Green Card Issue time

[Gayathri Krishna]

Hi,

My visa category is F22.

My green card was approved on September 24th,2019 at Bombay embassy. I got the visa for 6 months. I entered United States on Jan 13th, 2020. I was there in the US for a month, hoping to receive the green card by then. Before I left for the US, I had given a request to change my mailing address. It took about two weeks to change it. I left the US on February 12, 2020, as I had to come back to India to attend my final semester exams. I was supposed to receive my green card within 120 days from the time I entered the US, which I didn't until May 14th that marked my 120th day. So I had proceeded to file a service request to speed up the processing via USCIS. I was initially told I can hear a response from them in fifteen days and the target date was May 29th, 2020. When I didn't hear anything from them, I called USCIS again to know that it can take an additional 15 days. So now I have to wait till June 14th, 2020 to hear anything.

What I want to know is,

1. Did I make a mistake by coming back a month later from the US? Did that affect my green card processing time?

2. Am I going in the right direction regarding filing requests to speed up my processing time? 

3. What should I do if I don't hear back in the next 15 days?

4. If at all I don't receive my green card by the time I have to return to US, will I still be able to travel using my I-551 stamp? Especially during this crisis, will the airlines understand that they can let me travel with my I-551 visa?

Thanks and regards.

[JoeF]

The stamp is valid for a year, and it IS the same as the actual GC.

Did you ask them to send the GC abroad? They won't do that.

[pontevecchio]

When and why did you get an I551 stamp? 

[pontevecchio]

If you have the 551 stamp, that is as good as a GC for the purpose of returning.

[Gayathri Krishna]

@JoeF No I haven't asked them to send it abroad

@pontevecchio I got the I-551 stamp as soon as I reached US the first. The officer gave me the stamp for one year, which apparently you need to show the validity of the I-551 on the visa. I'm aware that the I-551 is equivalent to my GC, but I'm not sure the airlines from India will understand, especially in these times when they are very particular of who to let in the aircraft to US. I read a case of a person from Romania who got stopped at the airport in Romanio by Norweigh airlines as they wanted him to produce the GC and not the I-551 although its valid. My fear is that the immigration in India and airlines will stop me from traveling to the US.

 

[pontevecchio]

The USA decides who gets on in flights to the USA. There is no issue here.