few hours otherwise it'll be too much for attorney fees.
 
robin_m said:
update - The company attorney called me, they are still looking into this this, they will bill me $250 per hour for consultation.
Click to expand...

That's impressive. Now I know why my mother wanted me to go to law school, I can make $250 an hour telling what I think, and there's no obligation for me to be accurate!

Call the POE you will be entering the US at, and ask them what they would do. What they say will happen is what is going to happen, no matter what your high priced lawyer says.
 
check this.

http://murthy.com/chatlogs/chat0913.html

Chat User : Thanks for this valuable service. If the I-485 is approved while one is outside of the U.S., can one reenter on H status, assuming it's valid?

Attorney Murthy : Yes, a person is allowed to reenter the U.S. either on the AP or the H1B visa stamp with the original H1B approval notice at the port of entry, and then, after entry, the person should go to the local office with the I-485 approval notice to obtain the GC stamp in the PP.
 
sri1dhar said:
check this.

http://murthy.com/chatlogs/chat0913.html

Chat User : Thanks for this valuable service. If the I-485 is approved while one is outside of the U.S., can one reenter on H status, assuming it's valid?

Attorney Murthy : Yes, a person is allowed to reenter the U.S. either on the AP or the H1B visa stamp with the original H1B approval notice at the port of entry, and then, after entry, the person should go to the local office with the I-485 approval notice to obtain the GC stamp in the PP.
Click to expand...

There is a difference between getting approved while traveling abroad and getting approved in USA and leaving USA without stamping - especially when it was approved 3 weeks before deperture. Murthy's answer does not deal with the later situation.
Either way I don't see any serious issue at POE as long as she can explain with a convincing reason why she did not get stamped before leaving.
 
Is it OK to travel with AP after i-485 approved but stamping not done

Any updates on this guys? I saw that my status is updated to "Approved" on the website today but I am travelling tomorrow with AP?

Any quick response is greatly appreciated...

Thank you
 
Help

Bump did anyone get an answer to this. I am in the same boat and i would appreciate anyones help in this matter
 
Hello Folks,
Any updates on this? I'm in exactly the same boat. My case was approved on Nov 22 and I'm planning to travel on Dec 10. Don't think I can get my passport stamped in such a short amount of time.
 
Hi guys,
I just called the USCIS hot line and asked them if I could leave the country after my 485 approval without getting my passport stamped and re-enter using my AP. They said Yes.
I also want to call the POE and confirm with them as well. I'll be re-entering at JFK. Does anybody know how to contact the immigration office at JFK?
 
Confirm that using AP to re-enter is OK.

Confirm that using AP to re-enter is OK.

I just came back yesterday using AP. They did not ask any difficult questions. Not even mention my I485 has been approved.

I do not have H1-B visa (expired) or any other valid visa but AP. They told me if I am going to travel again before I have the real green card, I have to have a valid AP which will expire with one month.
 
hey naiminc,
where did u enter the US? was the immigration officer aware that your 485 had been approved before you left the US?
thanks.
 
vsrajan:
I came back from L.A.
I guess that the immigration officer do know my 485 had been approved. I think that's why she told me before I get the plastic card, I still need the valid AP.
 
How do they count the approval is done, is the date on which it shows up on the site or its the date when you get the email or its the date on which I get an approval notice. What happens if you see that status is approved on the site 2 days before your departure but it may still take another week for the actual approval to show up in the mail. Isn't the approval notice a "required" document to get the stamping done.
 
I called the the USCIS hotline again yesterday and spoke to an IIO about using my AP after my 485 approval. She wasn't sure, so she transferred me to an "Officer". He confirmed that I could use my AP to return and told me to explain to the POE officer that I didn't have time to get my passport stamped before I left.

I'm scheduled to travel on Friday, Dec 10. I have an infopass appointment on tuesday, Dec 7. If I don't get my approval notice by then, I'm going to try to get my passport stamped with just my approval email(some people have done that). If that fails, I've decided to travel regardless and use my AP to come back.
 
Can one take an appointment without approval.

Can one get an Infopass appointment just in anticipation. Does the infopass appointment system asks for your approval notice number or any such key. Can one just take an appointment to be on safe side and cancel it if the approval didn't happen. Did you take the appointment after getting the email or website message change or something else?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top