I am here on L1b visa from x company. My sister sponsored me Immigration visa in 2006. (File is still in processing). My assignment is going to over here.
Is there any work around or change of status through which i can stay here?
So, the questions is does filing for any green card permit me to stay in USA?
The answer is no.
Only those green card application in which there is no wait for a visa number (example: spouse or parent of a US citizen or EB1 category currently) permit you to stay in USA but only if AOS (I-485) is filed in a timely manner.
That is the reason spouses of green card holders have to wait OUTSIDE USA for many, many years.
Have a situation. My company applied for Labor in oct 2007 which got approved and we filed I-140 (EB-2) in april 2008. We got a RFE in Sep 2008 and reply recieved by the USCIS on oct 16th 2008. Mean while my 7th year of H1b was approved and now it expires on Nov 2009. We have not received any updates on my case and its been >90 days. My current lawyer now says that I should apply for EB-2 NIW as a back up. My concerns are:
1. If my current I-140 gets rejected will my 7th year of H1b be revoked? since it was based on labor pending?
2. What will be my options if it gets denied( can I file for Motion to reconsider). Will I still be in Status and work till nov 2009?
3. Will they extend my H1b beyond nov 2009 if the MTR is not resolved by then?
4. If at all everything is rejected what can I do to start residency in july if I match?
If all else fails what are my options to continue working in the US?
My wife is on her independent H1B visa and I have 2 US citizen kids. I also have a US citizen brother( dont know if that would help any)
Generally speaking, NIW is a lousy back up for a number of reasons. But I say this not knowing the merits of your situation, as your lawyer does.
I have recently gotten engaged to a green card holder. We are making plans for our wedding, very likely to happen this year. However, the following questions arose:
1. Does the fact that I already hold another Master and a Ph.D. degrees accelerate my green card application? I understand that the backlog is of 5-6 years, but I wonder if my advanced education will assist my application.
2. My H-1B application last year was approved, but I did not use the visa, as I decided to go back to school for (yet!) another degree. Will the approval of the H-1B be looked at favorably, unfavorably, or will it not make a difference?
3. I am currently an F-1 holder. If I marry my fiance' this year, may I simply maintain my Visa independent of his? I am eligible to an OPT after I graduate (to happen this year or in mid-2010) and I am certain I will be able to obtain an H-1B afterwards. Therefore, I do not depend on my fiance' to keep a legal status in the country. Is it legal (or advisable) to keep my Immigration records separate from his?
4. How about when we file for taxes, after the wedding happens? May we file separately, or do we need to declare we are married?
1. Advanced degrees do not help in a family-based green card.
Dear Mr.Khanna, I have reading all your post and found you quite informative. I will appreciate if you can let me know the possible consequences of my case.
I was in restaurant in Gaithersburg MD on Jan 29 2008 with my boss who was visiting from Atlanta. I had a beer and 2 glasses of wine with dinner came out sat in the car and started backing up. As you know it was winter and had rained earlier the windscreen at the back got fogged out. While backing up I hit a car parked. Police was in that parking lot and arrested for drunk driving. I blew .09. I was given a bunch of tickets after being 30 minutes in the precinct and was released. In the court they dismissed 2 tickets like DUI and DUI par se and convicted me DWI and Failure to control Speed to Avoid Collision. BTW DWI in MD is a lesser offence when you blow less than the state .08 BAC typically .07. And Failure to control speed to avoid collision which is maximum fine $130.00.Now the Judge gave me Supervised Probation till I finish my MADD Class. After that the Probation goes to Unsupervised for 12 Months. Now I am elligible to file citizenship. I have finished 5 years of LPR time with minimal travel aborad.
Now my questions are :
1.) Will I get deported or removed.
2.) Will I have problems while entering POE while travelling from overseas.
3.) Will my Citizenship be denied if I file after my probation gets over.
Please share your knowledge It will immensly help my stress. This one mistake of my life has really taken a toll in my life.
Your earliest reply will highly appreciated.
Let us look at the law for green cards and removal (deportation) first.
Remember the following GENERAL elements of the law (there is more to it).
I obtained my green card 4 1/2 years ago through employment. My former employer sponsored me h-1 visa for 6 years and labor certificate and green card as well.
Unfortunately, I was terminated by the employer last year, which ended my 10 years career at the company. After the termination, I then filed workers compensation claim for the injuries at work, and civil lawsuit for discrimations and under-paid wages through lawyers. The two cases are pending at courts.
Now I have a part time job which is not related to the job that helped me get the green card.
It is almost time for me to apply for citizenship. However I am worried about how much the two cases would affect the application. I will be asked in the citizenship interview why I left the green card sponsor, why you were terminated and so on, so forth.
