urgent could I continue with my green card application?

I am deeply touched and saddened by your current situation. More so because my friend also died while in 485 process and his spouse is fighting to stay here.

The lawyer decided to go ahead and notify the INS of the death and this prompted a 485 denial letter from the INS. The law states that the 140 (immigrant petition) will get canceled when the primary beneficiary dies or the sponsoring company goes under. The INS went by the books and the spouse & child is awaiting final deportation proceeding orders.

Some lawyers had remarked that indicating INS was not wise and the process should have gone its own natural way unless RFE is issued. It’s your call to decide cause if you are close to 485 approval, its better to wait. Applying for AP and traveling may not be a wise decision now because you could be detained and sent back on your return. However, you could travel if you have a valid I-20 and a valid F1 stamp.

May God give you wisdom to decide. Pls notify the board and let us know how you are doing.
 
Correction to my earlier statement:

Let me also state that the "Doctrine of Dual Intent" DOES NOT apply to F1 students (only to H and L visa holders). So even if you have valid I-20 and F1 visa, you could be denied entry at the POE when a 485 is pending.

So any overseas trip is unwise.
 
I agree with Upstate_NY.

Using AP to re-enter will not let you get back to F1.
If possible, avoid travelling before I485 is approved.
However, if you do need travel and you decide you have to, you can still apply AP. Again, applying AP and using AP are two different things. At the port of entry, use your F1 visa, if you are denied to enter, use the AP as a last means to enter, but as compaqdb said you cannot go back to F1 if using AP to re-enter.
 
Thanks for all of you.
It seems like that it is not wise to travel now. The chance to use F1 to reenter is rare because of pending I-485. But using AP to reenter will jeopadize my F1 status if I-485 is rejected. I have to keep my F1 status because I am going to get my Ph.D degree no longer than one year. Even in the worst situation the recent I-485 is rejected. as long as I can keep F1 and get my ph.D degree I can still apply for GC by myself, like applying for National interest waiver.

I may reconsider the trip to China. I probably wait for I-485 for a while. If it is approved, I should have no problem to travel. If it is rejected, I can just go ahead to use F1 to travel without pending I-485 problem. The only hope is that the I-485 processing can be recovered in the nearly future. My rd (11/23/01) is very close to that.

I talked to my parents about this issue. Even they missed me very much. It is 5 years since my last goodbye. But they recommended to make sure everything before I make this trip.

By the way, I didn't get one day AP yesterday. I am going to mail it out and use this as a backup as people suggested. At the same time, I am contacting a few immigration lawyer now. It is just too much for me to take. I have so many things to do. But I feel very lucky that I have all of you. Even I don't knowwho you are and where you are from, but I can feel the distance between us. I consider all of you here as my friends if this is not to rude for you.

Thanks again!
 
Another possible option

Please DO discuss this with your immigration lawyer.

Withdraw your I485. In case your I485 is denied and you're subject to removal and cannot continue your F1 study.

If your husband's I485 is approved, you file follow up to join in I485 again(check with the lawyer about requirements of primary application to file follow-up-joinin, and if this is possible under your circumstance, I remember that the followup requires that you have marriage relationship before I485 approval,and this is true), at the same time continue your F1 study or file I485 by yourself. If your husband's I485 is denied because of his non-appearance for RFE/interview, you still can study as F1, and file I485 by yourself.
 
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One thing I thought about this which maybe discouraging. How can you get your green card stamp if primary applicant never stamp the passport. INS eventually will find out primary applicant has never done passport stamp. This may become problem when you apply citizenship. One safe way to do is withdraw I-485 and start to apply I-485 yourself. In this case you won't subject to remove process once your I-485 gets rejected.
 
Hello luc12,

I am really sorry to hear the news.
I read in immigration com website(in news flash tricker) abt these cases.
I cannot misguide you, but my personnel advice is send an email to rajesh kahanna at imimmigration lawyer. he can guide you in better way

hope u will get the helpful answer from you

good luck
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know that things will be so complicate. So far I am not going to withdraw my I-485 application since there is still a tiny little bit hope to get approved. I may not travel until I get results from INS about my I-485 application, no matter it is good or bad.

According to the post in this board, I can not keep my F1 status once I-485 is rejected even without oversea travelling. I have M.D. degree from China and nearly finish my ph.D. here. If I-485 is rejected, I can ask my mentor to sponser me to apply for H1 visa and work as a postdoc in the lab and continue to finish up my ph.D. My mentor and the department will do what they can do to help me out. So I assume there should be no problem. But right now I don't want to bother to apply for H1. Just hang on here to wait for I-485 decision.

Dear friends, how do you think about this? Is what I mentioned above feasible to maintain my legal status in this country once my I-485 is rejected?

Thanks!
 
A suggestion

Please accept my condolence and be STRONG.

Since I lost my password, therein not posted for a while. This time I feel compelling to contribute a little so I got my ID back.

First I agree with many previous posts not to notify INS, let your case roll.

Second, travel at H-1 status with AP will NOT loose "H-1" as "compaqdb" indicated. My wife(H-1) used it back to China and twice to Canada. But I have no knowledge about F-1 with AP.

Third but the most important is to start your own 485 application now.
I remember you're a Ph.D with either biology or chemistry. You could apply for Natioal Interest Waiver(NIW) on your OWN. The application package includes your project summary(why you deserve NIW), papers and 6+ recommendation letters(6 is non-official), etc. The help from lawyer is unnecesary since I did NIW all by myself. The timeline is not so bad, 3-month preparation and 2-month approval(at least at the beginning of this year.). Once you get NIW, you can file I-140 & I-485 together. It's LEGAL to have multiple 485 applications at the same time. If this all happens before graduation, even the worst happens, you're safe.

Fourth, an immigation lawyer will help but don't rely on them completely. Many of us found the "experts" gave wrong suggestion.

Last, I'm not sure but F-1 is a PRIMARY visa holder therefore INS won't invalidate your F-1 as long as you work toward your degree.

I'm in NYC. Please feel free to contact me by sending private message.
 
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