Update to Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
USCIS published an update to Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. The new edition is dated 11/23/15.
USCIS published an update to Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. The new edition is dated 11/23/15.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved the statutory maximum of 10,000 petitions for U-1 nonimmigrant status (U visas) for fiscal year 2016. This marks the seventh straight year that USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2009.
USCIS recently began transferring certain casework from the Vermont Service Center (VSC) to the California Service Center (CSC) and Nebraska Service Center (NSC) to balance workloads. The CSC will now process Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status.
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Hi Folks, I am extremly happy to inform you that I got my Green Card process completed in a record time of one year. I am just back from India after finishing the CP Interview in Chennai successfully. Mr. Rajiv , Ms. Fidelina Baptista and all his staff Suman Bhasin, Amel Berhe, Leila Lehman, Nimia were very helpful in the entire process. Needless to mention that Mr. Rajive is very good in handling EB2 cases. They did a great job in getting my labour and I-140 approvals and also cooperated very well in my persuit through CP instead of the regular I-485. During my I-140 stage, when I called and asked Mr. Rajiv that I want to opt for CP, he immediately agreed and accepted the challenge though it was not very popular at that time. I am extremly thankful to the entire Law office of Mr. Khanna without which I would not have got my Green Card so fast. I definitely recommend the services of Mr. Khanna who are looking for a good and efficient lawyer. Good Luck to all, Chandra.
I found Mr Khanna's office as very professional and prompt.
Mr. Khanna and staff were very prompt in responding to questions. Mr. Vijay & Ms. Nimia took special care in scrutinizing the papers and always went out of their way to get my papers processed in time.
I and my wife recently received our 485 approval notices in the mail. PD: August 21st, 1998 I-485 RD: August 5, 1999 FP: November 30, 1999 I-485 approval: February 28, 2000 Mr. Rajiv Khanna and his office helped us throughtout this process and provided expert guidance and timely advice whenever we needed such. Mr. Khanna was available at very short notice to answer any question and put us at ease many times throughtout this process. He is very much informed about the latest happenings in the field and uses this and his experience to perform the best possible service. I have been thoroughly satisfied with his office and commend their professionalism and honest approach of doing things. We would like to thank Suman Bhasin, Diane Lombardo, Leila Lehman, Fidelina Batista, Nimia Aranibar and Amel Barhe for their professionalism and hard work in getting us through this process. This would not have been possible without their help and support. Finally I would like to add that for anyone looking for a hard working, accessible, knowledgeable and trustworthy immigration lawyer, Rajiv Khanna and his office are a sure thing!
I just got the I-485 approval yesterday in the mail and Rajiv informed me about it through an email. I am writing this feedback to let people know of excellent and extremely professional job done by the law offices of Rajiv S. Khanna. (all dates given below.) Rajiv used the RIR process for my labor certification, getting the LCA in a very quick 3 months time period. I had to wait for my PD to become current to file the I-485. My dates. PD 7/97 RD 4/4/99 ND 4/22/99 FP 8/20/99 FBI processed it on 9/23/99 and approval 02/29/00 Thanks a lot to Rajiv and his associates. I am all praise for them. will gladly refer them to you anytime. Rahul Vyas.
I appreciate all the insight and the help from Mr. Khanna's office in regards to applying and getting my case approved with in one year. Would specially like to thank Mathew, Bharathi, and Rita to answer my queries.
My wife and I received our ‘welcome notices’ within 1.5 years of the whole process with Rajiv S. Khanna as our attorney. To give you a brief background about our GC journey, my EB1 (OR) was first approved last year. During that process, I received an RFE and Mr. Khanna and his team were very skillful in handling that RFE and got my I140 approved. Later, it was a pain staking journey concerning the I485 and finally I received the email from USCIS indicating that the ‘Welcome Notice’ was mailed and my card production was ordered. During the whole process, Mr. Khanna and Diane Lombardo were very professional and provided me with relevant information concerning all immigration related legal issues, so that I clear the process without any hassle. I strongly feel that Mr. Khanna knows his field and I would recommend his firm to anybody. We are really glad that we chose this Law firm. It’s worth every penny. We are greatly pleased with Mr. Khanna and his staff as far as their professionalism, courtesy and promptness regarding my GC processing.
Happy to see our 485 approved.
Really appreciate the help, guidance provided by all the staff from Law Office of Khanna's in the process.
My wife and me got my green card after 5 years. We are greatly pleased with Rajiv and his staff as far as their professionalism, courtesy and promptness regarding my GC. Some of my friends and employees of our company went through Rajiv and all of them are also happy like me. We are thankful to Rajiv and his staff.
I reserve only the highest praise for Rajiv Khanna and Heather Crump who helped us throughout the immigration process. It is rare to find legal services provided in as friendly and supportive a manner as rendered by Rajiv and Heather. Both Rajiv and Heather gave generously of their time and expertise and answered all our questions promptly, clearly, and completely.
