Kama Of Kingstone

I called to (800) 375 – 5283. I really forgot the combination code. I was trying to reach a human. And he asked my I-485 receipt #.

gc4me can you please send me the phone number and combination of codes so that I can get them to send my FP notice, i am July 2nd filer as well.

could members explain this further with more information and facts if possible. we have not been covering this in our media interviews and facts about hardships we face.

infact it would be better if finance gurus and others on the forum can help list various ways in which h1b visa holders suffer financially by not having a gc.

- mortgage rates are one.

1) Life Insurance ... AIG refuses to give me the quot for 30 years (Ready to give me a 20 year term life quot) term life insurance knowing I am on work visa, US GC is in process (Though I did not mention that I am Canadian permanent immigrant). AAA issued me a policy that is 20 years not 30 years (Simply refused) when I gave the proof of Canadian permanent immigration and US GC filing. This is most current experience.

2) After 2001 bubble burst many credit unions stopped taking H1B visa holders as member. I do not know the current practice.

3) I think in illinoi, I have heard that H4 people can't get driving licence simply as they do not have social security. Now legally H4 can not have social security and thus no driving license. ITIN would not be considered for driving license. This story I also heard a while back. I do not know about current situation.

4) In job, you can not have promotion, salary increment (Though Accounting workarounds ultimately can provide you what you want from the company).

5) 401 K investment can become risky if you will have to go out of uSA permanently in a sense of 10 % penalty for early withdraw. Ya, Somebody can say that then do not withdraw. In that case, managing it would be hell by sitting thousands of miles away from US.

6) You can not invest in Educational investments schemes ( Theoratically you can invest and they will take your money gladly) as those are ONE-WAY money, once gone you can not take out, only your children can take out. Now imagine you are on H1.. Invetsed money in eduction schemes for your children. Down the road after 10 years suddenly finding yourself in limbo you go back to your country... money is stuck.. ( I do not have full scale study of workarounds..Someone more elite on this subject can put mor light on this)

7) By any chance if you get kicked out (For whatever reason including you kicked out yourself) from USA before 10 years of work.. you loose all of your social security (Not applicable to people of all other countries, but ceratinly applicable to Indians)

Contributions go well with congratulations...
PLEASE, GO TO WANDTV.com and the synopsis of the interview has been posted there. it will be broadcast nationally tommorow!!!

sanju,
you said: at some point uscis would send a request to you for employer verification?
why would they need that: as we have submitted that at the time flinig 485?

i dont know if the above is true only for consultancies?

i work in a big software corp and never heard of any queries at all?
approved 140, file 485, wait for 180 days, change jobs, no queries at all (irrespective of whether you change jobs or not)

am i missing something here?

thx

July 6th filer awaiting FP (no SR opened yet). My case has been transferred back and forth between Nebraska and California. I asked my lawyer - he advised me to "Sit tight as there is nothing that can be done except to wait for them to process my I140, I485, I765 and I131 applications."

So here I am, still being underpaid and abused by my current emloyer. ...waiting for the day that I can escape and get a better paying job and work in an employee-friendly environment.

This is almost has bad as adding 200,000 Indians for no reason.

What do you mean?

Saw your signature too...who are begging you. You are so dertmined not to contribute to IV but are scouting for information and express your stupid opinions.

Can we send official letter ( with all sad stories ) from IV and we can call these guys on behalf of IV

http://moia.gov.in/showinfo1.asp?linkid=482

Let us try to give these guys some job....

So after more than a month of sleepless nights, thanks to Immigration Voice looks like my I 485 application is back on track.

A recap of my situation:
Last month I got an email from USCIS-CRIS stating that my I 485 was withdrawn. After being in this country for close to 10 years and in the immigration queue for more than 7 years why would I withdraw the application ??? I did not withdraw my application !!!

It took me more than a month to find out the reason behind the withdrawal..trust me it was not easy..and guess what ....It was my Attorney who had withdrawn the application in Error. Now what ... I call USCIS multiple times.. talk to many different IO's .. some of them patient and try to help.. some extremely rude.. but all of them had only one thing to say... they cannot help!!..... I get an Info Pass... no help there either.. I set up an emergency meeting with my attorney (one of the large Immigration Law Firms) .. nothing...they accept their mistake tell me that they will do all they can .. but no assurance that they will reinstate the case .. limited forward movement.... things look gloomy and bleak..no one can help me.

