CP or 485 ???? which is better ?

[pdesale]

Guys I'm pretty new to this. I have to take this decision by end of next week that wheather I should go for CP or 485. Looking at current economy & Layoffs I feel I should go for CP because its faster now a days.
But people say CP is very risky. Please let me know your thoughts.

[kw177]

CP or 485 ???? which is better ?

Not Legal Advice:

I remember reading somewhere that you are 25 times more likely to have AOS rejected than your CP.

On the OF 230 Pt2 (Or DS 230 pt 2) THere are a whole lot of questions (Are you practicng polygamy, were you a member of the Nazi Party etc). These are the reasons for getting rejected. The most comon cause is incomplete documentation (ie you don't have one of the documents listed in Packet IV at your interview).

Failing the medical (having TB or HIV etc) or having criminal convictions can also get you rejected.

The key thing with CP (which is different from AOS) is that if you:

1 - Have all the documents
2 - Pass the medical
3 - Have a notorised employment letter
4 - Have no crimnal history

then you CANNOT be rejected.

CP is a non discretionary process. What this means is that if you are eligible for the Immigrant Visa the Consulate MUST issue it to you. Simmalarly if you are ineligible the can't give you a break as they have no latitude to do so.

AOS on the other hand is discretionary. One INS official might see something that another doesn't think matters and then reject your application based purely on suspician (reasonable or otherwise) that something funny is going on. Although this is highly unlikely for a standard off the shelf employment based case it is still remotely possible.

A consular officer does not get that discretion and can only make a decision based on the facts available.

Assuming that your I-140 is approved and you meet 1-4 above then CP is definitely the best way to go. It's faster and simpler than AOS (3-6 months as opposed to 18-36 months for AOS).

[pdesale]

Thank you so much for your advice. My other friends are also telling me to go for CP. Now I'm also preparing for documents.
I'm very new to this, so just trying to collect documents I need. Police clearance is needed on Mumbai Consulate or not that I dont know. Some people say yes, some say NO.

Thanks again for your advice.

[suomilainen]

I feel like I have to defend I-485! Consulate Processing is perfect for some people, but for other people it can be the wrong choice. Don't file for CP if:

1. You don't want to travel on short notice (with wife and kids in tow)
2. You might lose your job in the next couple of months or your company might be bought out
3. You're happy with your job and content to wait for 6 to 12 months
4. Anything in your I-140 or past immigration history is not quite perfect (example: you are not making the wage listed on your I-140 or you were out of status for a while)

Number two is very important. If your job goes, so do your chances at CP. On the other hand, if you have an I-485 filed, you can save your application.

[abu lafya]

I485 can save you if you loose your job >180 days after filing, especially in California.
By 180 days, you will have your GC if you did CP.

(3) is not really a reason. You can do CP and stay with your sponsor for ever. (4) is what lawyer say, but in most cases doing AOS s*** you up big time because they have more discretion to reject. (see post "switching from CP to AOS").

Anyway, fact that AOS is totally unpredictable in time duration is its biggest drawback. I know of people waiting for years (one, with PD 95' recently got approval).

[suomilainen]

I-485 can save you if you lose your job LESS than 180 days after filing. The word of the CSC is that they want to be notified of a change in employer six months after filing the I-485, NOT that you have to stay with the employer for 180 days and THEN may change jobs.

Technically you may file your I-485 and be laid off the next week, and still be able to keep your petition, providing that you're able to find a new company that will hire you rather quickly.

Taking it easy at home and waiting for your approval to be mailed to you still seems a lot better than buying expensive plane tickets for the whole family on short notice to go through the hassle of CP.

Of course, here in California processing is pretty quick. If I knew it would take more than a year for my I-485 to be approved, I'd go through with CP, too.

By the way, out of hundreds of cases I've never seen an I-485 rejected, although a very few can be problematic. Other service centers may be worse.

[abu lafya]

While you are right about the law, CSC is taking the conservative approach thereby effectively requiring 180 days of work for your sponsor.

There are much more cases of rejection for I485. Many of those are either appealed successfully (with some additional time loss) or I485 is resubmitted.

Causes for rejections which are based on basic ineligibility, e.g. criminal record, contagious disease, would cause the same result for CP and AOS. However, for AOS there are much more techincal reasons for which rejection can occur.

Still AOS duration time is a big mystery. While some in CSC that filed in April'01 are getting their approvals, there are some from Feb'01 that are still waiting. Some recent approvals are from Oct'00 time frame.

For CP, however, depending on consulate 4 to 6 months is typical with small variance.