90 days waiting before applying for AOS?

[Chooti]

My husband is a DV 2010 winner and we plan to apply for AOS. He is currently a full time student on F1 and he plans to extend his I-20 (which expires in May 2010) before sending the AOS package to USCIS. Someone mentioned that we have to wait 90 days between extending I-20 and filing for AOS. I searched online for any information regarding this but could not find relevant information. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, can you please point me to additional information regarding this matter? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[txh1b]

The 90 day is for re-entry into US. That is not a rule but a good to have as F1 cannot have immigrant intent. But the fact that he applied for a DV lottery itself expresses immigrant intent. Not sure if he can overcome the burden by applying for an F1 extension. However, as he is inside the US, the criteria could be different. Best bet is to talk to the ISO of the school about the situation.

I am not sure what the need is to extend I-20 if AOS filing is being done based on DV lottery. You should contact an attorney.

[Chooti]

Hi

The 90 day is for re-entry into US. That is not a rule but a good to have as F1 cannot have immigrant intent. But the fact that he applied for a DV lottery itself expresses immigrant intent. Not sure if he can overcome the burden by applying for an F1 extension. However, as he is inside the US, the criteria could be different. Best bet is to talk to the ISO of the school about the situation.

I am not sure what the need is to extend I-20 if AOS filing is being done based on DV lottery. You should contact an attorney.

Thank you for the information. His F1 status expires in May2010 and we hope to send the AOS package (I-485) in April/May. In DV lottery process, we have to send the AOS package only when our DV lottery number becomes current. According to our number it will be current in May/June. For the processing of Green Card we have to send the AOS package closer to that period. As our visa status expires in May, we will be out of status, during the time the AOS package is processing(the time period where the AOS package is pending till the interview). Because we can't extend the I-20 after applying for an immigrant visa, we have to extend the I-20 before sending the AOS package.

A person in a forum told that, after extending I-20, we have to stay 90 days before sending the AOS package. Actually it is our problem. If we don't send AOS package on time (it will be too late if we send the I-485 after 90 days), we will not only lose the chance of getting the green card but also if the process get delayed till September 30th 2010, our I-485 will be denied.)

We can extend I-20 after we participate in the green card lottery, because they don't keep records anywhere and as it is just a lottery. But if we win, we have to file I-485 for further processing. We will get the green card only after successful processing of CP/AOS. But after sending AOS (I-485),we can't extend I-20 because we have showed them the immigrant intent (As you have also mentioned).
Please let us know, if you get to know about this 90 day period between I-20 extension and sending of AOS package to USCIS.

Thanks