I was greatly pleased with the level of professionalism, courtesy and promptness of Rajiv Khanna and his staff with regard to the dealings of my green card case. Rajiv Khanna's advise was invaluable in my case and I was able to obtain my GC in 14 months through CP at chennai. His staff made the whole experience very easy, simple and painless. I would greatly recommend him and have done so to several of my friends. Please feel free to contact me if any questions. Regards Tg
Rajiv is certainly an expert on Immigration Laws and will give you your options, straight up. He has retained staff who are professional, helpful and supportive. Many, many thanks to Diane Lombardo, who was always available and also to Leila and Suman, who would return calls and e-mails in a timely manner. This is a Law Office which allows you to maintain sanity through the tedious and complex INS process, and one which I highly recommend.
I appreciate the work you all done for getting through the H1 and H4 intime. Thank you very much for Rajiv, Charu and Ursula
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.
My wife and I got our Green Cards through the Law Offices of Rajiv S Khanna. Every single employee who handled our files starting with the Labor Certification through the I-140 process and the I-485 application was a pleasure to work with and was extremely professional and helpful. I can definitely see why 'The Law Offices of Rajiv S Khanna' has such a great (and well deserved) reputation across the US.
The team at immigration.com is always very helpful and responsive . They guide you well on each step of the GC process. Thanks to you guys I got my green card this year in August 08.
Thanks for your team's excellent work in helping me get my EB2 Green card. I have always had quick and to the point answers to all my queries from you as well as Rita/Sheena. I especially wanted to mention the extra effort put in by your firm to have my case filed in time on July 2nd 07 as well as the time spent in reconciling my two different priority dates. I will definitely avail of your services in future whenever needed.
After having my case botched up by a local lawyer, I restarted the process by retaining the services of the Law Offices of Rajiv Khanna. With just about a year remaining on my 6-yr H1 period, the Law Offices was able to help me file an LC just in time to be eligible for n-th year H1 extensions. During the Aug 07 filing crush, despite an error on my part, Prerna displayed great patience in accepting my 485 packet only a week prior to the Aug 17 2007 deadline. The 485 was filed on Aug 15 2007 and I received the approval notice and the plastic card last week. I highly recommend this law firm - their professional treatment of clients (both petitioners and beneficiaries) and Rajiv's empathetic responses to questions on the ForClients website really makes life easier for those going through this process.
Hi Rajiv, Mathew and Prerna,
Thank you so much for your efforts and support during the entire green card process.
Previously, I had selected CP process for the final stage. Due to fiasco with PD date in last June, Rajivji called me personally and suggested me to go with 485 even though I had selected CP process. It was the perfect decision at that moment. It took me exact 1 year to get the consular interview. I received the interview letter in August and since my wife is pregnant it was impossible for us to fly to India.
And I received the good news in 1st week of Aug through 485 process that card production is ordered.
Special thanks to Mathew Chacko, Prerna for their excellent support.
Thank you Rajiv, Mathew, Richa, Prerna, Bharathi and everyone in team for handling our EB2 GC so smoothly. We did not get any RFE and all thing went very smoothly. All team members were very professional and courteous and made sure all paper work go completed and reviewed many times before final submission.
RK law office is the best and I would recommend strongly to everyone. Thank you for doing great work.
Vikas and his team did an outstanding job and meticulously guided us through the process to quick success. Thanks.
Thanks a ton to Rajiv, Heather, Leslie, Mathew, Mark, Anna, Art, Seema, Amrita and other team members for handling our EB2 GC processing very professionally from the beginning to the end. My wife and I got GCs recently without any hiccups. We did not get any RFE and everything went extremely well and smoothly. All the team members were very professional, courteous and knowledgeable. They reviewed the paperwork several times before final submission and made sure it was complete, accurate and error-proof. Once again, I thank you guys immensely and I will recommend your service to my friends and I myself will consider the services from your firm for other immigration purposes.
A big thanks to Rajiv and his whole team for all their help. I had a wonderful experience with every single person in his team. They were very quick in responding to my questions. When my initial paper work had to be filed only three days were left before the deadline. Heather gave me a call to tell me that I have a chance to apply within next few days for my green card or I would have to wait for several months. I was not sure if it would be possible or not but I decided to do it. Everyone in Rajiv's team worked diligently with me to finish my paperwork on time. I was very impressed by the dedication and commitment they showed towards my case. I truly recommend Rajiv and his team's services to everyone. They are truly fantastic!
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:
After a bad experience with a prominent NY law firm dealing with immigration, I came to this site. I was initially skeptical because the firm was not based in the city I work and live in but the promptness of getting the paperwork done, the willingness to answer doubts whenever they arose and reassuring me about my status when I had to leave the country on a sudden emergency back in India- all of these point to an organization and its people who clearly are the benchmark I would use for any professional service rendered in the future. Great job! Thanks.