Visa Application Times

I am really confused by the timeframe that one can adjust to LPR. According to tavel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/nvc-timeframes.html

"Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section 203(g) provides that the Secretary of State shall terminate the registration (petition) of any alien who fails to apply for an immigrant visa within one year of notice of visa availability. The petition may be reinstated if, within two years of notice of visa availability, the alien establishes that the failure to apply was for reasons beyond the alien’s control. Therefore if you do not respond to notices from the NVC within one year you risk termination of your petition under this section of law and would lose the benefits of that petition, such as your priority date."

We have one year of visa availabity in order to apply to adjust status. Currently there are TWO dates:

A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES

AND

B. DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS

Does any one know which specific priority date are they refering to?

I have an approved I 130 Priority Date March 2001 category F2B

So the 'DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS' is when you can first file to adjust of status (I-485). You don't have to apply at this time. It is the earliest you can apply based on your priority date.

The 'FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES' is when the visa is actually available. So there will be some wait time between the 'filing' and 'final action date' - but you can apply, receive work permit, etc while you wait which is a nice perk.

So the date they would be referring to should be the 'final action date' as that's when your visa is available.

Not applicable in AOS cases.

This is for cases where it gets sent to NVC or consulate, if you do nothing for a year they will take your case off the docket, if you do nothing for 2 years, then it gets sent back to USCIS. An approved petition never expires, even if NVC does drop it, you can revive it by filing I-824 and having USCIS resend it to the NVC.

What's an AOS case?
Im trying to adjust via 245i within the US

I'm going to fill out all the applications by hand. just to make sure on questions that require a box to select does it matter if we put an 'x' or checkmark to indicate our answer?

Adjustment Of Status (AOS). You're going through AOS.

AOS = Adjustment of status, which is what you're doing.

Doesn't matter.