applicants from the US with F1 visa

[bonny]

I sent my full docs to Buffalo, NY recently. I'm a doctoral student and on F1 visa here in the US. Reading the posts on this forum, it seems Buffalo is taking ages to even send AORs. My student visa (F1) will expire sometime soon but it will take a while (may be another 1.5 yrs) for me to finish my degree. I do not plan to go back to my home country for the renewal of my visa. I just want to finish my studies first and then go back. I wonder if expiration of my American visa would have any bearing on my application--I mean, do they make a fuss about whether or not I have a valid visa at the time they would hopefully start processing my case. Of course, I sent them a copy of my valid visa (which expires around July 2011) at the time I sent full documents to the Buffalo office. I wonder if they start processing my case after July 2011 and my F1 visa expires if that would have any bearing (although I would still be staying in the US legally)! Is/Was someone on the same boat? Can someone shed some light on this? Thanks! Please share your experiences.