Please help advise if my worries are correct ?
Is it better to apply for citizenship when the problems above are ended in courts ?
Thank you very much for your help.
I see no reason to worry here. Neither the civil cases nor the fact that you have left and taken a PT job should have any bearing on your naturalization.
Family members of the H-1B foreign worker are admitted to the United States in the H-4 category. Qualifying family members include only the spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old. H-4 dependents are admitted for the same period of time for which the H-1B foreign worker is admitted. H-4 dependents may alternatively be admitted in other nonimmigrant categories for which they qualify. H-4 dependents may undertake studies while remaining in the H-4 category, however, they may not engage in any form of employment.
I am trying to take an appointment for my wife to renew her H-4 visa since the dates are available right now. She came here on H4, switched in between to F-1 (change of status) but did not leave US, then got the new approval for change of status to H4 (after we filed for green card) and wants to get it stamped now. There is a bit of confusion on the DS-156 form that I have to fill out.
If someone came to the US on a J1 visa with a residency requirement of two years and that person returns back to the home country and then would like to return to the US on an F1 visa to continue a master's degree, can a visa be issued before the residency requirement is completed and does the new F1 visa if given, get rid of the J1 residency requirement?
The two-year home residency requirement does not prohibit issuance of F-1 visa. That can be tried any time, even before the HRR is completed. Ultimately, F-1 visas are discretionary. But there is no law that prohibits their issuance in these circumstances.
Issuance of an F-1 does NOT waive the HRR. You will stay subject to it.
Thanks a lot to Law Offices Of Rajiv S Khanna for doing an excellent job to get my H1 and my wife's H4 renewed. My case was a little complicated and my employer has very little knowledge about the whole process, but Rena and Anna did an outstanding job in preparing the job description letter and coordinating with my employer. They are both extremely polite and patient and are very prompt in responding to emails/phone calls.
Thanks a lot to both Rena and Anna for all their help and special thanks to Rajiv for his expert advice.
I am glad i Chose "Law Offices Of Rajiv S Khanna"!
My experience with Mr. Rajiv Khanna's Law office has been excellent so far. I have received my Labour and I-140 within a year inspite of getting an RFE (which was handled very well).
We have applied our I-140 and 485 petitions through Rajiv's law office. We received our GC approvals the other day.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr.Rajiv Khanna and his team.
My Special thanks to Mathew Chacko, Prerna Mehta and Suman Bhasin for their help and attention with all of our GC related matters.
Since day1 we have received exceptional service. Their staff is easily approachable.
I would also like to thank Rajiv Khanna for the great service he provides for the immigrant community through his Live chats.
The attorney fees are reasonable for the valuable service they provide compared to other noted firms.
Looking forward to recommend your law firm to my friends and family.
I would like to thank Mr.Rajiv and his team (especially Anna Baker and Fran Fischer) for getting my H1B transfer with extension. It may sound simple but both my I-94 and Visa were expired for more than 240 days and my extension with the previous employer was pending with USCIS for almost 9 months. We were really impressed with the way the case was prepared and presented to the USCIS. Anna Baker and Fran Fisher was very supportive during the entire process and answering even the simplest of questions promptly. I was surprised one evening when Anna called me at 7:30 PM to discuss about the case. That shows the level of professionalism by LORK's team. I would recommend LORK for all immigration needs.
Navin
We thank you very much Mr. Rajiv Khanna, for providing us by far the best advisement on our case. Your suggested course of action turned out to be the winner since it comprehensively favored us. So we would like to take this opportunity to convey our appreciations for your meticulous judgment and astute advisement on our case.
We believe that people, who engaged services of Mr. Khanna's law firm for their immigration matters have certainly made one of the best choices in their lives. Also we would strongly recommend hiring Law Offices of Mr. Rajiv S Khanna, if anyone can choose to pick and is on the look out for a reputable Law firm to handle his/her immigration needs. Rest assured you can’t go wrong with that decision. In fact your case will be dealt with utmost trust and care by this firm that you won’t worry about anything ever again. Surely, you will agree that such a feeling is priceless.
Mr. Khanna and his staff constantly keep abreast of all the changes that are taking place in immigration law on daily basis is another reason why one should trust them completely.
Rajiv Khanna and associates are helping me in my Green Card processing since January 2004 and recently they did a very good job to get me the I-140 approval. I received an RFE on my I-140 in Feb 09 and response was well prepared by one of the Lawyers and sent within a weeks time. I got the approval on my I-140 just after a weeks time. It was a great job and effort from the Rajiv Khanna's office and their associates. I appreciate their good work and would recommend them to anyone who is looking for a good immigration lawyer for their Green Card or any other immigration related work.