Rajiv's approach is warm and personal, not cold and clinical, and he constantly provided the sort of big-brotherly, yet highly professional, support that put us at ease through every step of our immigration. With Rajiv on our side, we were quite confident of having our family-based green card application approved, even though ours was a somewhat unconventional case.
We were equally lucky to be assigned to Heather whose positive attitude, kind words, and personable nature brightened up many of our days.
Judging from the high quality of legal services we received, it is not surprising that the "Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna" are spoken of so highly.
I strongly recommend the "Law Offices of Rajiv Khanna" to my friends and family for expert legal help! You will be in good hands!
We received our green cards yesterday and would like to thank the team at Rajiv Khanna's Law firm. Prerna and Richa were awesome and answered every query quickly and efficiently. I highly recommend this firm and both Prerna and Richa. Thanks again!
Our offices will be closed for Christmas break from December 24, 2019 through January 1, 2020. The offices will reopen on Thursday, January 2, 2020. If you are a client, in case of an urgent matter, please leave a message at (202 )909-1110, ext. 1001. Our team members will also regularly check their own emails and messages. If you need to speak with someone urgently please leave a message and you will hear back from them.
Happy Holidays to all of you from our team!
I had my Interview today and it went great.
I arrived there at 8.15 AM and my appointment wasn't until 8.40 AM so while I was waiting one of the security officers there tried to calm some of our nerves .....
At exactly 8.40 AM my Name was called, I walked into a area where she stopped me real quick, greeted me and ask me for any kind of ID so it is really me.
Allrighty So I had my Citizenship interview today at the Seattle CIS office at 7:30am today (needless to say I was up at 5a on a freeeeeeeezing seattle morning ) . I got to the Seattle office at 7:00a got done with security had a nice chat with the security officers about the thx giving break and then headed up to the second floor to wait to be called. There were quite a few people in the waiting room at 7:30a. Around 7:40a the immigration officers started calling people for their interviews. I was called in at 8:10a and was greeted by the interview officer.
I have a delayed birth registration certificate issued by municipal authority with place of birth: hospital name, city. My passport just got the city name as place of birth. Do I need to submit secondary evidence when I file I-485 because of delayed registration?
In many countries especially India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, it can happen that the birth occurred much earlier but the registration of the birth was done much later. Remember it was not the law that you have to register every birth, it was a voluntary action. So if a child was born in 1980 or 1970 you registered the birth in 2015 because that’s when you needed to get the green card. Now those are not acceptable registration. What you should do in those cases is get a letter from the municipal corporation, or local government, that says before this was registered there was no other registration. Like a non-availability before the registration. Along with that get two affidavits, from your parents or other people, who were alive when you were born, that will take care of it.
Secondary evidence becomes acceptable only when you can’t get non-availability from the municipal corporation and that’s a much more complicated area. I think you should get the non-availability.
I am holding a Canadian student visa, now is my second year in Canada. I was issued a B-1/B-2 visa last year. Then I was charged of Theft under $5000 this June, and the charge goes withdrawn-diversion in July. When I went to US Embassy for visa renewal this October, the officer asked my about the charge, and I answered honestly that I did it on purpose and I really regret my behavior. He rejected my class B visa, gave me a pink paper, which says the denial is under Section 214(b), which says that alien doesn't show strong ties with home country. After I carefully searched online resources, I found that my admission of the offence will make me inadmissible to enter US, as a moral turpitude. But the officer didn't say that I need waiver to enter US.
1. So my question is:
does this mean that their denial is not based on the Crime of Moral Turpitude, but I really didn't show strong ties? Or they just don't reject me explicitly with the real reason? I will marry a Canadian citizen next year so it would be a strong tie then. Or do you suggest me to apply for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility like I-106 whatsoever?
2. Another question is:
I got an offer of a big well-known US company for summer internship, and I need to apply for J1 Visa. How will the charge affect me J-1 application?
First of all, not every crime leads to serious consequences in USA. There are two kinds of crimes. Misdemeanours which are small crimes, punishment is typically less than a year and the other felonies where the punishment is a year or more, those are more serious crimes. In immigration law we look if the crime is of moral turpitude or not. If a crime is not of moral turpitude, I believe it has absolutely no consequences, unless it is a drug offence. Moral turpitude simply means that you are doing something, which reflects on your poor moral character.
The next step: is it misdemeanour or felony. If it is a felony, we almost certainly have a problem. It could lead to deportation, non-admission, and then you will need a waiver of some kind. Waivers are usually available for green card only for family based reasons. You cannot get a waiver just because you want to come to USA. So in an employment based case, and you have a felony conviction for moral turpitude crime you will not be able to come to USA.
Remember the rules are different for deportation, what is called removal and admission. So when you try to enter you could be subject to different laws, sometimes you think you are in USA and I am safe, because your lawyer told you are not going to be deported, but when you come back they won’t let you in and now you have to go back, the reason is the rules for admission are different. This is a very complex area of the law.
Question: What if I am convicted of misdemeanour involving moral turpitude?
