Please accept this small token of my appreciation for your support and efforts in helping all the way from LC to I485 - for a successful GC application approval. I believe Mr. Rajiv's team of people exemplifies how cooperation can achieve great results. My special thanks to Suman, Homa, Leila, Shivani, Iqbal and Diane Lombardo. I can always count on you to get the legal work done and on time!
I have retained the services of the law offices of Rajiv S Khanna for my Green card processing/filing. It has been over a year since the process started. In one word I would say the services that I received were "EXCELLENT" I would like to express my frank opinion and comments on some of the experiences 1. Even before the process started, Rajiv Khanna replied to my queries, concerns, questions within a few days of emailing him. This was even before the retainer agreement was signed. 2. LC: I was in a real hurry to get the process going since I had very little time on hand. I found that the people I had to interact with were able to put themselves in my shoes and actually try their best to speed up the paperwork required so that the application could be filed at the earliest. 2. I-140: Preparing ahead: On suggesting that we prepare ahead and have the I-140 application ready to be sent when the LC is received, I was happy with the co-operation, advice and support I received. As a result my I-140 application was sent to the INS just one day after the certified LC was received in the offices of Rajiv Khanna!! 3. I am sure the same kind of service will continue all through the process, and if past experience is any indication, I expect that my paperwork for 485 will be ready to be filed the day my I-140 approval is received by the Law office of Rajiv Khanna. 4. As for the fee arrangement, I really like the payment on monthly basis instead of one or two lump sum amount. Overall, based on my experience so far, I would, without hesitation, recommend the services of the Law offices of Rajiv Khanna for a Green card application.
When we were doing our research to find an attorney, Rajiv Khanna's law firm was very strongly recommended by a friend. My friend said that he got great personal attention from Mr. Khanna himself but most importantly, that the law firm was always persistent in getting papers moved quickly through HR departments or agencies. My wife and I have certainly experienced that ourselves. The interview call has come in a record 3 MONTHS!!! Thanks to Homa Naderi who developed a great relationship with us and for staying on top of things, ensuring the forms were filled out accurately, and being prompt in replying to our questions and e-mails. Thanks, God Bless.
Rajiv Khanna's office is very client-friendly and will understand the client's problems and work with them closely. This will ease the tensions/worries. And they are very prompt on updating the information to the clients.
Mr. Khanna's office is working on my GC case through Labor Certification and I cannot say enough great things about his team! I had some really bad experiences in the past with some s* lawyers, and know I can be at peace knowing I am in great and competent hands. Richa Narang was of great help during the 6-month RIR recruiting process, always reminding me to turn in documents ASAP. I have never had this experience before, most law firms don't care about their clients, they only care about collecting their fees. A friend of mine just got his H1B approved with no RFEs and in record time. He and his family are ecstatic and very grateful. And so am I. Thanks for always having the time to talk to me and answer my questions. You guys are great!!
My green card is being processed through Rajiv Khanna's office and I am extremely happy with the services they have provided at various stages. My company was taken over by another company and my company had filed for I-140 amendment for name change. It was approved without any queries. I would recommend anyone and everyone to avail immigration services from Law offices of Rajiv Khanna. They are highly professional.
Hi Rajiv & Team,
My wife and myself finally got our Green Cards approved few days back. It took us about 3.5years from start to end due to broken immigration system. I am very impressed with the services provided by your team during this process.I am particular impressed with the professionalism with which our cases were handled and have processes in place to detect human errors. During critical times like filing I485 in Dec05, your team has prepared&reviewed the forms in 2days and that helped us getting the GC sooner. Personally thankful to Rajiv & Mathew for finding time to call me and answer my questions.
The GC process is unnerving, tedious and complicated. Choosing you as my lawyer gave me peace of mind and confidence that I will be able to file in time - I filed my labor only in mid-July, but was still able to file 140 and 485 concurrently well within time.
Before this blog, I used to ask questions from all my friends to understand the processes. This blog was just great helping me to be so well informed that I started giving suggestions to my friends. The information was accurate and quickly delivered straight by Rajiv, so I knew I could follow it with confidence. I was really amazed by the quick turnaround on almost all questions posted.
Special thanks to my case manager Heather for giving personal attention, being very responsive and working so many late hours to help us out. I want you to know that your work has helped me and my family very much. The past 2 months have been really taxing for you. I feel you really deserve a good vacation after August 17
Continue the great work. Expand your firm and help more people. Many Thanks.
