Filing I-751 and travelling...please help

[nayla]

Hello,

We are going to file the I-751 in sept 2008. The only thing is that i'm planning to go back to my country beg nov 2008 and already got the ticket and all and i'm really concerned about the time the processing is gona take. Can anyone please answer my questions?:

- Will i be albe to get the letter for the Green Card extension before i leave here?
- Will i be able to do the fingerprints before i leave too?
- What about the interview? after how many month do they usually schedule one cause i wont be back till Jan 05, 2009, do you think i should be fine?

I called the USCSI today and they said that the interview is usually towars the end of the process which usually take a year or so.. is that true???

Thanks alot for the help in advance

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My experience was as follows:
*I-751 mailed on 11/28/07 to VT service center (I think first class mail)
*I-797 (the extension letter) arrives in early Dec. I can't remember exactly when but it is dated 12/07/07
* Letter for fingerprint appointment arrived late Dec/early Jan (it is dated 12/24/07)
* with Fingerprint appointment for 1/10/08 (yeah, pretty short notice, but one does have the option to reschedule)

Still no news on approval nor interview. The processing time calendar available on this website says that the VT service center is only now processing applications filed in April 2007, so the backlog appears severe. I suspect it is the same at the other service centers.

I have travelled overseas twice with JUST the I-797 (the extension letter) and had no problems with re-entry. The immigration officers at the airports (JFK & FLL) didn't even look at the extension letter. The one issue might be convincing an airline check-in person that the letter actually extends the validity of the expired, and far more official looking and familiar, greencard.