Mentol Blog's

I want to share the experience of one of my friends who recently went for visa stamping.

He went to Mumbai Consulate with his family for H1B and H4 visa stamping on 08/25/2009. Here are his basic details.
*He got his H1B approved through October 2011.
*He has his GC process on.
*He had originally come here on B1B2 visa about six years back and got the visa converted into H1B visa.
*His current employer is his third change of jobs and have been with this employer for the past 3 years.
*He has his I 140 approved for about a years time and has EAD, and AP valid through October 2008.
His Experience
Their appointed time for visa stamping was 9.00am and their turn came at about 11.00am.The Visa Officer asked my friend routine questions about how he got his first job and he answered exactly as his lawyer had advised. The VO asked him questions about his current employer, what the company was doing, how many employees did the company have et al. She asked him a specific question as to why he went to the US first and why his family joined him later initially although they got the B1B2 visa together. To this he replied that his sons were students in India and they had their terminal exams in September back then.

Then she asked him as to whether he had his credentials with him. He showed her his degree certificates as well as copies of his membership certificates of Chartered Accountancy. She looked at all the originals and then conveyed to him that there were inconsistencies on his certifacates with his original B1B2 visa application and that she will call them later. My friend gave her a copy of his credential evaluation for all the degree certificates.

They were stranded at the consulate for another two hours when another VO announced their names. She was an Indian lady who asked him a silly question about CA institute and as to why he did not mention the name of the city where the institute belonged to. My friend replied that it was an all india institute head quartered in New Delhi. He also conveyed to her that he had given them a copy of his membership as a fellow ( CAs receive the membership certificate as a fellow after they complete public accounting practice as an accountant for five years). She then conveyed to him that she will call him later if required. After about one and half hour further the original visa officer called their name and conveyed to them that there was some further investigation needed to be done on their case. Gave them a yellow letter that stated that he will get an e-mail from the consulate office and they do not need to come back. She gave four VFS envelopes for all of them and asked my friend to wait for the e-mail. She told him that there was nothing to worry about in his case bla bla bla...

My friend and his family had their tickets booked back to US on 08/30/08 from Mumbai. He called his lawyer in US and sought his advise. The lawyer advised that ideally my friend should wait for the e-mail and extend his stay in India. To which my friend replied that he had already availed three weeks of vacation and that he needed to go back to US. They waited with baited breath for the e-mail from the consulate that never came. My friend meanwhile managed an e-mail from his boss that asked him to resume his work on Monday September 02, 2008.

They took the risk and came back to LAX on 08/31/08 and did not encounter any problem using their Advanced Parole documents.

This morning my friend received an e-mail from the Consulate Office in Mumbai that stated that the administrative process for the non-immigrant visa application on his case had been completed and asked him to come at the Consulate on any working day in the morning with yellow letter, VFS envelope, and documents pertaining to visa application. But the last sentence on the e-mail read as under, " Personal appearance is required. Please carry a copy of this email for ready reference."

Gurus! anybody with previous experience like this please share your experience that will help my friend decide as to what he needs to do!

Thank your for ur reply....What about I-129 petition & withdrawal letter...Is there anything that protects me which states that i have a right to get a copy of documents - petition, letter, etc,...from employer. Can somebody point me in the right direction to so that i have a case in point.!
Thanks!

thank you very much for your help. It makes me feel much better now.just the employer has told me that the business is low these days, will their incom and cotracts will review again? it is a very small size company.
Thanks again

Yes...if they can not prove their viable business and ability to pay....you would have hard time to get the extension.

I do not have EAD and my 485 app is pending, all i can do is get my h1b renewed, in my case without stamping and just 797 will they not give me drivers license extension ???

I dont think that should be a problem. AS Attorney Murthy suggested, talk to the supervisor at the DMV office. The I485 receipt should be enough.

Could you please comment on the above?


Thanks

Lazycis,

Did you inform USCIS after you invoked AC21? Thanks!

No. Both times it was a large company (one has an agreement with a big law firm to handle immigration-related issues). I asked my current employer's attorney about it and she told me not to worry, they never had issues with AC21 portability (employer has 120,000+ employees). She was right regarding my case.

My friend is going back to India next month. He filed for 485 in Aug 2007, PD April 2003 EB3 India. Is there a way to continue the Green Card process while he is in India ?. Is there an option where the employer can state that the employee is on temporary transfer to a different country and not loose the current Green Card application ?. Greatly appreciate any thoughts or insights.

I am in

Juliana Barbassa from Associated Press reporter is writing a story about legal immigrants with ITIN holders being denied economic stimulus checks. Please contact Ms. Barbassa to speak-up about this extremely important issue. Here is a message from her requesting members of Immigration Voice to contact her for in interview.

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Hi --

I am an immigration reporter for the Associated Press, and am currently reporting an article about the economic stimulus checks that will be going out soon. I'm writing about how a lot of people won't get them because their spouse doesn't have a social security number _ chief among them green card holders with spouses who are stuck in the backlog, and haven't been able to get a social security number.

