Urgent! 485 approved while out of country

G

Gogol75

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,

My wife is currently in India. I got emails from CRIS yesterday stating that our 485 has been approved and welcome notice has been mailed. My wife is coming back tomorrow. She does not have AP. She has a valid H1B visa stamp on her passport and a valid H1B approval notice.

My lawyer said she should use AP but she doesn't have that. Can she enter on H1B or will this be a problem because 485 has just been approved?

Please advise what can we do?

We waited 9 years for this approval and even after its approved the tensions don't stop!
 
She did nothing wrong, so no reason for tension.

She can just enter like she normally would through the visitor's section (since she won't have her GC with her but will enter on her visa). She should go through with no problems and get a I-94. Once she's admitted, well, she's admitted.

Your concern is whether entering on a visa will be a problem because her I-485 is approved. No. There are two possibilities: 1- The immigration officer will not discover this, or 2- the IO will discover this, and she will have to either pretend she doesn't know (since it just got approved 2 days ago and she was abroad) or state that she was informed of the approval just before leaving India and the green card has not been received at her US address yet as far as she knows. Whatever happens, there shouldn't be a problem at all since she did not abandon her application since she has a valid H visa and is returning on it.
 
She can tell the IO that her I-485 was approved. If they can confirm it in the computer they will stamp her passport and she will enter in LPR status. Otherwise she will enter in H1B status and get a I-94 but effectively she will be in LPR status because of the I-485 approval notice.
 
Theoritically anyone with pending I-485 could be approved while he/she is abroad on H or AP beside other status. This person suppose to be returned back with the status he suppose to have before travel. The wrong thing many think about is to mail the GC or AP overseas to that person and this is a violation. Let her to say the truth that she know that her I485 approved online andvthat is it
 
Gogol75 said:
Hi all,

My wife is currently in India. I got emails from CRIS yesterday stating that our 485 has been approved and welcome notice has been mailed. My wife is coming back tomorrow. She does not have AP. She has a valid H1B visa stamp on her passport and a valid H1B approval notice.

My lawyer said she should use AP but she doesn't have that. Can she enter on H1B or will this be a problem because 485 has just been approved?

Please advise what can we do?

We waited 9 years for this approval and even after its approved the tensions don't stop!
Click to expand...


Ask her enter with H1B. That is the safest method.
 
Would it be fine to send an approved GC to an applicant overseas so that they can enter the US with it? If so, how long can they stay outside the US before they have to enter.
 
same thing

jk0274 said:
She did nothing wrong, so no reason for tension.

She can just enter like she normally would through the visitor's section (since she won't have her GC with her but will enter on her visa). She should go through with no problems and get a I-94. Once she's admitted, well, she's admitted.

Your concern is whether entering on a visa will be a problem because her I-485 is approved. No. There are two possibilities: 1- The immigration officer will not discover this, or 2- the IO will discover this, and she will have to either pretend she doesn't know (since it just got approved 2 days ago and she was abroad) or state that she was informed of the approval just before leaving India and the green card has not been received at her US address yet as far as she knows. Whatever happens, there shouldn't be a problem at all since she did not abandon her application since she has a valid H visa and is returning on it.
Click to expand...

same situation. i have h4 visa and planning to leave the US (go to my country of origin) to study.. green card is still pending.. so im going to use my h4. it is valid until june 2009.
and my reciept date is july 20, 2008 (NSC). do you think there will be no problem when i go back in the us before june 2009?
 
what if...

jk0274 said:
She did nothing wrong, so no reason for tension.

She can just enter like she normally would through the visitor's section (since she won't have her GC with her but will enter on her visa). She should go through with no problems and get a I-94. Once she's admitted, well, she's admitted.

Your concern is whether entering on a visa will be a problem because her I-485 is approved. No. There are two possibilities: 1- The immigration officer will not discover this, or 2- the IO will discover this, and she will have to either pretend she doesn't know (since it just got approved 2 days ago and she was abroad) or state that she was informed of the approval just before leaving India and the green card has not been received at her US address yet as far as she knows. Whatever happens, there shouldn't be a problem at all since she did not abandon her application since she has a valid H visa and is returning on it.
Click to expand...

what if the green card had been approved for 6 months and i was outside the country, can i still use my VALID H4 VISA to enter the US?????
 
