Visa Bulletin For March 2015
Number 78
Volume IX
Washington, D.C
A. STATUTORY NUMBERS
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In-Country Refugee/Parole Processing for Minors in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala (Central American Minors – CAM)
The Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee/Parole Program provides certain qualified minors in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children are currently undertaking to the United States.
Guestbook Entry for Amit Goel, India
Name
Amit Goel
Country
India
State
Delhi
Guestbook Entry for Rakend, United States
Name
Rakend
Country
United States
State
PA
Comment
Amrita,
I am writing this time to thank you for the outstanding work you did on my PERM case. Words cannot give my appreciation justice. You were superbly efficient and professional. We could not have wished for a better person to have dealt with and the service we received from you has been excellent, you have kept us well informed and up to date with everything.
Once again my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for you and everyone else worked on my case.
Guestbook Entry for Nagaraj Rao, United States
Name
Nagaraj Rao
Country
United States
State
MD
Comment
Immigration.com team has been working on my EB-2 visa and we started the first step GC process in June 2014 and today i have my labor application approved (Feb 2015) . The team (My main interaction is with Vijay Durgam) during the last few months and they have gone to meticulous detail in getting this through. We had numerous conversations to ensure that everyhing was in place and a brilliant idea from the team helped me expedite the process before the labor is filed. My 6 years H1 term was ending in Sep 2015 and this has been a remarkable progress for me in the last few months.
I look forward to work with them futher on my I-140 and I am pretty sure this positive experience is going to improve further.
Thank You Vijay and team!!
Nagaraj.s
AAO Processing Times as of February 1, 2015
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AAO Processing Times as of February 1, 2015 |
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Guestbook Entry for Hariharan Subramony, United States
Name
Hariharan Subramony
Country
United States
State
Arizona
Comment
I recently PASSED my US Citizenship interview, but they wanted to provide me some documents related to my tie up with usa on my out-of-usa stay for more than 6 months during two of my trips to India. I couldn't provide the same and I contacted Mr. Rajiv Khanna on that and I was given some guidance to proceed ahead, with a one-time free consultation. Hope, his kind words would help me get succeed in getting my US Citizenship. I sincerely thank Mr. Khanna and team on this and wish them a great going.
Guestbook Entry for Lokanatha Kadirimangalam, United States
Name
Lokanatha Kadirimangalam
Country
United States
State
WA
Comment
Thanks to one and all at Rajiv Khanna's office for the excellent support and cooperation extended to me through out my GC journey.
USCIS to Welcome 5,000 New U.S. Citizens During Naturalization Ceremonies for Presidents Day
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will honor Presidents Day by welcoming approximately 5,000 new U.S.
H-4 EAD Rule
Question details
My spouse and I are living in different sates due to obvious work reasons. I am currently on H-1B Visa with my I-140 approved. My wife is on H-1b working as a full time employee to XYZ company. Now, with Obama's executive action particularly with H-4 EAD my wife is planning to change her visa status from H-1B to H-4 so that she can get opportunities at the place where I live (at this point of time all the companies at my place are asking her for Either Green Card or Proper Work permit without any sponsorship in order to hire her). In this regards I have 2 questions <br>
1. Would you suggest us to get H-4 approval in advance before H-4-EAD rule comes into effect or would you suggest we can file them concurrently?<br>
2. If she applies for H-4 when can she quit the job - Is it on the day of notice of application receipt from USCIS or from the day of H-4 approval?<br>
P.S: I am aware that no rule has been published yet but just wanted to get your thoughts/suggestions on this issue.
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
Can I postpone H-1 status
Question details
Currently I'm on L-1A status and it expires in *** hence my employer is planning to file new H-1B this April not change of status. Here are my questions...<br>
1) If I get H-1B this April, is it mandatory to work on H-1B from Oct 01, 2015?<br>
2) Shall I continue with L-1A status until it expires and then can I change to H-1B?
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S.
When do I become exempt from H-1 quota
Question details
I got my H-1B petition approved in 2008 and again got it extended in 2008 unto Jan 2011. Now, I have never used both these visa's to work in US. Though, I have traveled few times to US but on B-1 visa for meetings with customer. Today, one of my friend told me that I am eligible for cap exempt H-1B application if I get job in US. Also, what will be the processing time for this cap exempt H-1B. Can this be done in premium processing in 15 days ?
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
USCIS Information for Pending Cases During the Transition from the Current Version of the Form G-28 to the Revised Version
We are aware that some attorneys and accredited representatives who recently filed the current version of the G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative, may have received a courtesy copy instead of an original document. This occurred because we recently made necessary system changes to incorporate the new features that appear on the revised Form G-28. Release of the new Form G-28 has been temporarily delayed and, as a result, is not yet available for public use.
US Immigration Questions, Feb 19, 2015 Free Community Call with Rajiv (Every Other Thursday)
Agency
Immigration Law
Status of the H-4 EAD regulations
Question details
Status of the H-4 EAD regulations
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXq6DaDK7AA#t=93
FAQ Transcript:
This FAQ is about H-1 quota, how does H-1 quota work?
I think this is an issue important for many people.
Question: I am on L-1 A, If I get H-1B this April, is it mandatory to work from October 1st. Can I continue on L-1A and then change to H-1B when I like.
