Question regarding Advance Parole

[Xiaoli]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in a very complicated situation at the moment and hope to get advice from you. I came to the states on L1-A visa and 2 months before my I-94 expires, I submitted the documents for my visa extension. It was a long and excruciating experience waiting for the result. I was told it would be done in 2-3 months, but I waited for 14 months and I got denied at the end! My attorney helped me start my AOS and the PD is July 3rd. I just received my EAD and I'm so excited! But I just found some posts online where people mentioned that because my visa got rejected at the end, my unlawful presence starts the day when my i-94 expires! If that's the case, I would have accumulated a long time of unlawful presence which would trigger the 10 year bar! I feel totally confused and frustrated. I had followed the attorney's advice all the way and she told me as long as I submitted the documents in time, I wouldn't be considered as accruing unlawful presence. Now has anyone had the success of using AP when there was possible " unlawful presence" involved? Or anyone that got the 3 year or 10 year bar using AP because of the unlawful presence?

Thank you so much.

[newacct]

First, your "unlawful presence" did not start accruing when your I-94 expired. You do not accrue "unlawful presence" for as long as a timely-filed, non-frivolous Extension of Status or Change of Status application is pending, regardless of the ultimate result. You only started accruing "unlawful presence" when the Extension of Status was denied.

Second, leaving the US on Advance Parole does not count as a departure for the purposes of the 9B unlawful presence ban. Even if you had years or decades of "unlawful presence", leaving on Advance Parole will not trigger a ban.

[Xiaoli]

First, your "unlawful presence" did not start accruing when your I-94 expired. You do not accrue "unlawful presence" for as long as a timely-filed, non-frivolous Extension of Status or Change of Status application is pending, regardless of the ultimate result. You only started accruing "unlawful presence" when the Extension of Status was denied.

Second, leaving the US on Advance Parole does not count as a departure for the purposes of the 9B unlawful presence ban. Even if you had years or decades of "unlawful presence", leaving on Advance Parole will not trigger a ban.

Thank you so much for your reply. I was curious because I saw on the notice i received from USCIS that if there was unlawful presence, I might have trouble using AP...