British Expats - We left for the UK during AOS and before AP received long long long

***Please delete as I also posted this in the marriage based visa section as well*** I do not have sufficient rights to delete this post, thanks

ok,

I am sure that this post will be riddled with criticisms etc, but none of this matters as long as we can get some thoughts here.

My wife and I decided that it was time to get out of the US since she was 7 months pregnant and had no medical insurance in the US. It wasn't an easy decision, but we are confident that we made the right one for now.

Like it or not, we did acheive a full fee waiver on forms I-485, I-765, I-130 and I-131 from the US government based on reasonable premises.

My wife was going to have her biometrics taken for EAD on the 14th of february, but we did not even have a phone line to call USCIS and tell them that we were leaving.

We left the 4th of February 2004.

As far as where I got the money for us to leave the US for you impending critics...I had to use the last bit of my credit to get two plane tickets the hell out of there.

As far as my rights to reside in the UK are concerned I have a spousal settler's visa so that part is fine.

However,

I did have to leave behind my 4 year old son from a previous marriage (visitation rights were being destroyed by a rich and malicious ex wife anyway) so when I get on my feet again we would like to go back to the US to fight for him.

I have already gone to the DCF page and it is awesome.

The only reason that I am posting here is because of the headcount and exposure, combined with the fact that my wife and I did begin AOS here.

A few questions though:

1) My wife's AOS application receipt was received on December 10th just 10 days shy of the 180 day overstay 3 year bar. I understand that the overstay clock stopped then. Did it somehow restart, or might it start restarting again soon? We missed the biometrics appointment on the 14th of February as we departed for the UK on the 4th of February. (Also the airline took her I-94w at the airport on the US side) When we got to the UK they never stamped her passport as entering the UK. (Wondering if that is a bad thing or a good thing...bad I am guessing)

2) My wife was granted a fee waiver for her AP on December 10th but as of February 4th we did not receive it from USCIS. Instead of going the DCF route could we not ask US immigration to send over her AP to the UK to give her the potential to head back to the US at any time?

3) In prior posts I have read that overstay is "forgiveable" during the DCF process. How forgiveable is it, and does she stand a good chance at the DCF process? Is there anything to forgive and is it possible that she is not at all even barred?

4) Is the fee waiver process applicable to DCF as well? Not saying I would need to do it again (but just in case) as there are plenty of jobs here HOORAY!!

5) If she received permanent residency via the DCF in London, is there a time limit that she would have to return to the US by?

Thanks for any advice.