Here are some experiences with regards to my entire track from NIW I-140 petition to I-485 approval. I had somewhat of an unique case, so if anyone here is in the same boat, this may be of help to you. I have done the entire process by myself, without an attorney, and long hours of research in the law library on U.S.C. Section 8.
Arrived to US in 1991 on J-1, not subject to section 212e, changed to F-1 on arrival. Became an H-1 in 2001 and filed for NIW in March of 2002, case was backlogged due to 9-11.
Based on the advice of some of the members at immigrationportal and being an eternal optimist, I went to Vermont Service center on Aug 23rd taking a dayoff. The lady in the counter told me that my file is in queue for FP scheduling. I told her that I got the same reply even two months back when I made senatorial enquiry.
Here is another set of questions that may be of interest to you folks.
Facts from one of our clients
I have applied for 485 as the primary applicant and my wife is the secondary applicant. Right now both of us are on H1 visa. We had applied for EAD and AP and intend to apply for renewal soon as we near 120 days.
I am on my 7th year of H1 and my wife is on 2nd year of H1 and 3 year of (H1 and H4 combine). Her current H1 expires on April 2010.
I intend to remain on H1 itself and have no intentions of using my EAD.
I normally do not answer questions about filling out forms. But in this case, one of our community members has raised issues that I think are generic enough to be generally applicable. I am posting this for all of you who run into a similar situation. Regards to all. Rajiv.
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Here is another question from one of our clients posted in our extranet forclients.com.
Qo. My Priority date became current as per August bulletin.
I and my wife are applied for I-485 on July 2007 (PF is done and got EAD and AP docs). At that time my son was in India and i could not apply for him.
Right now i am working on his I-485 paperwork and targeting to send his application to INS/Nebraska on August first itself (through your Law firm).
Today I had my interview conducted, and passport stamped as the final result. I finally can draw a closure for this 27-month-long journey. Honestly and surprisingly, I was extremely calm when I arrived USCIS office 4 am today. I was reading one of my favorite authors' (Ann Quindlen) bestseller " One True Thing" while I was waiting in the waiting room so concentratedly that when my name was called, I realized that my eyes were full of tears (yeah, the story's very touching and real. ) Anyway, here's my detail report to all of you who are still waiting:
Just wanted to update everyone and say we had our interview this morning, scheduled for 8 AM in Atlanta. We got there at 7.55, checked in at 7.59 and were called at 8.02. Interview was all done in 10 minutes and we were out of the building at 8.15.
We won a case for a Ph.D. in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems – Geomatic Engineering. He had over eight years of teaching experience and ten years of research experience. His unique background landed him a position abroad as a critical member of a high-level research team.
We won a case for a Ph.D. in computer science/engineering who had over nine years of experience. The applicant held various positions at highly prestigious research institutes in the world. His expertise was considered a cut above the rest and therefore ranked as one of the top in his field. He was a noted author for several scientific journals and posted many conference publications, technical reports and book chapters. He was the recipient of notable awards for extraordinary achievement.
COMMENTS: I heard a lot about Rajiv S. Khanna's legal firm through a friend of mine and true to his word, they have proven themselves. Rajiv S. Khanna's firm has been very CONFIDENT, WELL INFORMED, HELPFUL AND PROMPT throughout the case. ABOUT MY CASE: I work for a Software company (around 300 employees) with branches throughout the world. I had to go to India for 1-2 years to train our off-shore team and streamline processes for handling US Clients. I already had a GC for about 2 years. I was worried about my stay out of US as it would hinder US Citizenship processing. N-470 seemed to be the best approach (as it would treat my stay out of US for business/employment purpose, as if I was in US). For e.g., Without N-470: Apart from other requirements for Citizenship, following must be fulfilled. . Has been physically present in the United States for at least 30 months out of the previous five years (absences of more than six months but less than one year shall disrupt the applicant's continuity of residence unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence during such period) has resided within a state or district for at least three months. With N-470: If you live outside US for about 2 years on business/employment purpose, then these 2 years are counted as residing in US as long as we abide to the rules for N-470. The entire process took about a year (ie. time between submitting N-470 and getting the approved N-470 via mail) Some of the requirements are: 1. Must be on GC for at least 1 year with continuous residency in US (without any absences from US for 1 year). 2. Must apply for N-470 before leaving the country. 3. Must have a valid reason and supporting documents to show that your company is sending you to its sister company for the purpose of business improvement. 4. Apply for I-131 (Re-entry permit) before leaving from US on your assignment. Rajiv's staff has been very helpful and has all the information on how to apply for N-470. They even provided counseling to help me understand the requirements and if I qualify for N-470 before taking up my case. Good Luck...