Discussion Topics, Thursday 2 November 2017:
-H1B Amendment Approved without I-94 attached
-Changing from Non-Profit (Cap-Exempt) H1 to Profit (Cap-Subject) H1 and GC filing
- Family based second category GC (F2A)
- Transfer J-1 Visa
- H1 and H4 Extension approvals
- Upgrading H-1 B to premium processing
I am now in the last stage of Green card and attending interview in Consulate in India for Employment based green card interview.<br>
I have the recent offer letter from my employer. I saw from your 2012 blog you have mentioned that the employment based consular interview is difficult from foreign country consulate with some example.
Has it improved anything better recently. What type of questions can I expect. Also I have recently relocated to another city in India because of which I have resigned my current job and at the same time waiting for this green card. I have not worked with the prospective employer till now but have the offer with recent date. So did not try for any job. I am an experienced person of 15 yrs exp and just out of job for the past 5 months. Will that hurt anything? Do I need to have one on one consultation with attorney better to be safe?
Video Transcript
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I got a speeding ticket ( It is not related to DUI and no arrest, just a ticket) recently. I didn’t contest the ticket and plead guilty by paying fine of 170$, I have receipt of payment. Do I have to wait for another 5 years from the date I got a ticket (Good moral character period of 5 yrs as per USCIS) to apply for US citizenship to show good moral character?
Watch the Video on this FAQ: Effect of a speeding ticket on green card or naturalization/citizenship
Video Transcript
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I am staying here in the US from last 4 years 10 months and have I-140 approved (Received approval Jun '17). To fulfill personal commitments, I am going back to India in Dec '17 for some time however my H1B extension is still in progress (Filed in Aug '17). I am not sure whether the result will be out before my travel.
My question is -<br>
1. If I change the employer in India, is there any way I can come back? What all options I will have?<br>
2. Can my new employer eligible to transfer my H1B from India in case current extension gets approved or RFE or Denial?
Watch the Video on this FAQ: Effect of moving abroad while still on H-1B visa
Video Transcript
1. Yes, I think you can keep that H-1B alive as long as that job is there.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
1. I have joined a company based on H1b transfer receipt and have got RFE of LCA wage level 1. If, by any chance, the petition gets denied then can the same employer file for new h1b transfer with LCA wage level 2, right after the denial? <br>
2. Is it advisable to find another employer and start a new h1b transfer processing while the current one is still under RFE received/response status?
Watch the Video on this FAQ: Denial of H-1B on Level 1 wage issue
Video Transcript
1. Now if somebody's H-1 gets denied for level 1 job the same employer can file for level 2. But there should be a good reason or explanation if the government asks questions like: why are we going to level 2, why did we not go with level 2 the first time around.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
PERM Processing Times (as of 10/31/2017)
What is the latest development for Employment-Based Immigrants?
In employment based the last step in the green card process is something called Adjustment of Status (AOS). If you are already in the United States in legal status it is done through the form I-485. Earlier employment-based applicants were hardly interviewed by the USCIS. You file the forms and you get your green card approval and maybe you might get an inquiry or two from the government and ultimately anybody going to the USCIS personally would get the green card approved.
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
On Nov. 9, 2017, the Department of State stopped accepting new applications for the Central American Minors (CAM) refugee program. USCIS will stop interviewing CAM cases on Jan. 31, 2018. After that date, individuals with pending applications who have not been interviewed will receive a notice with further instructions.
The 100 civics (history and government) questions and answers for the naturalization test are listed below. The civics test is an oral test and the USCIS Officer will ask the applicant up to 10 of the 100 civics questions. An applicant must answer 6 out of 10 questions correctly to pass the civics portion of the naturalization test.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received reports that the U.S.
FAQ: Is interview required for compelling circumstances EAD? || Can we open a company while on EAD? What kind of questions/documents will be needed in the I-185 AOS interview? || Does H-1B extension denial invalidate an existing H-1B? || What can be done if an H-1B is denied while in the USA? ||Impact of taking a long break while on H-1B.
Other: Traveling while an H-1B is pending || Impact on naturalization of an incorrect name in the past ||Working from home on and H-1B ||Name updated on form I-140||Applying for L-2 EAD and change of status to H-1B ||Erroneous name on passport, visiting on a tourist visa ||Applying for H-4 EAD, I 140 withdrawn before 2017 ||H-1B issued without an I 94||I 485 delay, etc.
Due to technical issues, the registration period for DV-2019 is being restarted, and all entries made prior to October 18, 2017, will need to be resubmitted for the entrant to be considered.
Recently USCIS announced that when a I-485 application is filed the Candidate has to go through the interview process. Is this applicable to the COMPELLING CIRCUMSTANCES EAD as well?
Watch the Video on this FAQ: Is interview required for compelling circumstances EAD?
