How long can green card holders stay outside the US?

With immigration rules constantly changing with the pandemic situation, it is difficult to keep up to date with it all.

I am under 21 years old and live with my parents in India. I have an approved F3 family-based immigrant petition that the National Visa Center has shown as "documentarily qualified" since April 2020. My priority date became current in January 2021. I am waiting for my interview and have received three emails, each requesting I wait another 60 days for my next reply.

This fall, I enrolled in an associate degree program at a community college in Maryland. I am studying online from India. Should I apply for an expedited F3 family-based visa interview based on my educational needs if I want to go and study in the U.S.?

Requesting an expedited treatment based on a need to attend school may or may not work. But, you can certainly try and then go for the interview once it is scheduled. Although consulates have indicated that they are going to frontline family-based immigration dedicated to family unity first, there are specific categories under which you might not fall. Regardless, it is worth trying to get an expedited interview. If they cannot expedite, there is no law against requesting a student visa. It is unlikely to be granted, but as long as no misrepresentations are made, I see no harm in applying for a student visa.

I have an approved EAD/AP with my current employer. I also have an H-1B approved until 2024 with the same employer. I have plans to visit India, my home country, soon. I plan to utilize A.P. to come back to the U.S. and would like to work on the H-1B with the same employer. Is that possible? Also, if I do not receive my green card until 2024, can I extend my H-1B with the same employer.

If you have the option and the opportunity, it would be good to apply for and obtain the H-1B visa. If that is not possible, you can return on the advance parole. If you are coming to take up the same H-1B job you had when you departed from the USA, the USCIS will consider you on H-1B status. So returning on advance parole to take up the same job you left on H-1B is regarded as a continuation of that H-1B. You can apply H-1B extensions, amendments, etc., once you are in the U.S.

Does my spouse using her AOS-based EAD affect my H-1B as the primary green card applicant?

It does not. If the derivative beneficiary uses their employment authorization in an adjustment of status case, the principal beneficiary's H-1B remains unaffected.

My question is related to green card filing. My green card was filed with Employer A. I have an approved I-140. I moved to Employer B, working on an H-1B valid until April 2023. They have not yet started the labor certification process for me. My priority date is early 2012. As per the latest visa bulletin, I can file for EAD, but the final date is September 2011. Currently, I am not in the U.S., so I can't file for EAD. I hope to be in the U.S. in the next 4-5 months. Do I need to join Employer A to process my green card? What would be the best option to get the green card without wasting time when I reach the U.S.?

Firstly, you have to be within the United States to apply for your Adjustment of Status. Secondly, in your case, because a new green card process was not started, your old employer must offer you the same job, and you must join or be willing to join in good faith.

The USCIS can raise questions like employer A's continuing ability to pay the offered wages, whether the job continued to exist, etc. These issues should be discussed with your lawyers before you make any firm commitments.

Also, you can have the I-485 filed based on a job offer from employer A, the same job which was the basis of your green card. If you don't have that job offer, you cannot file an I-485.

Note further that you can only file for I-485 /Adjustment of Status when your priority date is current, and the job that is the basis of the green card is available to you right then. But, after 180 days of the I-485 pendency, you may never have to join the old employer because you can take the same or similar job anywhere. Just make sure that you have a good faith, honest intention of joining the old employer when you file the I-485. And, the employer also makes the job offer in good faith. All of these options and issues should be discussed with your lawyers.

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