Mentol Blog's

Sorry if that title is misleading.

How many people here are positive that USCIS will come up with premium processing feature for I-485 stage?

Don' worry about the available visa numbers. Just express your hunch feeling.

Incrementally the waiting game is being reduced by incorporating premium processing for H1-B, Labor and lately I-140. Why not for I-485?

I am hopefull of this happening next year.
What about you?

The Honorable Emilio T. Gonzalez
Director U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service


20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20529

You checked it.... now I am just spamming :P

SPAM

::::runs away:::

Today I received denial notice from USCIS. The reason for denial is that "THE RFE RESPONSE WAS RECEIVED LATELY, HENCE DENIED". The last date for reception of RFE response was on 22nd March 2009 & They claim that they received it on 23rd March 2009. 22nd March was Sunday & more over we have proof from FEDEX deliver report that it was delivered by morning 10:30 AM on 20th March 2009.

I believe this is error from USCIS. My attorney did call Customer Care and spoke to them & they said to send letter with proof, they will forward it to USCIS & they said there is no guarantee that they will again open the case by themselves.

We did immediately sent letter with proof of FEDEX delivery report and as well as RESPONSE to RFE & we made sure that it will be delivered by monday April 6th 2009.

My attorney suggested the following:

We will wait atleast 2 weeks for to see whether they consider their mistake and open the case or ask us to open MTR with immediate effect
IF they don't in two weeks, we will appeal for the denial
Once MTR/appeal is open, we can prove it's their mistake & there is always good chance
Once the status changes to MTR/appeal, then you can either apply for fresh H1B from other employer on premium process or live to your country it's your choice.


Now my question to you all is, whatever he is saying is this correct? I am worried about becoming illegal. I don't WANT TO BE HERE ILLEGALLY. I WOULD RATHER GO BACK TO MY COUNTRY THAN BEING HERE ILLEGALLY & FACE PROBLEMS.. PLEASE DO GUIDE ME

Lynne,

I live in Fishers (126st), but work on West side of Indy (US 36 road towards Avon).

I will make it next time for sure. I am not familiar with Carmel roads, but after yesterday's confusion, i have got some idea.

DPP

DPP once again, I am sad that we did not get to meet yesterday.
Where are you based in Indiana, maybe you work in Indianapolis? I work in downtown Indy and can always find time to talk to a fellow sufferer.

Lynne

I was working for a Company A with whom I recently had my petition extended until this year Aug. Then I got laid off and then changed to Company B in Dec 09. But since then until now which is 6 weeks my current employer (his lawyer) has not filed my H1 to USCIS and going to do it shortly. But then Company A again want to rehire me now. One good thing is my Current I-797 petition is with Company A which is not revoked and is valid. But the bad news is they say I've been out of H1 Status since I left them in Dec and that would be a problem for them and for me to rehire me.

The Options Company A is giving me is to go out and get restamping done based on the current petition I have and agree/confess to Consulate that I was out of H1 status for 6 weeks and was under unauthorized employment (which I did not intent to break law as I only came to know a week back that my new employer has not filed the H1) and ask their forgiveness to come out clean. But under the current H1 weather I really don't want to risk going for restamping is one and revealing that I was out of status for 6 weeks which leave my chances of restamping slim.

So I'm really looking for an answer here from someone who either has went through my situation or someone with experience or a professional advice. Just let me know how can I join back Company A legally without going out of US to restamp?

Fromnaija and ChanduV-

I may be moving to California in early November. So, I am sorry I am not able to offer a leading role in AZ. But, I believe it will greatly help others considering such a role, if you could explain what kind of responsibilities and commitments such a position may entail.

U can definitely lead till then :), I may also be moving out of Tri State - nature of job is like that.

Lets find more people.

We need people to come out of their closets and start getting active

Hi Everyone,

I will be laid off from an american company by the end of Feb 2009. I spoke to my previous desi employee as my H1b with his company is still valid and he din't revoked it until now

But he agrees to let me join his company but at the same time he worried about few things



Q1) I was with him for 6 months of 2008 and moved to an American Company so the total pay in the W2 for year 2008 is less than LCA amount.
Would that be a problem as i din't work with him for an entire year in which case it is bound to be less than LCA amount..
Mind you i'm looking at the Yearly wage if you look at month wise it is much higher than mentioned in LCA.

Would that be of any problem to both me and employeer.

Q2) He also said that when somebody re hires any one , the employeer is liable to pay back wages for the period of time he was out.

It sounds illogical atleast to me because he didn't terminate me from the job it was me who quit the job and transferred my H1b on a good note , but there is no official document saying i quit the job or he terminated me ....


I would appreciate if some could throw some light on this ....

My future is relied on these issues

Thanks
David


take it easy dude. People respond to one thread itself. you dont need to open multiple threads. also update your profile first.

Looks like they (TSC) are now processing July 3rd onwards. Any July 2nd filler , filled at TSC still waiting. Also do you know if your name check was cleared.

Once again Thanks Mr. Glutin,

So it means, when I apply for H1B Transfer this time, I will get an H1B Visa valid till May 2012 right? Please let me know whether my assumption is right.

Also am I eligible to process my i140 through Premium Processing?

Thanks and Regards,

Yes, 2012 it should be. There is a provision that if you have an approved I-140, your attorney could request the visa for 3 years, so 2013 it would be.

The I-140 premium processing requirements keep changing, so I can't say if you qualify. Wait for someone else to respond or search online and the forums here.