I'd love to talk to people in this situation all over the country -- and at least one person, ideally, in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, so we can also have a picture taken. I hope to reach folks today, Thursday, because the article has to be done by Friday.

I can be reached at this email address: immigrationreporter@hotmail.com

Thanks much for your help,

Juliana Barbassa

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Congrats satyachowdary on your I-140 approval. Is your I-485 has been approved with or with out interfile request, let me know...
My new EB2 140 is approved with new date, so I sent following email to EBupdate.tsc@dhs.gov on 05/18 and my case is approved on 05/25. You don't have to wait until new I-140 is ported with old 140 date, the following email worked for me.

In the subject line, put : I-485 Multiple I-140s

Body of the email :

Dear Sir/Madam
I request you to kindly approve my pending I 485 case with new approved EB-2 (SRCXXXXXXXXXX) I-140. My I 485 was originally filed with EB-3 (LINXXXXXXXXXX). As per Pearson memo I am eligible to take advantage of priority date from EB3 to EB2.
Please contact me if you need any other information.

My case receipt numbers:
EB-3 : Receipt# LINXXXXXXXXXX with Priority Date XX/XX/2004
EB-2 : Receipt# SRCXXXXXXXXXX with Priority Date XX/XX/2011
I-485: Receipt# SRCXXXXXXXXXX

Primary details:
First name :
Last name :
A# :
485 receipt number :

Spouse Details:
First name :
Last name :
A# :
485 receipt number :

Thanking you

Sincerely,
Name
Address
Ph No :
Email :

Get a syllabus booklet from your university. if you attended a 4 year course they will send you 1 booklet for each year which describes the required courses and the course content in detail. Send this with your reply to the RFE, refer to the pages where they mention the course content and graduation requrements. A friend of mine did this 6 years back for his RFE and was approved. The problem was that the transcript mentioned math but USCIS had not idea of the level of math at the university (yours could be similar...just guessing).

The other option could be to get your transcripts evaluated by a third party.

So you found it ..... I suggested my friend to get married to his american gf , I think that would be the legal and ideal shortcut

So was he planning to dump her?

Anyways what kind of this shit is this God??, How can you say get ready to file for 485 from July 2nd. And when July2nd comes you say ' Shut the suck up and stand in line'

USCIS, what kind of sadist org/agency you are??

These references are from the statement made on 24th June 2009. Nothing after that !!!!!!!!!!
:rolleyes:

They are still good but they are direct to IO desks at NSC. I did not want to start barrage of calls to them. What I can do is I can PM you the numbers. You had been a contributing member and I would happy to tell you what I know. But please exercise your judgement....

You had some numbers there, are they not good anymore?

Hello,

My PERM case was filed on mid-May and got audited on May 28.

Will it be appropriate for me to join you all for the complaint or if my case is too recent?

Thanks.

RK, Just HDFC is fine..!!!

Also in my appointment letter the state of residense says "Tamil Nadu"...but I am from Karnataka. Nowhere in the form I did not mentioned anything about tamil nadu except that I requested the interview to be in Chennai...as that is where I need to go for stamping.

is this fine or should the state of residence be Karnataka...???

Thanks

To the brave and fighting. People lets give them a hand of applause.

Any comment?
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/specter-has-new-immigration-package-2007-07-27.html

Specter has new immigration package
By Elana Schor
July 27, 2007
The Senate Judiciary Committee�s senior Republican said on Thursday that he is on the verge of offering a new immigration reform package, making significant changes that could win over recalcitrant members from both parties.

Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), who accompanied President Bush Thursday on his visit to Pennsylvania, said he has spoken to Bush and the two Cabinet members who have led immigration talks about his new bill. Specter also told reporters that he has spoken to most senators involved in this spring�s failed �grand bargain,� outlining his plan and appealing for a restart to the arduous immigration debate.

�I�m ready to unveil it now,� Specter said. �I�ve got letters to the 100 senators on my desk.�

Specter explained the new measure would omit the controversial �Z visa� program, which would have given the nation�s 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. Removing the Z visa would offer conservatives less opening to tag the bill as �amnesty.� But he would leave intact the family reunification standard that this spring�s defunct immigration bill partially replaced with a skills-based system.

The lone change in the status of the 12 million, Specter said, would be removing their status as fugitives from justice, an attempt to diminish their incentive to remain outside the system and in fear of deportation.

Specter added that he already has met with �stakeholders� from outside groups involved in the complex immigration debate, and he plans to hold more sit-downs next week. Offering green cards to immigrants seeking employment in the high-tech industry is under consideration, he said.

Hi Uma,

My Green card is filed under EB2 category.

Thanks & Regards,
Raj..

Thanks buddy. That was the answer I was looking for.

I want to be more specific. I have a full time job. I'd like to setup a business LLC to get some contract works. For tax benefit, I can deduct some business cost with it.