Dear Rajiv, Pooja, Suman, Savita, Vijay, Fedlina and All, Let me thank you all for such and excellent work done by all of you for my Labor Certification. I am really very impressed by good work of Law office. L.C. filed on 12/06/00, L.C. approved. 04/30/01. When State Department of Labor, Maryland asked for the few questions about my LC, Rajiv himself called me and assured. He is very humble and nice person. He is having full command not only to Immigration Law, but also to softwares. Though profession he is a Lawyer, but he does Designing and coding for his own 4GL/5GL programs. Thank you very much Rajiv. Raman
I checked the AVM message at Vermont and heard that our I485 petition for adjustment of status was approved. I have been associated with Mr. Rajiv Khanna, Charu Bhagat, Suman Bhasin, Leila Lehman and Diane Lombardo off and on since that time. Mr. Khanna practices his law in a principled manner and I have never been given any false assurances by him. He is not one of those fly by night lawyers who promise the moon and then dont deliver. He has always given me advise without reservations. He is also a shrewd lawyer and if your case has even the slighest merit, he will get it to your favor. Well thanks to him my family and I are permanent residents.
Dear Rajiv & Team, Thanking every one at Law offices of Rajiv S akhanna for getting my GC in record time, showing excellent thru the process. Thank you for taking a great interest in my case and I have no doubt every client of yours get this same great service. Feel lucky to have you as my atty. Thanking you and wishing good luck for others going thru the process. Ramana
Thanks to concerted efforts of law firm, I got my GC in 1.5 years. The remarkable thing about the people working at this law firm is that they always return your calls ( especially Ms Lehman). They take utmost care with the paperwork and they have been so prompt in paper-filing too. I opted for Consular Processing and it was a piece of cake. They did not ask any questions at all.
One of our community members had asked a questing regarding the processing dates of 485.
In a pending AOS (I-485), unless your PD is current, USCIS will not touch your application. Only when the PD becomes current, they start processing applications ROUGHLY in the order received.
For recent updates on PERM processing please click here.
http://www.immigration.com/processing-times-and-status-checks
One of our clients (I think I have worked with these folks for over a decade) had these questions:
Quote: A member of our family was issued a Green Card in November 1980. The green card did not have any renewal date (see enclosed). I assume Green Cards at that time did not have a renewal date. Does this need to be renewed?
Ans: Replace the green card. See:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-90instr.pdf
Now that I received my GC through employment, does my employer need to change my position to the one filed in the Labor Certification?
Yes, now that the GC is approved, your employer should "permanently" give you the job described (including the title, salary and job duties) in the Labor Certification. This change should take place within a "reasonable time" after the GC approval.
Keep in mind, "permanent" does not mean forever. This term describes a job that has no pre-decided termination date. We see no violation of the law, If the employer, due to economic or other circumstances, can no longer support the job after having offered it to you in good faith.
Some of our employees' Green cards
have been filed. There projects have ended. They are working on H-1 but possess EAD and have 140 approved and 485 pending more than 180 days.
Quote: (1) If we revoke their H-1, are we still required to pay full wages if our clients say they do not currently have a project for our employees?
Ans. You are not required to pay "bench salaries" for employees whose H-1 are revoked (remember you must inform CIS and offer employee a one-way ticket home). But we then have exposure to the questions, "do you still have a "permanent" job for them?" If the answer is no, then their GC processing can be interrupted unless they use AC21 portability.
1. Hi Rajiv I have a few questions about starting business in partnership.
I am currently on H-1B , my I-140 is cleared and priority date is not current. My wife is on H-4 visa and she is interested in starting her own business with some one who has I-485 pending and has EAD.
I will be the one who will be investing in this business but I won't be employed with that business.
- Is this legal ?
2. Can you be a passive investor on H-1?
1. She can NOT do this on H-4. Once you folks file 485 and get EAD, things will be different.
You can then be a passive investor (performing no work type activity for the company) even while on H-1. You can also be an active investor if you wish to move to EAD as long as you maintain your intention to work full time for the GC sponsoring employer. Your wife can work for the company, own it, be partners, etc. as long as she has the EAD.
For past 7 years I work for company ‘A’ on their H1B visa (EB3). I had a I-140 cleared in 1998 from my previous company ‘B’ under EB2. Company ‘B’ filed for my I-485 in 2004 and I finally got my green card.
Quote: 1) Do I need to inform company ‘B’ and be in their payroll with immediate effect?
2) If company ‘B’ cannot provide me a job in my location and offer the salary I demand, is it a valid reason for me not to join ‘B’?
