Should I go for adjustment of status or not?

[IuliaB]

Hi! I was wondering if there are people who can relate to my situation and I would really appreciate some advice. I am married to permanent resident. The petition filled for me was approved last year and my priority date is to become current in about 2 months. My visa category is F2A and the PD is OCT 2015. At the moment, I am in the United States with a B2 tourist visa. My i-130 being approved, I know that I am eligible for applying for adjustment of status. But I have this question. Which way do you guys think is the quickest or the safest one? The adjustment of status or the consular processing? I would save myself from a trip back home, but we don't want to mess things up right now at the end. Do I take any risks, concerning the length of the process that I have ahead or the final approval of my case, by applying for adjustment of status? Is there anyone who can relate to my situation? What would you guys do? Thank you very much!

[newacct]

Your priority date is not yet eligible to apply for Adjustment of Status. It may become eligible in the near future, but it's hard to predict when, and whether it will be before your current B2 status expires.

[IuliaB]

Your priority date is not yet eligible to apply for Adjustment of Status. It may become eligible in the near future, but it's hard to predict when, and whether it will be before your current B2 status expires.

Thanks very much for replying, newacct! But the information that I had is that, in order to be able to apply for adjustment of status, your PD must be earlier than the one listed in the second chart available on the visa bulletin, and the priority date that they have there is 08 APR 2016, so mine (OCT 2015) would fulfill this criteria. Is my information wrong? Does my priority date have to be current on the first chart in order to apply for adjustment of status? Thank you!

[newacct]

Thanks very much for replying, newacct! But the information that I had is that, in order to be able to apply for adjustment of status, your PD must be earlier than the one listed in the second chart available on the visa bulletin, and the priority date that they have there is 08 APR 2016, so mine (OCT 2015) would fulfill this criteria. Is my information wrong? Does my priority date have to be current on the first chart in order to apply for adjustment of status? Thank you!

No. You are looking at the Department of State's two charts, but those are not applicable for Adjustment of Status. Adjustment of Status is handled by USCIS and follows USCIS's single chart. Each month, USCIS's single chart is chosen from among the two Department of State charts. Usually, in the first few months of the fiscal year (fiscal years start in October), they will choose the Date for Filing chart, and in the last few months of the fiscal year, they will choose the Final Action Date chart. During this fiscal year, for family-based categories, they have chosen Date for Filing from October to March, and have chosen Final Action Date from April on. It will likely continue to be Final Action Date until September, and in October it will likely switch back to Date for Filing. In any case, you have no control over which one they choose; whichever one they choose, is the one that you must use.