Maintaining F-1 visa and traveling while I-485 is pending

[stry]

My wife (foreign national) and I (US citizen) have submitted an I-485 application and she will be receiving her EAD and advance parole card this week. She currently has an F-1 visa but she would prefer to leave school. At the urging of our attorney, however, she has maintained her F-1 status. I understand that there will be repercussions if she allows her visa to expire and her application is denied, but she is getting very little out of her classes. Furthermore, given that our AOS interview is months off in the future, she would like to travel to her home country to see her family. If she leaves the country, she will lose her F-1 visa since her school will not permit her to travel for more than one week. I am wondering whether anyone can help me with a couple of concerns that I have. First, would she be permitted to re-enter the US with only an EAD/advance parole card and a valid passport, or is a valid visa also necessary? Second, what impact would losing her F-1 status have on her application for permanent residency? Would USCIS look unfavorably on this, given that she would be entering the country without any visa? I suppose she could re-enroll in school after returning to the US, at least until she gets her Green Card (fingers crossed). Thank you for your help.

[NettieL]

At the urging of our attorney, however, she has maintained her F-1 status.

Listen to him/her. They know your case best.

[Jameswoods]

Don't listen to your lawyer, he is talking crap,I know so many individuals who came as F1 student and stopped going to class and it has zero impact on there OAS.

I myself was a F1 student, and even thought I graduated, I drilled filed for OAS after my Visa had long since been expired and it didn't affect me.

Also yes you can travel on advanced parole, it's a bit iffy coming back depending on the immigration officer you meet at the airport, but legally you can travel.

[scientist2016]

While maintaining a valid visa status is always a good option from a back-up perspective, it is not necessary. You can always allow the F1 to lapse. And you certainly can travel using the AP. That in-fact is the whole purpose of the AP card. You can also start working with the EAD card, which once again is the purpose of the EAD card. There are no legal ramifications to letting your valid visa status expire during AOS. Several people actually have no other alternative, but this. For instance let us say you were on H1, and your allotted time period expired during AOS. You would simply switch over to the more flexible EAD acquired during AOS, rather than try to renew H1, which might not be even possible if you had used the entire allotted quota of 6 yrs.

Moreover, being the spouse of a US citizen, the applicant need not even have a legal status at the time of application i.e., they can file for AOS even if their visa/legal stay had expired long before the filing the petition.