DOJ Releases a Flyer, “How Employers Can Avoid Discrimination in the Form I-9 and E-Verify Processes"
Justice Dept. released a flyer, “How Employers Can Avoid Discrimination in the Form I-9 and E-Verify Processes,” which provides guidance in completing Form I-9 and E-Verify processes.
Please check attached document for information.
USCIS Finalized the H-4 EAD Rule
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director León Rodríguez announced today that, effective May 26, 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is extending eligibility for employment authorization to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. DHS amended the regulations to allow these H-4 dependent spouses to accept employment in the United States.
H-4 EAD Rule (Updated As of Nov 10, 2016)
Permanent residency in more than one country
Question details
If a GC holder applies for permanent residency in another country (say Canada or Australia) is that automatically considered an abandonment of the GC here in the US? I am getting a very good job offer in Australia and would like to go try it out for a few months to see if its a good fit.
FAQ Transcript
FAQ Transcript:
The question here is can I have permanent residency in more than one country?
Yes. You can. I can only comment about USA. I don't know about other countries, so if you have a Green Card in the United States there are possibilities you have a Green Card in U.S. and you have permanent residence for Canada as well. But in fact you stay in USA permanently, you work here, you stay here we really don't care what other permanent residency you have. So if as a matter of fact you are living in the United States we don't care how many other permanent residency you have.
If on the other hand, you quit your job, go to other country and take permanent residency there, it can be an issue for your Green Card here in the United States. Government can ask you, what is your intention. I would advice you to take detail consultation with your lawyer and make sure your particular circumstances covered. I think re-entry can be applied to protect your Green Card. But in that case getting a permanent residency in a third country may not be very good idea. However temporary visa would be OK specially when combined with re-entry permit, Form I-131 and or N-470 to preserve your Naturalization.
So look into that before you make any firm plan. As a theoretical matter if you are permanent resident of USA and you are living here we don't care how many other permanent residency you have.
Procedure for Porting a Priority Date from One I-140 to Another
Question details
I have two approved I-140`s in EB-2 from two different companies with same A# on them. One with 2009 PD and other with 2011 PD. I am working for the company with 2011 PD . 2009 case was approved after the 2011 case so we could not port the date at the time of filing for 2011 case I-140. Now my question is do I need to file for amendment to port the 2009 date? Or am I eligible for filing I-485 without the I-140 amendment? Both I-140's are alive and employer did not withdraw any of them.
FAQ Transcript
PD (priority date) date transfer is supposed to be automatic. We don’t have to do anything about it and it is my understanding what USCIS does is they do periodic sweeps in fact several times a month. They do a sweep like queries of their database and whoever is entitled to whichever priority date at the earliest they automatically assign that to you. So if you have one I- 140 approved earlier another I-140 going on or approved they will automatically assign you the earliest priority date to which you are entitled. That may or may not reflect in your approval though. So just because it does not reflect in your approval it doesn’t mean that you are not going to get the earlier priority date. You can confirm it by opening a service request. You can confirm by asking them your priority date.
Hence the answer is you are eligible for filing I-485 automatically when the 2009 date becomes current. All you have to do is attach a copy of the earlier approval notice with it along with the current approval and you should be fine.
Filing PERM using experience gained with same employer
Question details
I am working for company A, last three years. In order to file green card I need to use my current experience(3 years) as I don't have previous experience to prove. Can I leave the current job from company A, go to another company(company B) and work for few months in ( company B) and go back to my previous company(company A) so I can use the three years experience for GC process? How long I have to be out of company A to use that three years experience?
FAQ Transcript
Answer is No, unless you meet the following requirements. If the job being offered to you as a Green Card job is more than 50% qualitatively different than the software engineer. If you join as a software engineer you got 3 years of experience then next job offered is Project Manager for example where more than 50% of your time spent in managing projects not a hands on architecture or development. Now you can use the experience you gained because job offered is different than the job you had before. There is common sense reason for it. When you joined this employer you had zero experience, after three years employer claims that they require 3 year experience for the same job. USCIS or DOL would want to know what changed that their requirement changed.
Change of Status to H-4 - effect on priority date; maternity leave on H-1
Question details
1. Planning to transfer from H1B to H4, I-140 approved with Jan2015 priority date. Can I keep the priority date after I change to H4? Intend to come back to H1 after few months. 2. Currently I'm 7 months pregnant and I work for a consulting company (employer) on H1B visa, Can I take maternity leave on H1B? If yes, for how long? will it be a paid or unpaid leave? If not do I need to convert status from H1B to H4? If yes, can I change it back to H1B and work again or need to apply for a fresh visa?
Here is an interesting question, if I am on H-1 and I convert to H-4, does that kill or affect my priority date ? Answer is no. If you were on H-1 and you had filed a Green Card, you got a priority date and I-140 was approved now you changed to H-4 that does not kill your priority date. That's not the problem.
And the second part of the question was can I take maternity leave on H-1?
FAQ 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.
Hi, today was my first interaction with office of Rajiv S Khanna, I was overwhelmed with the service which I got from the front desk and immigration supervisor.
I spoke to Heather Link and Suman Bhasin, i really appreciate their kindness and willingness to help a client.
They helped me to book an appointment with Mr Khanna on very short notice.
Lookign forward for the services.
Regards
Amit Goel
Thank you