Image by Rachel Kramer Bussel via FlickrSamantha Ronson girlfriend of actress Lindsay Lohan is a British native born in London, England now lives in US on green card. Both are ardent supporters of Obama and since Samantha can't vote she writes that if Palin comes into power her green card may not get renewed. Its not just techies that have problems but even star have green card renewal problems.

From Samantha Ronson's myspace post:

Lindsay- "I have faith that this country will be all that it can be with the proper guidance. I really hope that all of you make your decisions based on the facts and what feels right to you in your heart-vote for obama!"

Samantha- "I love this country- however i wasn't born here and don't have the right to vote- so i beg of you all to really do your research and be educated when you cast your vote this coming november.... and if you're in doubt- vote for obama! Mainly because if she gets elected my green card probably won't get renewed!!!"

xoxo,
Lindsay and Samantha

Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan are rumoured to be having a romatic relationship and that should get Samantha her citizenship if true. ( No idea what the laws are for same sex marriages and immigration policies)

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Labels: Barack Obama, green card, Immigration, lindsaylohan, London, Samantha Ronson

Obama has touched on a sensitive and valid unemployment issue. Job losses is blamed on immigrants. Serial stream of bad news from Bears n Stearn's to Fannie Mae n Freddie Mac to Lehman brothers is further deteriorating the US job situation.

In the article "The Bitter Taste of Bigotry", it is rightly said that one man's loss in another's gain.

Thousands of engineers and computer scientists arrive in America yearly to fuel high-tech businesses. Silicon Valley is filled with startups founded by immigrants, like Vinod Khosla’s Sun Microsystems and Sergey Brin’s Google. Astonishingly, Congress has actually reduced the number of special H1-B visas given to foreign workers, which allow American companies to import guest workers with highly specialized knowledge. As a result, many of these workers move to countries with more liberal immigration policies, like Canada and Australia. In these cases, America’s loss is another country’s gain.

Canada immigration is made much simpler that within 1 year with sufficient points based on higher education a Canadian PR (permanent Residency) status can be achieved and after three years the immigrant becomes Canadian citizen. Australia has similar system within two years of PR one can become Aussies citizen.

Compare this to PR (Green Card) in US which is now taking eight painful years compounded with H1-B visas reduction and a lottery system to get H1. Citizenship is another five more years. To become an immigrant a total of thirteen years are required so that would be 1/5th of immigrants life (assuming 65 years of stressful life) spent in this cycle.

To sum up - America’s loss is another country’s gain.

Labels: Australia, Canada, green card, H1-B, Immigration, India

This is one useful experience that my friend shared with me when he travelled with his family to London and returned to US on AP documents when his AOS application is pending.

Ap (Advance Parole) will allow one to travel outside the United States while one's adjustment of status application is pending.These documents is valid between the dates shown on the document, and to re-enter into the U.S. without a valid visa in passport. Make sure that you are physically inside the United States prior to the expiration date shown on the document.

We will receive two or three original travel documents that are all identical (you will only need two - however USCIS sometimes has sent out three originals. If you have three originals (keep one in a safe place at home). Take a couple of copies with you in addition to the two originals. When you use these documents for the first time, the airline may ask for a copy of the Advance Parole.Upon arrival into the US, one original Advance Parole will be stamped by immigration and they may take the other original.

My friend carried only one original document and that created big problems for him and he was questioned that delayed his immigration check by more than half hour. So make sure you carry all the (three identical) documents when travelling with AP.

Be sure to retain the original Advance Parole (Form I-512) stamped by the U.S. Immigration officer since this is a multiple entry document and you may wish to use it again at a later date. You will not be given a new document, so make sure you keep this document in a safe place for future traveling.

If you have not yet received your employment authorization document (EAD), and you travel internationally, please carry with you a copy of your current Form I-797A approval notice that will be evidence of your work status (H or L). Upon your return to the U.S., these documents will verify that you are authorized to work in the U.S., if the question should arise from the U.S. inspector at the border. Make a copy of the I94 record that you will surrender when you leave the US so that you have record of it for the return trip.

If you already have your Employment authorization document you should carry it with you and you do not need to carry the other documents discussed above. You still may want to copy the I94 record for your future reference.

Labels: Advance Parole, Ap, EAD, green card, Immigration, Travel

With news of US economy going into probable recession there is at least one or two major layoff announcements appearing in the news mainly from financial sector companies. This post may be useful who have their EAD's and are looking for a job change.

After 180 days have passed from your I485 pending date, your current employer usually does not have control over I-140 . This is where AC21 comes into play where you use a job offer in a SIMILAR position to change your green card sponsor. To work for that sponsor before your green card is approved, you would need work authorization - generally H1 or EAD.