My O petition was approved through your help and when I went for O1 Stamping my visa was not issued due to Chennai consulate in patent misunderstanding of the law that being subject to INA Section 212(e) home residency requirement.
Finally Mr Khanna sent the a brief explanation that "It is long settled law that 212(e) does NOT apply to O-1 visas" and i got the O1 stamping. I am convinced that with the current experience of obtaining the O visa with your guidance, and support of Miss Diane Lombardo and Miss Anna Baker I would definitely be a client for my future needs. I am very pleased with the service and the application was very diligently prepared by your staff with communicating with different parties of my sponsor institution. The staff at the sponsor institution were amazed by the pleasant nature of Miss Diane Lombardo. I was very confident by your mails that my visa will successfully stamped. I whole heartedly thank you Mr. Khanna and your team. I would advise my pears to get the best job done right, is to hire Mr. Khanna. I am eagerly looking forward to working with you in the future. Thanks, Raghava Munivenkatappa
My labor certification just got approved today.We applied for it on June 26th so it took exactly 75 days.I just want to thank Law offices of Rajiv Khanna for their professional services.They have been very efficient and I am looking forward for the rest of the process with them.
I would highly recommend the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna!!
They are extremely professional, methodical, thorough, and value for money because they get the job done!!
I was on a B1 visa originally and my H1B was approved but I did not receive the document. When I finally did after a year, there was no I-94. I had overstayed in the US and it was a totally mess because of a number of bad advices.
At that stage, I contacted the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna. I got excellent service considering the fact that everything was done over the phone and via email. It was a pleasure to have had the services of Rajiv S. Khanna, Jitesh Malik, Anna Baker and Rena Waddell.
I thank them sincerely for resolving my issue.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
45 CFR Part 152
[CMS-9995-IFC2]
RIN 0938-AQ70
Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Program
AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds customers affected by Hurricane Isaac of certain U.S. immigration benefits that may be available to them.
USCIS understands that a natural disaster can affect an individual’s ability to maintain lawful immigration status. Eligible individuals may apply for temporary relief measures, including:
A J-1 exchange visa holder who received graduate medical education or training in the U.S.
As of Aug. 10, 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) no longer provides admission stamps on Forms I-20/DS-2019 for prospective and returning international students and scholars (traveling with F, M, and J visas) seeking admission to the United States. This change makes CBP processes consistent with U.S.
The United States Embassy in India today announced it is implementing a new visa processing system throughout India that will further standardize procedures and will simplify fee payment and appointment scheduling through a new website at www.ustraveldocs.com/in. Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs, Julia Stanley, announced at a press conference here today that beginning September 26, 2012 U.S.
A J-1 exchange visa holder who received graduate medical education or training in the U.S.
Ours is a long story. My green card was filed under EB3 India with a PD of May 2006. My husband's green card was filed under EB3 India in 2005. When our dates became current sometime in 2007, my I-140 was already approved and his was pending. So, we decided to go ahead with my case and filed for I-485 for both of us. However, the dates then retrogressed and our lawyer informed us that my husband's case is no longer valid since his LC expired 3 months after it was approved. We didn't know that LC expires if not used within a specific time frame and the lawyer did not inform us either. Anyways, my husband's GC was again filed, this time through Rajiv's firm with proper guidance and through EB2. Rajiv also guided us to go through Consular Processing instead of I-485 since in our case, my husband could legally work using EAD via the I-485 applied through my case. In all these years, the company I work for has increased in size and wants to promote me. I consulted with Rajiv regarding this and inquired about possibility for porting from EB3 to EB2. Rajiv answered all our questions and guided us appropriately this time too. We are now waiting to hear about the Priority Dates for October 2012 bulletin and will make a decision about EB3 to EB2 porting. It feels so good to be able to talk to Rajiv regarding these questions related to immigration and his knowledge and experience in this field is very very valuable for people like us. Every time we have talked to him we have received excellent response and guidance. My husband and the company he works for had a very good experience with EB2 filing. Everything was very professional and was checked and rechecked before it was sent through. Thanks to Rajiv for all his help with our case so far!
I have looked at this forum a million times throughout my journey and have found it sooo amazingly helpful I thought I would share my experience in the hopes that it might help some people.
