[URGENT] My I-485 approved while traveling on L visas with my wife, my wife's not yet

[degiiiii]

Hi,
I have a very serious situation that I need your help with. I am on L1a visa and my wife is on L2 visa. We both had pending I-485 when we took a trip abroad 2 weeks ago. My I-485 was approved last week (while abroad), but my wife's hasn't been approved yet. We had advance parole, but it expired in March 2017 and we did not renew them as we are traveling on our L-visas. My wife has a work permit with her. My neighbor mailed me my green card and I will have it with me when we return.

It looks like that because my I-485 was approved, my L1a visa is not valid any more (is that true?) and therefore my wife's L2 visa is not valid anymore (is that true?). Therefore, even though she travelled on L2 visa going out, she cannot travel on L2 visa when returning.

We know we should have renewed our advance parole now that we understand the situation better . Some questions:
- can I still travel on L1 visa and my wife on L2 visa? our visas expire in 2018
- what other options do we have? we did not expect my I-485 to be approved while we are abroad, but can really nothing be done for her to return to the U.S.? there must be something...

We are desperate for some information and help. I am already talking to my lawyer for the past week, but except waiting for my wife's I-485 to be approved as well, he does not give me any good advice.

Thank you!!!

[inadmissible]

It looks like that because my I-485 was approved, my L1a visa is not valid any more (is that true?) and therefore my wife's L2 visa is not valid anymore (is that true?). Therefore, even though she travelled on L2 visa going out, she cannot travel on L2 visa when returning.

This is correct. While she might get away with entering on her invalid L-2 visa (furnishing the approved petition and your proof of employment) that would be fraud

I see some options:

She can apply for advance parole nunc pro tunc. USCIS will consider granting backdating her advance parole if they are convinced the mistake was through no fault of the alien. In this case, the chances of them granting such relief is close to zero. Alternatively, she can apply for advance parole (or its extension) now, and present herself at the port of entry and ask the CBP officer to exercise favorable discretion in backdating her AP. Her chances of success with that is better than zero, but it isn't great either

You can file Form I-824 to instruct USCIS to forward your I-140 to the National Visa Center to initiate consular processing

She can obtain some kind of non-immigrant visa that permits immigrant intent, like a H-1B, L-1A, or L-1B. She'll have to get a job offer with an employer willing to sponsor such a visa. She probably doesn't qualify for an L visa because she hasn't been working abroad continuously for a year. The next H visa lottery is in April, so that leaves cap-exempt H visas as her only option. She should find a job at a non-profit, school, research facility, or government agency so she can get a cap-exempt H visa

You both probably should simultaneously explore all these options - the shotgun approach

Best of luck

[degiiiii]

My wife's green card was approved before we took the trip back. Using her approval notice, she was able to get in successfully.

[Yestoel92]

Good to hear that. All the best.