To join new employer with AC 21 rule you need copy of the I-485 receipt and a new job offer. Having a I-140 receipt/approval copy is helpful.
Now the problem comes if your original sponsor withdraws I-140 after 180 days

The Risk

If I-485 has been pending for 180 days and I-140 is approved then AC21 portability rule can be used to change employers. All immigration experts say the risk is much smaller unless in cases where I-140 is not approved.

The risk to the employee/applicant arises if the employer revokes the approved I-140. As per the rule, USCIS is supposed to continue to process the case, if USCIS have been informed by the applicant about the use of AC21 in case of employer change. Very rarely it can happen that USCIS staff who lacks the knowledge will deny such cases.

Choices

What to do in the event such denial happens?

-> Grab an attorney and through them you can file a motion to reopen the denied case.

-> If at all you can do keep your H1-B status that way you will be in status/work authorization in case a problem comes up.

Benefits

Many have used AC21 without the above said problems. It is noted in many immigration forums that AC21 cases at large are smoothly going.

The wrongful denials after I-140 revocation continue to be a problem---but not a wide-spread problem. The procedure to be followed is clear, but the USCIS does not always follow it. Employers don't have valid reason to revoke I-140s anymore, since there are no labor substitutions.

Labels: AC21, green card, Immigration

After June/July Visa bulletin fiasco we have seen two times December , January bulletins retrogress India Employment Second preference to far cut-off date which clearly indicates demand for EB2 numbers by USCIS for (AOS)adjustment of status cases has remained extremely high in recent months . Recent bulletin (FEBRUARY 2008) released yesterday reflected this big drop making India EB2 category as "Unavailable" where as EB3 category retrogressed to 08MAY01 - Which means EB3 for India is now more current than EB2. Remind you that this is just start of the fiscal year for visa numbers and this demand proves to be very costly for Indian applicants as they have to wait no one knows (even USCIS too) when they will become current.

Why did EB2 become unavailable in February Bulletin?

This is expected as January 2008 bulletin gave good signs of this prediction - EB2 for India is retrogressed by 2 years to January 2000 & EB2 remains unchanged to 01 May 2001. EB2 approval needs Master's degree or 5 years experience and we already know I140 is the stage with the most scrutiny since I485 is only adjustment of status. One probable reason for unavailability is that employers hurried up to use LC substitution as USCIS announced that they no more be accepting LC substitutions. Sure as to every one guess that these I140s will have issues. I140 processing times are more and against to guidelines probably the dates are made unavailable.

Other obvious reason needless to say is mass filing that happened in June/July ' 2007 which used years worth of visa numbers.

Unless visa numbers quota is increased I believe the same story continues and priority dates may take years and years to become current.

All the best for those who are waiting for dates to become current.

Labels: eb-2, green card, Immigration, India, priority dates

This post is for those who got wrong information on their Green Card - EAD,485 & AP documents.Be sure to check twice if all information on GC documents are correct.

Wrong Last Name:

My wife got her 485, AP and EAD receipts and all of them had incorrect last name. One letter was dropped from the last name.

Here are few options available to change this name or use some alternate method.

Finger printing:

When we went for our finger printing appointment we informed the officer and changed her last name to the correct one in her 485 application.

EAD Card:

We received her EAD card which had the incorrect last name.Looks like I have two options available
a) Re apply - Send original EAD card back to USCIS to get the problem fixed.As per estimates this would take minimum of 90 days.
b) Use wrong EAD card with Passport which has correct name on it. This was one suggestion from immigration attorneys and hope that works with out any issues.

I'm inclining to option 'b' as in one year I anyway had to renew EAD card.

Social Security Number:

The big worry we had is that if my wife who is on H4 visa can get SSN with wrong name on EAD Card (EAD card is the proof of employment authorization to get SSN number) ? There is no need to worry and this situations we will get SSN number irrespective of names spelled wrong on EAD card. The first question we were asked at social security office if if names were correct on EAD.They put the right names on SSN application and included wrong name on other names.

Advanced Parole::

In the AP receipt her last name was wrong. The option seems to be calling USCIS and correcting it in the system.

The USCIS numbers to call and fix are listed in the receipt documents.

Labels: Advance Parole, EAD, green card, i485, Immigration

I'll post all updates as they are available --

Immigrationvoice.org reports :

Immigration Voice Announcements

UPDATE AT 3:15 PM EST TUESDAY: The latest update we received is the announcement to be made soon will be as follows:
DHS will be rescinding its July 2 update and the initial July Visa Bulletin will take effect for 31 days – i.e., all employment-based green card categories (except for the “Other Workers” category) will be “current” and CIS will accept applications through August 17.