On sep 5th, I arrived at the embassy 06.30am for my interview, but waited till 11am before being interviewed as the cashier was not at her desk for me to make my visa payment.Good morning
good morning sir I replied
do you swear that everything you have written in the forms and you will say this morning is true? I answered yes
what is your name? I answered
you are .... Years old right? ..... Yes
why did you apply for dv lottery in the first place.......... I answered
where were you when you applied.... I answered
EB3 to EB2 conversion
EB3 to EB2 porting
EB3 to EB2
Good afternoon, everyone. This is US Immigration Attorney, Rajiv S. Khanna for immigration.com, the Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, P.C.
This is a community information call. It is not intended to create an attorney/client relationship. Whatever we say here remains merely an informational conversation.
This is a follow-up to the August 30 Community Conference Call.
We are talking about issues related to converting from EB3 to EB2.
What is this idea of EB-3 to EB-2 conversion?
Most of you know that EB-3 for countries like India and China are very backed up and EB-2’s are better. Actually, for the rest of the world also, EB-2 is much better. So sometimes even though you have obtained a Labor Certification (PERM certification) and then you obtained an I-140 approval or you are on the path to that, you feel, “Oh, maybe I should have filed an EB-2, or maybe circumstances have changed and now I can file under EB-2.” So, in those cases, when we get the priority date from an EB-3 case and put it on top of an EB-2 case, thereby essentially converting an EB-3 case to an EB-2 case, we refer to that loosely as a conversion. Really, it is not a conversion. It is a new case filed under EB-2, and essentially the priority date is being transferred.
One relevant question here. Can priority dates be transferred if an employer revokes my old I-140?
The answer is “Yes.” USCIS has said that they will allow transfers (carryovers) of priority dates even if the old I-140 is revoked, as long as the revocation is not for fraud.
So, when you do this analysis of EB-3 to EB-2 conversion, the first question you want to ask yourself is “Am I currently qualified for EB-2?”
Why is this question important? Remember a Green Card is for a job in the future, which means today I am working as a programmer; tomorrow’s job could be a project manager, and even though I continue to work as a programmer for the next three years or until I get my Green Card, it is not a problem. The future job of project manager can be given to me once the Green Card is approved. Or before. That is up to the employer, but it is not required. So the idea is a Green Card is for a future job. However, you must be qualified for it on the date you filed the PERM application.
So let’s say you have three years of experience after Bachelor’s Degree, and you know that the Green Card will take three or four more years, can you file under EB-2 today?
No, because you are not qualified. You may be qualified in two years or three years, but that does not mean you can file an EB-2 right now.
So are you currently qualified for EB-2?
One of the recommendations I have is for people who are not qualified and don’t have the five-year experience or have a three-year Bachelor’s Degree, you may consider doing a Master’s Degree online. I have a video on this. It’s on my blog. It tells you how to choose an appropriate on-line Master’s Degree program that is accredited and that will help you get into EB-2.
Here is a link to the video and a transcript:
Accreditation of distance education for EB-2
The next question you want to ask yourself is Do I want to process my EB-2 case with the same employer who petitioned the EB-3 or some other employer?
It is a little bit easier to do it with another employer, but given the choice between going with a totally new employer and going with an employer who is totally, solidly behind me, who is going to pay the attorney’s fees. This is a considerable expense. If they’re on my side and they want to cooperate fully with the law, then of course I would stay with the same employer.
The next question you have to ask yourself is Do you need a promotion--present or future?
What does that mean? What if you have three years of experience before you joined this employer, you want to process your Green Card through this employer, and you’ve got two years with this employer now? Now you’ve got five years but two years are with the same employer through whom you are going to file your EB-2 who also did your EB-3 earlier. In order to use that experience, you must be offered a job which is more than fifty percent different than what you were doing before. Let’s say the old job was all coding and the new job is mostly providing project management, so that’s a promotion and then the experience that you have gained with this employer can be applied towards your EB-2.
I hope I’m making myself clear. Most of you already know the concepts, but still I want to put it out there so that you are sensitized to the issues. You can ask your lawyers the right kind of questions and make sure your case is being properly approached. These concepts are difficult. They can be complicated. Even we can make mistakes. Lawyers are not perfect, as all of you know. Be educated and take your lawyers’ help in making these decisions.
It is very important to have a bona fide job.
