Mentol Blog's

Spouse application (secondary 485) is approved and received card in 2 months back but mine (primary application) is still pending? Is one in same boat? Please advice?

India EB3; PD: Feb 2002
Service Center: NSC
Receipt Date: 06/06/2007.
Notice Date: 06/15/2007.

Demand application numbers by PD , country and category for every month starting from 1998.

Let's push to achieve IV action items first!

Have you sent your 4 cards and the YouTube video?

Labor and I140 (except NIW cases) are applied through employer and is employer centric (unforunately) and they have every right not to give it to you. The lawyers won't give it to you either as they can be sued by company for doing that (based on what a well known lawyer told me).

Your best bet is to petition through Freedom of Information Act (google or check immigrationportal forums for more info) for these things and you can get a copy from USCIS. People seem to have done this successfully. However, this takes time.

Some one please advice!!!!!!

Hello,

I am in serious trouble. Sometime ago I tried to switch my I-140 from EB3 to EB2. Now I get NOID to deny 140. Something related to prevailing wage (lawyer has actual letter). In my LC the offered wage was OK for EB3 but low for EB2. Lawyer says he'll try to reinstate EB3, but not sure. Has any one of you been able to reinstate EB3 140? Please help...

Ask the lawyer to give you a copy of the RFE.

I have answered that question many time on this forum. USCIS, lawyers and other forum guests have not been able to answer the question of what happens to an H1 extension when the underlining I140 is revoked. So I guess the H1 is not revoked.

That sounds like a great idea except what would happen if you transfer the company and the current company revokes your I-140. The 3 year H1 extension is based on the approved I-140 but if that underlying I-140 is revoked, would the H1-B still valid or is that one of those gray areas?

I personally really like this idea. Thanks a lot for this suggestion. Didn't think of that before.

which service center?

Send email or call your consulate in India. They will either be able to update it or let you know what to do. You should be able to correct by hand when you go for the interview.

Now, that's a good idea. How about Cutting Permanent Residency Delays.

18 months is too long for citizenship applicants, and 6 years not too long for permanent residency applicants.


===

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/us/12citizen.html

Agency Acts to Cut Delay in Gaining Citizenship

By JULIA PRESTON
Published: January 12, 2008
Federal officials said Friday that they had agreed on an emergency plan to hire back about 700 retired government employees in an effort to pare an immense backlog in applications for citizenship by legal immigrants.

Under the plan, first proposed by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, retired workers could return to the federal Citizenship and Immigration Services agency without sacrificing any part of their pensions. The agency will be authorized to hire former employees who have long since passed training programs and could be on the job quickly to help handle the more than one million citizenship applications filed in the first 10 months of last year, Mr. Schumer said.

The required waiver was approved in a letter on Thursday to immigration officials from Linda M. Springer, the director of the Office of Personnel Management.

The rehiring program is one step to help the immigration agency overcome an embarrassing backlog. Legal immigrants, saying they were spurred by a fee increase that took effect July 30 and by worries raised in the fierce political debate over immigration, applied in huge numbers last summer to become citizens. They were aided by a nationwide drive led by Hispanic groups and Univision, the Spanish-language television network.

According to its Web site, the immigration agency is projecting that it could take up to 18 months to process citizenship applications received after June 1. Hispanic groups have protested that hundreds of thousands of applicants would be unable to vote in the presidential election.

“It’s a problem of their own making,” William Ramos, director of the Washington office of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, said of the agency. “We kept telling them, there is going to be a surge.”

In recent days, the immigration agency confirmed that it received 1,026,951 citizenship applications from last January to October, nearly double the number in that period in 2006.

The agency also received a deluge of other immigration petitions.

Hispanic groups have demanded that the agency complete by July 4 the naturalizations of all immigrants who applied in the 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, Mr. Ramos said.

Normally, when retired federal employers return to work, their salaries are reduced by the amount of their pension payments. Under the new waiver, retired workers who return to the immigration agency will receive full salary as well as their regular pension payments.

Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency was also reorganizing its work force and imposing mandatory overtime on current workers.

The immigration agency plans to hire at least 1,500 new regular employees by the end of this year, Mr. Bentley said.


Read the people and organizations marked in bold above. They seem to be behind it. It is all about how much you can highlight the cause and lobby for it.

If we want something like this we will have to work for it too. Each one of us needs to participate it in.

^^^^^

Thank you. I was going to reply to Dealsnet and state that, but you beat me to it.