Folks,
Who receives the AP approval? lawyer or the beneficiary?

Generally Lawyer receives it.Check with your lawyer constantly.

Hello,

I had applied for the H1 Extension in Sep 2009 and it went to Security Check. My Visa and I94 expired in Nov 2009. Recently, H1b transfer has been applied, and got the I129 approval but EOS(I94) has been rejected by saying that

" An Extension of Stay(EOS) mayn't be approved for an appllicant who failed to maintain his/her previously accorded status or where such status expired before the application or petition was filed( see CFR 214.1(c)(4) and 248.1(b))".

New employer says that i can't work for him till I94 accepts. So he is suggesting me togo India and get Visa stamped.

As i can work only 240 days from my I94 expiry date, i can't work after July 2010
so am planning to go to India to attend the embassy as soon as possible.

Some are saying that i am no supposed to stay here as I94 expired but when i says to my employer he says that you can stay and work as long as the current extension decision is pending. so i am scared about it. could you plz help me out on this.

Am also wondering that is there any chances of gettinga Visa rejected in India as my extension is in pending or they are going to keep in hold till my security
clearance is done. I am in fix what to do??.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,
Satya.

Do not believe on online status. Couple of my frds got their EAD and still online status is " Case Received and Pending". Looks like they are not updating the status on regular basis.

I am one of those as well. My online status shows the regular "case received on so n so" message. I got my EAD about 10 days ago n so is with my spouse.

You have two options. One is forget the current GC and take new job re-start your GC.

The second option is keep a copy of your I 140 approval. Join a new company. Re-Start the GC application. When the new labor is approved and lawyer is ready to ship the I 140 package to USCIS ask him to include the copy of Old I 140 approval notice in it with a cover letter to USCIS requesting porting the old priority date to your new application. ( I am not sure of job description in the 2 labors needs to be same/ similar for portablity. My guess is that it does not need to be strictly same but least in same field. Example IT to IT and not say IT to Finance or Healthcare etc)

The best bet is to take an appointment with a lawyer and go over it. Also talk to new companys immigration attorney if he will support this porting when the time comes.

My wife is in h4 now and received the EAD. I also received it, everybody is saying if she uses her EAD her H4 will be invalid. Is that a good or bad thing? What about she lost her job after three months? what will be her status? also is we travel using the AP what will be her status? or it doesn't matter as long you have the EAD and AP......


Yes, she will lose her H4 status if she uses EAD. Her new status will be 485-pending.
At this point, if she quits/loses job, that's fine, as her status is not bound to the EAD/job, but to her 485 pending status. She will be able to travel on AP, or apply for new H4 outside (I'm not sure about the later part, so, I'd suggest using AP).

The only risk is, if her 485 application gets denied, she will be out of status, and will have to leave immediately. However, if you still have your H1 valid, she can apply for an H4 again outside the country.

Before voting, I saw the poll results, it said total number of votes = 9345. Then I voted "yes". The total no of votes still stands at 9345.

Thanks a lot Raj.

One more question. Does current company give you any originals when your I-140 is approved? If so, I was not given any. I was just told by the company attorney by mail saying that my I-140 is approved. So now, what exactly should I ask for? Appreciate if you can list all the required documents.

Thanks again for answering so promptly.

CAH

Below are the documents that you need to get from your previous attorney/Employer.

1. Legible copy of your approved labor that you and your HR had signed.

2. Legible copy of the Approved Original I-140. You will not get this original because it is solely Employer's document. Some times you will receive a Courtesy copy, but that will be like any other I-797,that is not the original, in that they will say "Courtesy Copy: Original sent to : <your attorney's name>"

3. Copy of all H1-B approvals (I-797) to have records of your legal stay in US.

That is all you need.

Make sure to transfer your H1-B to your new employer.

Good luck.

Raj:)

It's not your airline but your transit stop. If your flight is through London, you'll probably need a transit visa, but check with someone.

the flights that I have booked fly via doha, qatar.

i have heard that even in the case of london, transit visa is not required if the passenger has a valid document to enter his/her destination. which means that an indian citizen must have an indian passport while going to india, and must have a valid visa for usa if going to usa. i have heard that many people unnecessarily obtain transit visa for britain where none is required. one can check british govt websites to confirm this.

NSC Dec 2007 Processing Times says:


Also, when they are mentioning "April 24, 2007" date , are they ignoring the applicants who are stuck in namecheck process for years? If a person has filed 485 in 2005 or 2006 but stuck in namecheck, how come 485 is completed?

If a person is stuck in namecheck, or has an RFE... his/her case in not counted in II485 backlog at that time.

I am waiting to sign up for the monthly.

I don't think it is a good idea to restrict members by the amount they contribute. As we already know we only have around 200 members that actually contribute financially out of the 7K membership.

We are a grassroots organization we need all the foot solders we can get (remember how effective it was in December, when we mobilized together). Restricting users would turn members away and when we loose them, we loose them for good. There will not be any references from those who leave.

Remember Howard Dean's fund raising campaign mostly they collected $10 and $20 not just big amounts for his presidential campaign. We must take what we can and encourage members to participate. When members see what we do they will volunteer.

A first time visitor to our website is not going to trust us to give money with out knowing what we are all about. When we restrict them they will never know what we are doing.

Just think about it. Would you do it?

Are you sure about Advance Parole stamp in a passport. I know about Green Card approval stamp in a passport but not AP. Have you ever had that AP stamp experience?