What does that mean? If you have a three-employee company and the employer says, “I will you a promotion.” That’s a little difficult to establish and believe. It can be true but, if you are a 300-employee company or a 3,000-employee company, probably a better case for a promotion, but of course it all depends upon the facts of the case. I’m just giving you an example. This does not mean smaller companies cannot process promotion cases.
How do I eliminate the risk of problems of EB-3?
What does that mean? I already have my EB-3 approval. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to mess that up.
What you can do is, you can make sure, taking the example of the programmer under EB-3 who wants to go for project manager under EB-2. If your EB-3 was for a programmer, make sure you continue working as a programmer until the I-140 for the new case is approved. So don’t change jobs, because, if you take a promotion to project manager, then the Government could question, "This guy has already taken a promotion, then why would he come back to the lower job which is the Green Card job?” Do not take a promotion until the I-140 for the new case is approved. That would be important.
What if I used AC-21?
This is a very tricky situation. You are one of the lucky ones who’s got your I- 485 pending and I-140 is approved under EB-3. You changed from IBM to Sun Microsystems. You changed employers. Your job was programmer. Now, for AC-21, the job that Sun gives you has to be the same or similar to the job IBM gave you. So it’s got to be a programmer or thereabouts. Now the problem here is this. In order for Sun Microsystems to process your case under EB-2, they have to assess whether they have to promote you so that an EB-2-level job can be given to you or can they use the same job. This can be tricky.
So for AC-21, the key question is can the same job which was the subject of AC-21 be used to file an EB-2 case?
Tricky question. Depends upon the facts of the case.
Now, to the posted set of Questions from the Community Conference call of August 30th.
First Set of Questions
Question: I have an I-485 pending on EB-3. I have been with my company for 12 years. They are planning to apply for EB-2. Same company. I have a Bachelor’s four-year engineering degree from India. Can I qualify for EB-2?
Answer: Yes if the job that is being offered to you is sufficiently dissimilar from the EB-3 job.
Question: Is there any audit risk?
Answer: No. Filing for a conversion (again, I am using the term “conversion” loosely) does not create any additional audit risks.
Question: If we apply in EB-2, will my EB-3 application processing stop?
Answer: No, it does not stop.
Question: What happens to the EB-3?
Answer: It goes on. Don’t take up a promotion. I just mentioned that.
Question: My wife is working on EAD. Will her EAD be affected?
Answer: No, not at all. No problem at all.
Question: If I get EB-2 I- 140 approved, can I use EB-3 priority date?
Answer: Yes.
Question: At that time, will I get another EAD from EB-2 processing?
Answer: No. What you do is, you take the EB-2 I-140 approval and put it on top of the existing I-485. So your old I-140 gets knocked out and the new one now sits on top of your I-485. So I-485 does not need to be re-filed.
Second set of questions
Question: He is preparing for his I-140 for EB-2. Can this be done premium processing?
Answer: Sure.
Question: Do we have to specify the pending EB-3 case information?
Answer: You will have to, because if there is an I-140 approved or pending under the old case, you have to mention that. There is a question I think on the form.
Question: Should we do it during the I-140 filing?
Answer: Yes. On the form itself, there is a question. If there is only a Labor Certification pending, there is nothing to say. If the I-140 is either pending or approved from the old case, you have to say it in the new I-140.
Question: When I started filing for my EB-2 case, my attorney mentioned not to file AC-21.
Answer: I think that’s a personal choice. I like to file AC-21’s and then I like to assess whether I would need a promotion case or I can go ahead with the same AC-21 job for EB-2. I would like your lawyer to decide that as I do not know the case.
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 54944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21975]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 8016]
USCIS and the Office of the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles are committed to strengthening immigrant integration efforts in Los Angeles through proactive citizenship awareness, education, and outreach activities.
The partnership between USCIS and the City of Los Angeles was first established in January 2010 when the two parties entered into a Letter of Agreement for a two-year period. Launched initially as a pilot project concluding in January 2012, USCIS and the City of Los Angeles renewed the agreement for an additional year in April 2012.
Rajiv & his team did an excellent and thorough job on my green card. The whole process from start to finish took less than an year! Many thanks to Rajiv, Leila, Suman & all the others on job well done! I would be more than happy to provide Rajiv a reference, if needed. Regards & good luck to you all, Ananth