On a side note, i was going to add that out of status itself does not determine the start of the clock, for the 3 and 10 year bans, .. that would be "unlawful stay" determined from the expiration of the date on the I-94 OR an administrative determination of unlawful stay based on when they discovered the out of status situation. However, for the above purposes [GC based on marriage], this point is moot.

Moreover 3/10 ban will apply only when someone is trying to re-enter US. That means if you stay in US until you get green card ban will never affect.

Although website mention 15 days for the PIO card, how long does it actually takes to process and receive PIO card?

I used my H1B since that had a further date of expiry than my EAD but when my next renewal comes up I guess I will have to show EAD as my H1B will be in process of being renewed then.......

Might have to keep alternating if you have a choice......its kind of an irritant for sure........DMV has no issues with our status when they want us to renew our registrations :mad:

If I am paying my taxes as a resident then I should get the same benefits... :rolleyes:

I completely agree with you but I afraid things are only going to get worse, just like the US economy, for the immigrants...

Is your approved PERM (I-140/I-485 applied based on that PERM) and your earlier LC (in BEC) are from the same employer??

Thank you for correcting. I was under the impression that most of the folks were pre-July 2007 filers (retro effective fees until Aug 17th ruling given by CIS). So I thought all impacted by June and July bulletins will be paying a lot without the admin fixes. And the whole hassle of renewals every year. Just cant imagine that we are in a developed country with such silly rules and all. This country needs immigrants now more than ever...People like us who can act, change and move things in a pragmatic way...

Like you said...$2 is many times cheaper even if it is combo filing according to new fees. Let us not procrastinate further...this weekend, let us complete the letter and mail it.

All, please act...time is the essence.


The contrast correct, however the math behind is slightly wrong:

Special Instructions :

If you filed a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, on July 30, 2007, or after, then no fee is required to file a request for employment authorization on Form I-765. You may file the I-765 concurrently with your I-485, or you may submit the I-765 at a later date. If you file Form I-765 separately, you must also submit a copy of your Form I-797C, Notice of Action, receipt as evidence of the filing of an I-485.

You may be eligible to file this form electronically. Please see the related link "Introduction to Electronic Filing" for more information.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=73ddd59cb7a5d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D

So regardless of number of years a family of 3 upon next renewal will pay $2099 (which is still a huge number compares to $2 :) ) once and for all. That's why USCIS thinks it a good business alternative to give out 3 year EAD/AP so that they can cut cost. At the end of the day this change if implemented will be mutually beneficial.

No offense to anyone but I think this is how the market is flooded sometimes with short term trained and oppurtunisticly timing decisions made by people.

Before you change careers I think you ought to see whether it really fits ur goals and aspirations..my 2 cents... CHances are you may not even like that job and want ot get trained in something else...I dont make a boat load of money but I like my job so far...however if money is the sole (please dont confuse this with means of living) reason to get into any job there are so many jobs and fields one can explore and change often...Its all your personal choice...

Good point. I am just studying the trade off between "career" and "likability" of job or the job you love. I agree with you about money. I am not just for money or I do not want to be in rat race. (If money is the only goal we all can do real estate bussiness in India) After spending 10 years in engineering, I want to change the field. Even I am ready to go with little less than what I make now. . The main reason is I want to have just relaxing job, not much stress. At the same time it should be a longterm. I thought QA may be one of the field. I do not know yet it is a right thought.

Thanks for a positive reply at last.I checked my both 797s my current one ends on Nov 14 and my future one starts at Nov 15.So i see there is no gap.Hopefully i will be good i guess.I am planning to go to Charlotte Border Security and see if they say me the same.Any way your comments made me rethink that i will be ok.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/apr2007/db20070405_778533.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index

TheHulk,
That is very strange in fact. One year to receive EAD ????? God alone knows what goes on at those Service Centers. Good that atleast you got it finally !!
As for me, I am still waiting for my AP. The congressman's office got a response back from USCIS 2 days ago that they will take an action on my application in 5 days. But I am highly doubtful about that.....no good vibes. Every effort so far has been in vain so I have lost hopes. I have a feeling USCIS has lost my file or something and is just trying to buy some time.

Once you use EAD, you cannot go back to H1B.
Also I did not understand what you meant by :

"But need to bring my spouse in few months on H4"

:eek: I-140 application, page3, under paragraph Copies: "Copies may be submitted of all documentation with the exception of the Labor Certification which must be submitted in the original".
:D