Mr. W entered the U.S. on a visitor visa in August 2024. His wife is a green card holder, and they had married in California back in 2022. His visitor status would expire in February 2025, so he needed to secure lawful status before then and start the family-based process as soon as possible. Both had to begin at the same time.

• Only six months of visitor status remained, and a visitor visa cannot support a long stay. Waiting for the family petition to run its course would have meant falling out of status long before.
• His spouse is a green card holder, not a U.S. citizen, which puts the case in the F2A category with a visa backlog; unlike a citizen's spouse, he could not file whenever he wanted.
• Marriage-based green cards get close scrutiny, and a green card holder petitioning for a spouse has to prove the marriage is genuine thoroughly, in one go.
• A year and a half later, the family's plans changed and the pending I-485 had to be withdrawn. The client's biggest worry was whether withdrawing the I-485 would cost him the priority date and the I-130 as well.

• We ran status and immigration on two separate tracks that did not depend on each other. In December 2024 we helped Mr. W obtain an I-20 for a master's program and on December 12 filed an I-539 to change from B-2 to F-1, 70 days before his visitor status expired, leaving plenty of processing buffer. The F-1 was approved and valid until January 2027, giving him a solid status foundation.
• Just 25 days after starting the status track, we filed the I-130 on January 6, 2025, locking in the priority date. With the two tracks independent, a problem on one would not affect the other.
• We built the bona fide marriage evidence in full the first time: joint lease, joint bank accounts, joint tax returns, shared travel records, everyday chat records and photos, plus the I-864 Affidavit of Support, three years of tax returns, and pay stubs. The I-130 was approved without any RFE.
• When the F2A priority date became current, we filed the I-485, I-765, and I-131 to begin adjusting status inside the U.S.
• When plans changed, we judged exactly what to let go and what to keep: only the I-485 was withdrawn, and the I-130 stayed in processing. The withdrawal letter listed the applicant's name, A-number, I-485 receipt number, underlying I-130 receipt number, and case type, and was sent to the field office handling the case so USCIS could find it precisely and not withdraw anything else by mistake. We also told the client in writing ahead of time that the related I-765 work permit and I-131 advance parole would end along with the I-485.

Date	Milestone
08/21/2024	Entered on a visitor visa; status valid until 02/20/2025
12/10/2024	Obtained an I-20 for a master's program (change of status)
12/12/2024	Filed I-539 to change from B-2 to F-1
01/06/2025	Filed I-130, locking in the priority date
05/2025	Filed I-485, I-765, and I-131
08/2026	Plans changed; I-485 withdrawn
09/21/2026	I-130 approved with no RFE (F2A, spouse of a green card holder)

The real value of this case is not the withdrawal at the end. It is the decision, a year and a half earlier, to split "status" and "immigration" into two tracks. Status was backed by the F-1, immigration by the I-130 and its priority date, and the two stood on their own. So when plans changed and the I-485 had to go, only the in-country adjustment path was dropped: he never lost status, the priority date locked in January 2025 was kept in full, and the I-130 finished processing and was approved without an RFE. If he later switches to consular processing abroad, he can file an I-824 to have the approved I-130 sent to the NVC, though the I-824 itself takes a while and needs to be planned for.

A side note: consular processing has a one-year DS-260 deadline

If you switch to consular processing after the I-130 is approved, the NVC will notify you when your priority date is current. From that notice, you must submit the DS-260 immigrant visa application within one year. If you do not, your registration can be terminated under INA 203(g).

Termination is not the end of the road: within two years of the notice, you can ask to reinstate the registration if you can show the delay was caused by circumstances beyond your control. Once that window passes, the approved I-130 may also be revoked, which means starting over.

So for anyone going the consular route, take every NVC notice seriously, especially the "priority date current" one: the one-year clock starts that day.

I-130 approved with no RFE; the I-485 was withdrawn midway with no loss of status and the priority date fully kept.