DHS will issue a press release to this effect later today.

Hope this is true and USCIS revert their decision to accept applications BUT where are visa numbers for all these applicants ? This is really a messy situation that we have to wait and see how this will be corrected.



U.S. to Reverse
Some Denials
Of Work Visas

Looking to resolve a messy immigration tangle, the U.S. government is close to announcing that it will accept at least some applications for work-based green cards that were filed by thousands of skilled workers in early July at the government's invitation and then abruptly rejected.

Labels: green card, Immigration, visa bulletin

Back to old story again and all rumors of how long priority dates will be current came to an end with USCIS latest press release. Now all dates have retrogressed and became unavailable for employment based categories.This means we cannot file I485 and get EAD now.Since bulletin comes in June middle looks like USCIS miscalculated the visa numbers usage for June.All visa numbers for this fiscal year looks like been used.

The hopes created with this USCIS making all numbers current drama for July literally played fool false hope game with many immigrant lives.Think of this how many of us spent numerous dollars for this drama.Who benefited from all of this - a) Immigration Lawyers. b) USCIS nominated doctors for medical exams. c) Air line industry and d) documentation businesses.

a) Immigration Lawyers - Upon receiving this news many lawyers recruited temps to quickly file I485 applications and charged that overhead costs burden on the applicant (or for some the sponsoring employers bearing all GC cost usually pay the lawyers fees). As applicants now are struck in dilemma of what happens whether their lawyers re-charge them again when numbers are available.Of their no fault immigration lawyers benefited because of USCIS

b) USCIS nominated doctors for medical exams - Medicals for I485 created huge crowds at the doctors offices to get medicals done on time in order to take use of July bulletin news. These doctors charged anywhere between 250 $ and 400$ for these medicals from applicants.



c) Air line industry - One may wonder how come air line industry banked from this fiasco.Here are genuine cases.During summer usually July time frame many Indians go for a vacation. All travel plans either shortened the vacation or canceling the vacation resulting in penalties.My case I lost $1500 for my advancement of tickets to an earlier date because of demand for the seats as airlines are booked for student travels heavily this time during the year.

d)Documentation businesses - I don't know how many trips I made to copy/scan center to put the documents together for I485.Some lawyers just demanded scanned copies instead of fax to avoid any delays.Extra miscellaneous expenses for the applicant.

If you have any additional miseries to share - please do so via comments.

Thank You USCIS for all this :(


Press release says

The sudden backlog reduction efforts by Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices during the past month have resulted in the use of almost 60,000 Employment numbers. As a result of this unexpected action it has been necessary to make immediate adjustments to several previously announced cut-off dates. All Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices have been notified of the following:

Effective Monday July 2, 2007 there will be no further authorizations in response to requests for Employment-based preference cases. All numbers available to these categories under the FY-2007 annual numerical limitation have been made available.

Employment preference numbers will once again be available to these chargeability areas beginning October 1, 2007, under the FY-2008 annual numerical limitation.

Department of State Publication 9514
CA/VO: July 2, 2007

Labels: green card, Immigration, priority dates, retrogression, visa bulletin, VisaNumbers

What are Green Card points ?

In a change that would be akin to long-standing systems in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, the proposed merit-based system would eventually allocate about 380,000 green cards each year to foreigners with the highest scores--up to 100 points--based on certain criteria. The bill is called the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

List of websites to calculate Green Card Points:
{Currently only one site .. As bill is discussed this week we hope to see more and more of these types of calculation sites.Once bill is approved we get to know exactly what goes into GC points calculation - until a final decision is made use following guess calculations }

->ready4greencard.com

Here is a "Green Card Points Calculator" based on this proposed new evaluation system as the 'Immigration Enthusiasts' understand. Check out if you qualify!

Labels: green card, green card points, Immigration

NY times on Immigration reform bill:

WASHINGTON, May 17 — Senators from both parties announced an agreement this afternoon on immigration-reform legislation that would bring illegal immigrants and their families “out of the shadows and into the sunshine of American life,” as Senator Edward M. Kennedy put it.

What's the big deal as this bill is for illegal immigrants ?
->The reason is we don't know clearly who will fall under guest worker program and some twists/interpretations may push some of the catagories of visa numbers to current.
->Also the Graduate MS Degree holders from US schools that was published in times of India may be part of this bill

But we don't know what decision is actually reached ... wait and watch.

Labels: green card, Immigration, retrogression