Check existing binding commitments before changing the start date. A contractual date does not become optional because consent is delayed. Review extensions, exit conditions, and financial consequences with the relevant parties, then adapt the immigration schedule to the arrangement actually available.
Decide the fallback before you need it
Agree in advance what happens if consent slips: extending the outside closing date, renegotiating the escrow release, or withdrawing. Each choice changes the evidence of committed capital, so revisit the file after any amendment. Keep visa validity and the authorized period of stay recorded on the Form I-94 as separate facts, and avoid resignations, leases or school registrations that assume a date nobody controls.
Fix dates for the translator's final list, the counterparty's response, the signed amendment and the packet review, and treat a missed date as a decision point rather than a delay to absorb. In practice the accepted approach is an escrow: the purchase price is deposited with a third party under instructions that release it to the seller on visa approval and return it to the buyer on refusal. Maintain a delivery contingency in case government review extends beyond the customer’s preferred date; neither urgency nor contractual penalties guarantee a decision.