First, how many misdemeanour convictions do you have. If you have multiple convictions, then that itself is ground for deportation removal as well as no admission. But if you have only one offence, a misdemeanour, and the actual punishment imposed was less than six months you are covered by something called petty offence exception. Which says we forgive you entirely as long as it was just a single misdemeanour.
The rules under immigration law and the rules under criminal law for conviction are very different. Sometimes you have a criminal defence counsel. He will tell you this is not a conviction. It may not be a conviction under criminal law but is a conviction under immigration law. Any kind of plea bargain you set up with the government where you are admitting directly that you committed the crime would be considered in all probability to be a conviction. So be careful when you discuss this with your immigration lawyer as well as criminal counsel.
Question: What is 212(d)(3) waiver?
Say if you got the kind of conviction where you cannot come back we can let you in on a temporary basis for a non-immigrant visa. 212(d)(3) applies only to non-immigrant visa and the situation has been a little uncertain, especially for Canadians. I think there is a certain timeframe where you can get it or for one visit you can get it.
Question: I am holding a Canadian student visa, now is my second year in Canada. I was issued a B-1/B-2 visa last year. Then I was charged of Theft under $5000 this June, and the charge goes withdrawn-diversion in July.
Normally diversion means some kind of a plea bargaining has been made.
Question: When I went to US Embassy for visa renewal this October, the officer asked my about the charge, and I answered honestly that I did it on purpose and I really regret my behaviour. He rejected my class B visa, gave me a pink paper, which says the denial is under Section 214(b), which says that alien doesn't show strong ties with home country. After I carefully searched online resources, I found that my admission of the offence will make me inadmissible to enter US, as a moral turpitude. But the officer didn't say that I need waiver to enter US. So does this mean that their denial is not based on the Crime of Moral Turpitude, but I really didn't show strong ties?
That is correct because they denied it based upon their inability to verify that you will come back.
Question: I will marry a Canadian citizen next year so it would be a strong tie then. Or do you suggest me to apply for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility like I-106 whatsoever?
Definitely that will make it a much stronger tie and you can try again. You might be covered by a petty offence exception.
Question: I got an offer of a big well-known US company for summer internship, and I need to apply for J1 Visa. How will the charge affect me J-1 application?
If you are covered by petty offence exception, then even J-1 is not affected but the 214(b) denial, affects your J-1. If you had a 214(b) denial, it will bar your entry for J-1, F-1, B-1, B-2. It will not bar your entry for H-1 or L-1. I suspect the officer realised you were covered by petty offence exception.
What is I-485 Pre-adjudicate/Pre-adjudication?
How soon must I join my future green card employer?
Situation -
I have my EB2 India PD as March, 2008. I applied for I-485 in Oct 2014 (Future based GC application). My PD is not current as of yet but I have got an RFE for expired medical form I-693 ONLY in Oct, 2015.
Question: What is I-485 Pre-adjudicate/Pre-adjudication?
You are at the last step of the green card process. Your priority dates became current, you filed the I-485, then the priority dates slipped back two years, at this time USCIS has two choices. They can either put your file in their filing cabinet and forget about the case, until the priority dates become current again. Or they can sit down and can say look we have time, let’s go over the case, adjudicate all the details, decide that the case is completely qualified to receive a green card, so we pre-adjudicate, decide that the person is entitled to get the green card. Make a note on the file. If you need some documents, we send an RFE get the documents so when the priority dates become current again all we have to do is issue the green card. That’s pre-adjudicate.
Question: How soon must I join my future green card employer?
There is really no rule of thumb. But within a commercially reasonable period of time. Three to four months maybe, after approval of the green card, you should join the future green card employer. In your particular case that appears to be a requirement sometimes it may not be a requirement because of AC21 and remember AC21 portability is available even in future employer green card cases.
My wife is on H-1B visa working for a consulting firm. We are expecting baby in Feb 2016. What could be the maximum allowed time period on FMLA. Can my wife continue on H-1 status without pay checks on FMLA period?
If she considers to be in H-1 status FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) allows up to 12 weeks of guaranteed employment leave in 12-month period. It can be more or less also depending on the state law and remember if there is a medical need, for e.g. if the doctor says you have some medical issues you need to stay extra 6 weeks you will still be in status.
Hi Folks, I am extremly happy to inform you that I got my Green Card process completed in a record time of one year. I am just back from India after finishing the CP Interview in Chennai successfully. Mr. Rajiv , Ms. Fidelina Baptista and all his staff Suman Bhasin, Amel Berhe, Leila Lehman, Nimia were very helpful in the entire process. Needless to mention that Mr. Rajive is very good in handling EB2 cases. They did a great job in getting my labour and I-140 approvals and also cooperated very well in my persuit through CP instead of the regular I-485. During my I-140 stage, when I called and asked Mr. Rajiv that I want to opt for CP, he immediately agreed and accepted the challenge though it was not very popular at that time. I am extremly thankful to the entire Law office of Mr. Khanna without which I would not have got my Green Card so fast. I definitely recommend the services of Mr. Khanna who are looking for a good and efficient lawyer. Good Luck to all, Chandra.