3) How should I inform company ‘A’ about my green card and what is the best reason to justify my case to continue work with company ‘A’?
or Should I inform company ‘A’ only when I fill the I-9 form next year Jan 2010.
I sincerely thank Rajiv Khanna and his team of professionals for their work on my PERM (Labor) stage of my Green card process. I would extend my heartiest thanks especially to Subha, Roopa and Pramita who were actively involved in my case. I got my approval in 2 weeks. I would like to mention that I work for a medium sized company and this is the first time my employer was filing for permanent residency. We were patiently educated and guided through the entire process. Mr. Khanna’s team did all paperwork professionally. I am very happy with the services of The Law Offices of Rajiv Khanna and would definitely recommend them for any immigration case.
Dear Rajiv,
I would like to thank every one in your office who is working my green card case. The first two major steps in my green card process, Labor and 140 have been completed. Special Kudos/thanks to my case manager Aruna Marthi. She did put awesome effort in preparing my case, did necessary follow-up with INS and very patient in answering my calls with detailed information. I’d highly recommend law offices of Rajiv for every one who are looking for future green card process. Thank you all once again.
Thank you for all your assistance. After 10 years in the US and almost 5 years after filing for our green cards we can now relax and enjoy our lives. Would recommend you to anyone needing immigration assistance
Heather and Mathew were most efficient, personable and timely in the processing of the application and clarification of any doubts I had. The total time for a Schedule A worker Permanent Residency/Green Card took under 4 months from filing.
I also appreciated the reasonable payment option.
The attached document explains the criteria.
1. Is it advisable or compulsory to get the prevailing wage determination from the states or Online Wage Library is enough at the time of taking LCA? Because most of the time we are taking the LCAs for the job titles like: Software Engineer, Programmer Analyst and System Analyst for which the wage determination available in the online wage library.
Ans. OES wages can be used as long as the correct job category and job level are used. Applying for prevailing wages from the govt. is time consuming, but does have the benefit of being almost beyond question in case of an audit.
1. I am contemplating switching from H-1B status (in Year 4) to an L2 status (wife holds L1B status) and then applying for EAD. After I receive the EAD (receipt of application sufficient for starting work?), (1) am I allowed to hold on to my current H-1B status or does it automatically lapse upon conversion to L2?
2. Can I hold a CAP-EXEMPT H-1B with an academic institution/ think-tank etc CONCURRENTLY with the L2, (3) work as an independent contractor (1099)?
3. Does EAD allow one to be do multiple things as a free-lance professional?
1. Ans. It lapses upon change of status from the date the status is changed.
2. Ans. You cannot have H-1 and L-2 status at the same time. But on the L-2 EAD you can do both jobs.
3. Ans. Yes.
1. Are we OK in keeping an H1B worker without work as long as we pay him during the project break too - at the LCA wage level.
Ans. You must pay your H-1 workers the legal wage. This is the higher of the prevailing wage or the actual wage. Actual wage is defined as that which you pay other similar employees in the same geographical location. So, as long as you pay the legal wage, there is no problem.
When filing for H-1, it often becomes an issue as to what is acceptable evidence that a foreign employee has completed their degree requirements.
USCIS has stated:
I have attained Canadian Citizenship but a born Indian citizen, when I am applying for 485 which priority dates do I need to consider, General or India. I do not have Indian passport.
Still, India. Your chargeability follows the place of birth, not your citizenship.
I am sharing with you a response to a frequently asked question about adopting a child from India. Our inquirer also wanted to know if she could adopt her niece. Here is the info:
The following pointers have emerged from recent cases and comments from USCIS:
1. Make sure you document the citation records (to show how many hits the journal gets), impact factor and circulation figures of the journals in which your publications appear.
2. (This we already knew) Recommendations from people who know you personally carry less weight than from those who know you by reputation.
3. Emphasize/document the "international" nature of your accomplishments.
What does the stimulus Bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) say about H-1 hiring and about green cards?
There is a lot of confusion out there as is obvious from a gazillion emails I have received. So, I braved the lion’s den and tried to figure out this thing. Here is how I see it.
1. If an employer receives TARP funding they can hire NEW H-1B workers only if they comply with certain requirements. Note that existing H-1 workers are not affected. Note also that there is no effect on existing or future green card applications of such employers.
Rajiv Khanna and his office associates helped in all aspects of my green card applications and made it as smooth as possible. They are very well talented and experienced to handle any kind of case. My special thanks to Rajiv, Suman Leila, and Diane who very always there to help and answer all the questions at any time.