If autsubmit set to true, then your file is being submit as soon as user chooses it. You may want to turn it off and submit it when user clicks the submit button.
If your value property ain't preserved after submit (for example if you point to bean in backingBean scope), you will have no value as soon as submit completes. You can save it in viewscope variable for example.
Here is nice sample of how file uploads should be done.
Don't forget to set <af:form usesUpload="true">
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And one more link with Demo App included.