LPR spouse's Priority Date and Visa Number Concept and Link to File for (AOS - I-485)

[Maza]

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[newacct]

1. I am trying to understand how the Visa Number and Priority Date process works. (what is a Priority Date?).

For family-based categories, the priority date is the date the I-130 is filed (i.e. received by USCIS).

2. Once we (as a couple) file for I-130 Petition, how will it take to get approved.

Probably a few months.

3. How the I-130 Petition link to Visa Number (VN) and Priority Date (PD). OR there is no link to it with VN OR PD. how would we know our SPECIFIC Visa # is available and What is the significance of Priority Date. or what is the link of Priority Date and Visa #.

Every month the Department of State puts out a visa bulletin that lists a date for each category and country of birth. Only if your priority date is after the date for your category and country of birth, would you be able to proceed. Actually, there are two tables, Final Action Date and Date for Filing; they cannot give you an immigrant visa until your priority date is after the Final Action Date, but they can start the consular processing process if your priority date is after the Date for Filing. This is for Consular Processing at a US consulate abroad.

For Adjustment of Status in the US, for determining whether you can file I-485 a given month, you look at USCIS's chart. Here there is only one chart. Every month, USCIS picks one of the two Department of State charts to use as its one chart. Whichever chart the pick, is the one you must use for I-485 filing for that month. So far, the pattern for family-based categories is that for the first few months of each fiscal year (October to February or March), they use Date for Filing, and for the last few months of each fiscal year (March or April to September), they use Final Action Date.

Basically this means that every October there is a big jump in the date, and many priority dates are now able to file, and during the rest of the year it moves very slowly or even backwards. For example, right now F2A is at November 1, 2016 (and has been since October), meaning people who filed I-130 in October 2016 were able to file I-485 in October 2017, only a one year wait. But people who filed I-130 in November or December 2016 still haven't been able to file I-485, and there is a chance they might have to wait until October 2018 (almost a 2 year wait) since the dates haven't progressed much at all in recent months. So the wait time before you can file I-485 varies a lot. That's assuming you can even get into the US to file I-485 in the first place.

4. Since I am a Canadian Citizen, how can I maintain my legal status in the U.S. after 6 months over (given by Visa Waiver Program). Because I do not want to take the risk of going back and forth from America to Canada.

You pretty much can't. You are in B2 visitor status, which lasts for 6 months. You could apply for Extension of Status, but that requires attaching a statement saying why your stay is temporary and what arrangements you have made to leave, and for you that would be a lie because you don't intend your stay to be temporary. You could change into another status, but most nonimmigrant statuses also cannot have immigrant intent. The exception is H-1b or L-1 work status, but those are not things you can get easily or in a short time.

You could stay in the US illegally and wait until your spouse becomes a citizen (at which point you can AOS without status) to file I-130 and I-485 and hope that you don't get deported before then, but that's risky too, and inconvenient.

[Maza]

Thank you for the Details. Nice to know all this great information.

For family-based categories, the priority date is the date the I-130 is filed (i.e. received by USCIS).


Probably a few months.


Every month the Department of State puts out a visa bulletin that lists a date for each category and country of birth. Only if your priority date is after the date for your category and country of birth, would you be able to proceed. Actually, there are two tables, Final Action Date and Date for Filing; they cannot give you an immigrant visa until your priority date is after the Final Action Date, but they can start the consular processing process if your priority date is after the Date for Filing. This is for Consular Processing at a US consulate abroad.

For Adjustment of Status in the US, for determining whether you can file I-485 a given month, you look at USCIS's chart. Here there is only one chart. Every month, USCIS picks one of the two Department of State charts to use as its one chart. Whichever chart the pick, is the one you must use for I-485 filing for that month. So far, the pattern for family-based categories is that for the first few months of each fiscal year (October to February or March), they use Date for Filing, and for the last few months of each fiscal year (March or April to September), they use Final Action Date.

Basically this means that every October there is a big jump in the date, and many priority dates are now able to file, and during the rest of the year it moves very slowly or even backwards. For example, right now F2A is at November 1, 2016 (and has been since October), meaning people who filed I-130 in October 2016 were able to file I-485 in October 2017, only a one year wait. But people who filed I-130 in November or December 2016 still haven't been able to file I-485, and there is a chance they might have to wait until October 2018 (almost a 2 year wait) since the dates haven't progressed much at all in recent months. So the wait time before you can file I-485 varies a lot. That's assuming you can even get into the US to file I-485 in the first place.


You pretty much can't. You are in B2 visitor status, which lasts for 6 months. You could apply for Extension of Status, but that requires attaching a statement saying why your stay is temporary and what arrangements you have made to leave, and for you that would be a lie because you don't intend your stay to be temporary. You could change into another status, but most nonimmigrant statuses also cannot have immigrant intent. The exception is H-1b or L-1 work status, but those are not things you can get easily or in a short time.

You could stay in the US illegally and wait until your spouse becomes a citizen (at which point you can AOS without status) to file I-130 and I-485 and hope that you don't get deported before then, but that's risky too, and inconvenient.

Thank you.