Travel when i-485 is pending

[saga]

Hello,

I married a US citizen, i am already in the USA on a non-immigrant visa (L1B). I would like to apply for my greencard in the coming weeks (both i-130 and i-485) . My lawyer tells me that the green cards these days takes 1 year to be issued and 6 months to get a travel document and EAD even in family based category. is this true?

Also he tells me that i cannot travel until i get a travel document in hand (in 6 months), various online forums suggest that since i am on L1B status i can leave the country and get back in with my non-immigrant visa (L1B) is this true? Why is my lawyer insisting that i can't travel even through i posses a L1B visa.

[newacct]

Hello,

I married a US citizen, i am already in the USA on a non-immigrant visa (L1B). I would like to apply for my greencard in the coming weeks (both i-130 and i-485) . My lawyer tells me that the green cards these days takes 1 year to be issued and 6 months to get a travel document and EAD even in family based category. is this true?

Also he tells me that i cannot travel until i get a travel document in hand (in 6 months), various online forums suggest that since i am on L1B status i can leave the country and get back in with my non-immigrant visa (L1B) is this true? Why is my lawyer insisting that i can't travel even through i posses a L1B visa.

Yes, AOS can take a year but that doesn't matter so much because you can stay in the US while it is pending. Yes, it takes 5 months or so to get EAD/AP.

You are correct in that you can leave while on L1 status without AP and come back on an L1 visa and it wouldn't affect your AOS. This is a special rule for H and L statuses and is not true for other statuses, and maybe the lawyer just didn't know that. (P.S. They've recently been denying APs for people who have traveled abroad while the AP was pending, even if you had H or L status, though you can just apply again when you get back, since it's free anyway. Since you can travel abroad without the AP anyway, it's not such a big deal if you don't get it.)