Then I called Immigration Voice on the number that is listed on the site and left a voice mail. Promptly got a call back I spoke to a Core member who understood the gravity and urgency of the situation and swiflty moved forward and got in touch with their contacts in the government. The Core member also put me in a conference call with the person who was going to look into my case, I was so relieved that I could explain the situation first hand.

I got a call today and I was told that after evaluating my case my file has been reopened and they have mailed an offical notice regarding the same and I should get it in a few days. *Fingers crossed until I get this notice in hand ;)*
The IV core was extremely sensitive to my situation and were very responsive and extremly helpful. I cant thank Immigration Voice enough for helping me resolve this issue in a quick manner.

I have registered to be a recurring contributing member and I intend to be an active member of this group.


My lessons from this crazy experience are:
- Never trust your attorney, always ask for a copy of any letter/document they send to USCIS on your behalf
- There is no organization besides IV out there that is looking out for the interests of the Immigrant Community.
- We need to strengthen IV in all ways we can, we need to be active.
- And as so many members have already said "We are IV." If we want things to be better "WE" need to do something about it.

I urge members who are still contemplating becoming active members to evaluate their options and to become active and contributing members of IV.

- Peace


ps:
Another point I would like to add is that no other organization has the kind of reach and the credibility with USCIS as IV has as far as representing the true interests of the Immigrant Community goes. IV is a huge asset we have and we should work towards strenthening it.

We are glad that it worked out.

I understand ...................blah....??? any ideas ??

Yes, I have one :

You missed adding another option in the poll.

Option 3: "This idea is a non-starter, It wont work. "


Why do you care if you had already applied ?
Sorry !! Don't mean to beat the dead horse.

my travel date is on nov 21st and my RD for ap renewal is aug 6th. here are the things I have done so far.

1) called NSC and expedited mine and my spouse AP.
2) sent a fax copy of the expedite request letter to NEbraska service center requesting an expedite.
3) have sent all the documents to the local congressman and they are sending a letter by fax to NSC requesting to expedite.
4) Have an infopass appt for oct 28th.
5) sent another copy of the ap renewal receipt, along with 2 phographs, 485 and i140 receipt copy along with a letter requesting expedite with an email from travel agent citing financial loss if i cancel tickets.
6) also, my father in law had to undergo a bypass surgery (emergency) this week and we have received a letter from the doctor regarding the same and will be using it during the infopass if I do not see an approval (atleast online) before our infopass appointment.

what isa fax number to expedite the process for NSC, it will great if you can share the format of expedite letter.

My online status shows

On September 26, 2007, we received this I485 APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS, and mailed you a notice describing how we will process your case. Please follow any instructions on this notice. You will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or contact our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.



This is very strange. However, I would like to know the reason that prompted you to inquire about your case status. What was the status that was showing on-line? Is it "application received and pending", the same usual statement?

Attacking Lou Dobbs will help those who purposefully blur the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. While Dobbs sometimes talks about H1Bs, his main focus is on illegal immigration and he's mostly sympathetic to legal immigration, in my opinion.

Hi Ebizash-

Did you noticed any LUD today on ure AP renewal case

Ken,

The reason that the USPS is not showing your documents delivered could be many. One of the biggest reasons that I have experienced is "unable to scan the bar code". This is more probable if you had printed the mailing label and affixed it on the envelope with a tape. Sometimes the tape can overlap the bar code making the bar code difficult to be scanned. I frequently use USPS priority mail and in about 10% of the cases this happens. But I never had a lost priority mail piece.

Additionally the fact that you had a soft LUD on 9/28, I would think that LUD was for the reason that USCIS received the documents. I had applied AP online on the same date as you did, sent docs via priority mail the next day. USPS showed that the documents delivered on 9/25 and had soft LUDs on 9/25 and 9/28.

Hope this helps!

go green go_guy123:)

We can get a employment verification letter. But now a days you need employment verification letter for many things. Just recently, jan 2009, I carried EVL for visa stamping. Now, my DL is expiring, should I ask them again for EVL. It has become more like HR nightmare for having a non-immigrants in the copany. These taylor made rules are not appropriate. When driving is a basic necassity, I could not comprahend why they need all additional documents. Any ways if this is true I have to ask my HR again to provide me one. Hope they do not get mad at me.