Video Transcript
No. Not so far. The government has not indicated that they will be requiring an interview before issuing a Compelling Circumstances EAD. That's only confined to the I-485 applications. More
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
1. I recently filed I-140 under EB1 as I am on L1A, my spouse is on L2-EAD, can I open a company on my spouse name?<br>
2. When I file my I-485 do I have to provide any documents (W2, Tax Returns) related to my spouse company?<br>
3. As USCIS has announced In person interview from 10/01/2017, what kind of questions can I anticipate if I open a new company?
Video Transcript
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I was in India for my H1 stamping during Dec 2004. This is my first H1 stamping after my OPT. During my first interview the consulate asked me general questions like:
Where do you work ?
what is you daily routine work ?
what is your Boss's name ?
How much do you get paid ?
Hi everyone. I am back as a permanent resident. Had a successful interview. The interview was pretty easy, a young american guy asked me a couple questions regarding my work and then told me my file was fine but the fingerpritning machine was down so to please wait. I waited for 30 mins and then was asked to go back on Friday. The lines outside the Mumbai consulate are awful, be prpeared to wait for a long time in the hot sun. Since the fingerprinting system was down the day of my interview I was asked to go back along with all the other immigrant visa applications for that day.
Folks,
Yes its true. Ever since I met my wife to be in Sept 03, I was waiting for this day. The day she could join me in the US. Today is the day this dream becomes a reality. Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
My wife's CR1 interview experience on 2/22/05 at Chennai,India - in her own words
Dear Rajiv,
I finally got my approval emails today. My green card story started way back in September 2002, when I sent an email along with my CV to Rajiv one late evening. To my surprise the very next morning I got an email from his office indicating that Rajiv would like to talk about the case and we were on the phone within the next 30 minutes. Rajiv was very polite and courteous and suggested that my application will be best suited for the EB1-EA category. Within couple of hours I received an email with paperwork to sign a retainer and details about the documents I will need to file the application. I must say that the list was extremely long, but again this kind of a detail is what makes approval a breeze. My application was filed within two weeks after I had submitted all the documentation. Rajiv has excellent staff even for handling EB1-EA cases and one of his staff members wrote a 12 page cover letter which basically summarized the whole case in a point-wise manner. Couple of my friends have applied in this category using services from other attorneys and invariably I hear and see that they have to write their own cover letter in first person. In my case, the cover letter was by the Rajiv’s office and six major criteria’s were met by quoting reference letters and supporting documents. Needless to say that the I-140 approval came without any RFE. In 2003-2004, VSC was extremely slow in approving EB1-EA cases but as soon as my receipt date was reached, Rajiv’s office made several calls to VSC to check the status of my case and finally place an AILA request about the status of my application. My approval for I-140 came in Feb 2005, within three weeks of his request. An RFE was generated for my I-485 and here too, the response was nothing but prompt. I received the copy of my RFE via email and the response was submitted the day papers were received at Rajiv’s office. I finally got my approval within three weeks of the receipt of RFE by VSC.
Though this journey has been lengthy and painful, Rajiv and his staff has been with me every step of its way. I can guarantee that this practice is the BEST in the country.
Along with my GC application, Rajiv recently helped and advised two people, who work for me, about technicalities of H1B without charging any fee. This shows that Rajiv is an excellent human being. I whole heartedly recommend his practice for any immigration related services.
Keep up the good work
Great people, Great Results.
Subha,Prerna,Helen and Mathew are simply superb,very prompt
and courteous. I would recommend anyone.
We would like to thank The Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna, specially Savita for helping us get through our green card journey. They were very helpful, courteous, prompt and knowledgeable about the whole process.
The whole experience was very smooth, we just had to provide the required documents and information. It is very important to have a highly qualified and professional Law Office on your side for such a critical process.
I would highly recommend them to everyone for all immigration related matters.
Thank you so much to Rajiv, Savita, Leila, and everyone else who handled our cases.
It was a pleasure to work with attorney Rajiv Khanna and his dedicated team members, specially Diane. They have helped filing my green card application effectively, cleared all the queries on time, and provided appropriate guidance at every critical moments towards the approval of our immigration visa in the EB1A category (now E11). We filed the I-140 petition from India in Oct. 2016. I was kind of nervous when got the I-140 RFE. However, the excellently drafted RFE response was sufficient to convince the USCIS personnel to get approval of I-140 in Feb. 2017. Consequently we applied for immigration visa to National Visa Center (NVC) through consular processing and finally the immigration visa got approved in Oct. 2017. So it took exactly 1 year from the filing of I-140 to the approval of immigration visa. During this period, I contacted Rajiv, Diane and Suman (another dedicated team member) hundred of times and got the necessary and effective suggestions promptly. They were also available for multiple video calls through Skype for discussing the major issues. I never felt I am outside of US. I'll highly recommend 'Law Offices of Rajiv S. Khanna' if you are planning to apply for US green card (immigration visa) or even other types of visa, either from US or even from outside, like me. Thank you very much Rajiv Ji and the team :)