Oh - 6 months? Well the short answer is that you can try. If the IO does find out that you have an approved I-485, being out of the country for 6 months while holding permanent residency is bound to make the immigration officer suspicious, if not hostile, because you're using an H-4 visa to reenter 6 months after obtaining your green card and this will naturally beg the question of where your "center of life" is. Be prepared for such a scenario, and have evidence that you don't intend to leave the US again (i.e. are returning to a job, have a house here, etc etc)
 
That's a relief. Can you please share what happens at the POE when an applicant [ with H1 visa stamp whose AOS has been approved ] goes to the immigration window?
Did she volunteer any information regarding approval of her AOS? Did she enter as H1 or was her passport stamped with permanent status?
Gogol75 said:
Thanks everyone. My wife entered using her H1B. No questions asked at the POE.
Click to expand...
 
Jefkorn,

No information volunteered. The officer looked at H1B stamp and approval notice and gave her the I-94 using H1B.

In our case the approval happened a day before she was flying back and we hadn't received anything in the mail.

She faced no problems at the port of entry.
 
Last Action Rule?

Folks,

I have the same situation.
(1) I entered the US on Jul 11th on H1B status.
(2) On Jul 14th, my I-485 got approved (got e-mail saying so).
(3) I got the green card straight away on Jul 17th
(4) However, on my green card it says that I have been permanant resident since Jul 9th !!

Will the fact that I have been admitted on H1B after the theoriticacl Resident Since Date invalidate my green card as per the Last Action Rule ?

Gogol75 - how has it worked out with your wife. Has she used her green card subsequently to travel abroad?
 
No problem here. The following answer is a bit too detailed in legal jargon but you have nothing to worry about in my opinion.

Legally, you are officially "admitted" when your I-485 is approved, and green card holders are not officially seeking "admission" to the US when they present at a port of entry (although, at the same time, they must not be deemed "inadmissible" but that's a separate topic not relevant here). If your LPR status was updated in the CBP border computer system by the time you arrived, you would not have been allowed to use your visa to enter but would have been (probably) taken to secondary inspection, processed, and let in as a permanent resident. The fact that you were seemingly "admitted" in non-immigrant status means that you weren't showing up as an LPR on the CBP officer's system. So no problem there.

In your case, the last action rule would also mean that you are a permanent resident. Remember that the immigration officer is a CBP inspector and not a USCIS officer, and stamping a I-94 is not a "last action". The "last action" in your case was the USCIS approval letter for your I-485. The H-1B approval (or extension) notice that you used to obtain your H visa was your previous USCIS action. So on this topic, you are also okay.

Lastly, if you are still worried about the fact that you received a non-immigrant entry stamp on a date after the "Resident Since" date on your green card, that will not invalidate the green card as you wrote, because 1- The permanent residency supersedes any non-immigrant status, 2- you were ineligible to enter the US on a non-immigrant visa since you were an LPR, so THAT H-1B stamp would be the invalid one, not your LPR status, and 3- the actual proximity of dates regarding your entire scenario will lead any reasonable person to understand what happened if ever you are confronted about this (highly unlikely).

So do not worry, do not take any further action, and enjoy your new status :)
 
labor_headache said:
Folks,

I have the same situation.
(1) I entered the US on Jul 11th on H1B status.
(2) On Jul 14th, my I-485 got approved (got e-mail saying so).
(3) I got the green card straight away on Jul 17th
(4) However, on my green card it says that I have been permanant resident since Jul 9th !!

Will the fact that I have been admitted on H1B after the theoriticacl Resident Since Date invalidate my green card as per the Last Action Rule ?
Click to expand...

Your green card is secure. But to be safe when applying for citizenship, start counting your 5 years from July 11, not July 9, so you won't have to argue with the interviewer over it. Or July 14 to be a little bit safer.
 
GC approved while outside the country

Hi,

My GC was approved two days ago while I am in India. I have a valid H1B stamped. No AP. I am planning to return to US in two days.

What should I do at the POE?

Thanks,
Gayathri
 
You can return with the valid H1B, no problem. They'll realize your I-485 is approved and they'll take you aside to process your admission as a permanent resident.
 
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