My HR already mad at me. Because

(1) First EVL - for AC21 job change
(2) Second EVL - to answer NOID
(3) Third EVL - for travel on AP

All the above in 3 months gap each after joining. Now if I ask for one more saying I need it for driver's license - she may ask if I also need an EVL to go to six flags or ride the NYC Subway

I went with kax's kastle. damned fine.

http://digg.com/politics/July_Green_Card_Fiasco_Not_fault_of_DOS_as_per_Con doleeza_Rice_on_CNBC

I have several friends who were waiting for GC desparately and they thought it was the final destination. They had many reasons why to get GC and once they get, they will be free and can do / will do everything possible. But, once they got it, they settled in a permanent job. Without GC, they were working for the same client with even more pay and life was good if not better.

I was thinking the same way; because I am no different.

Oflate, I realised, I am un-necessarily worried about something which is not in my control. I realised that I am well paid, with this pay even the benefits I am not getting are compensated. Why am I worried? Should I be after GC in order to get peace of mind? I started looking it little differently. I am in this country to earn more money and live comfortably. I am already enjoying what I wanted. Then, why am I worried still? May be it is in human nature to always look for something which is not in the hands.

I still need GC for other things like Children education and get some other benefits (our education / starting business etc). I agree, but there is lot of time for that in my case. There are several people who are in the same state as me if not all. Everyone's needs are different.

I thought I will just share my ideas so that atleast some of the people will be happier.

I couldn't agree with you more...

As long as you are able to do what you want to do in life, that is what really matters. I don't have children yet, so that's not my worry. My spouse is on her own H1 and I hold two jobs on concurrent H1s.

Between the 3 jobs, we make good money, own two houses in the US, one overseas and live a content life. That's our GC, the actual GC is nice to have but it doesn't bother us that much...I bet there are plenty of GC holders out there who haven't gotten as far as I have...in terms of working 2 jobs & owning 2 houses.

So the moral of the story is, GC or no GC, live a good life, be content and don't miss out on the fun...don't let the GC fever bring you down..

"Long Journey. Finally GC
by J2GC
Hi Guys,
After a long journey of more than Sixteen years in this country, I finally received my GC.
In short, I came in 1993 on J-1 for my training which took six years, followed by one year on O-1 visa and then J-1 waiver for three and half years in underserved area. Then applied for labor certification in Oct, 2003 EB2, through university, which was approved and then retrogressed. Applied Schedule IIA, approved but also got retrogressed. Got AILA liaison and Senetor involved.
Applied for EB1 and NIW in July 2008.
My lawyer was very much involved in the whole process, was very helpful at every step, and wrote letters to USCIS.
Finally, GC came in April, 2009 and received the cards one week later. My PD Oct 2003.
During these time, I actually had no problmes at my job or my my wife's job. Brought a house four years ago.
The main problems were:
Daughter and son could not apply to state colleges/ medical colleges. (daughter going to med school next month)
Got stuck in India for renew of H-1 for 2 months!!! (worst time of my life, with my wife and kids in US) I tied every thing from writing letters to calling Ambasador. Not effective.
Could not go to certain occasions, like death of very close family members, weddings etc.
However, I kept my cool and prayed and got lot of support from Immigration voice.
As a small token of appreciation, I am donating $500 .(and will keep on supporting)
We all are going to get GC, some sooner some later. Just keep on doing you job.
Thanks you all for all the information and support.
J2GC (J-1 visa to GC)"

Congrats and Best Wishes ( Its a Loooooooooooooooooooooooong Journey)

Simply press ctrl-R instead of the refresh button, that has always worked for me in clearing the cache.

common guys why are you making it as bigger issue.

All he is going to give is 2K more than normal lawyer fee, which is just a 1 dollar per year for an hourly employee. I would advice him to happily take this offer and file without any complication with employer.
Note desi employer (consulting company) are doing us favor by applying GC, other wise where the heck they have a permanent job.

Take it easy now and ACt after 6 months of filling 485.

Also these days lawyers have to do Overtime to prepare documents for sudden surge of new filers.


I have no issues giving the lawyer what ever they want, if I can be assured that I will be getting good service for what I paid . If the law firm has a history of delays & screw ups etc, I do not see a reason why we have to pay hefty fees to get screwed in the end. There are a lot of stories where people have been screwed due to paralegal mistakes. We have waited so many years and I would like to control my destiny at least now. People have different opinions. Thats just how I feel.

Every one is talking about potential RFE's and seeking lawyers help in that case. What will any one do if they an free RFE after180 days of receipt notice and you are no longer with the company? What kind of RFE's are people getting if they are using EAD instead of H1B? Do they get any in the first place? Can some one who has been on EAD and received RFE's shed some light?

Thanks