Jitamitra
05-29 07:56 PM
Get a good attorney to solve this issue as practically speaking, you were out of status from period of 2006-2008 as your Company A's Approval overrided your university H1.
USCIS is expecting that you submitted Company A's Approval for transfer instead of University's H1B Approval
This is not a legal advise. Please get in touch with a immigration attorney.
USCIS is expecting that you submitted Company A's Approval for transfer instead of University's H1B Approval
This is not a legal advise. Please get in touch with a immigration attorney.
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canmt
10-19 10:37 AM
You are required to send a notice to your lawyer letting him know that you no longer require his/her service. Also notify USCIS in writing that your lawyer does not represent you anymore and send correspondence to you directly. If any USCIS notice addressed to you was transmitted to your former counsel, it should be available to you from counsel. You may wish to request forwarding of all post-representation correspondence that arrived after representation ceased. Although that lawyer may have no obligation to perform any services for you, the office should not impede your ability to answer USCIS requests. You should call the service center and request a copy of any correspondence that was sent to your lawyer until the lawyer sends a notice to USCIS letting them know that he no longer represents your case or until another lawyer files a G-28 for you.
I hope this helps and good luck on your greencard chase.
I hope this helps and good luck on your greencard chase.
eb3retro
07-22 08:04 PM
Hi Suk,
We have been already working on this. Please see:
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/CISOmbudsman_RR_25_EAD_03-20-06.pdf
On July 30, 2004, an interim rule "Employment Authorization Documents." 69 Fed. Reg. 45555 removed regulatory language limiting EAD validity periods to one-year increments and provides for USCIS issuance of multi-year EADs. The intent of this rule is - USCIS is to begin issuance of EADs with validity periods of more than one year. The reason for this interim rule was that 80%-90% of adjustment of status applications remain pending for longer than one year. Therefore applying for renewal of the EAD every year, as mentioned in the July 2004 interim rule, "creates burden on the applicant" and "creates avoidable additional workload for USCIS".
This change to the EAD issuance policy and practice will benefit employers and individuals, as well as USCIS. Issuance of multi-year EADs and EADs with full periods of validity will also help to reduce USCIS workload and improve process efficiency. With the current practice, issuing EADs with one-year validity periods�in cases where it is likely that re-issuance of the EAD will be necessary�requires USCIS to perform redundant adjudications.
Thanks for your help!
Walden pond, is there anyway we can do a rigorous push for this. Is there something that we can do about it. Also, after this letter to USCIS, was there any response from their end...thanks for your time, btw, congratulations on receiving your green card. You really deserve it and trust me, every single soul in IV is happy for you.
We have been already working on this. Please see:
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/CISOmbudsman_RR_25_EAD_03-20-06.pdf
On July 30, 2004, an interim rule "Employment Authorization Documents." 69 Fed. Reg. 45555 removed regulatory language limiting EAD validity periods to one-year increments and provides for USCIS issuance of multi-year EADs. The intent of this rule is - USCIS is to begin issuance of EADs with validity periods of more than one year. The reason for this interim rule was that 80%-90% of adjustment of status applications remain pending for longer than one year. Therefore applying for renewal of the EAD every year, as mentioned in the July 2004 interim rule, "creates burden on the applicant" and "creates avoidable additional workload for USCIS".
This change to the EAD issuance policy and practice will benefit employers and individuals, as well as USCIS. Issuance of multi-year EADs and EADs with full periods of validity will also help to reduce USCIS workload and improve process efficiency. With the current practice, issuing EADs with one-year validity periods�in cases where it is likely that re-issuance of the EAD will be necessary�requires USCIS to perform redundant adjudications.
Thanks for your help!
Walden pond, is there anyway we can do a rigorous push for this. Is there something that we can do about it. Also, after this letter to USCIS, was there any response from their end...thanks for your time, btw, congratulations on receiving your green card. You really deserve it and trust me, every single soul in IV is happy for you.
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vinabath
03-24 03:22 PM
LOL - Yeah, you better grow a beard, cross the border and move to Mexico. You have been identified as a bad boy in these parts! :cool:
You know what my beard already started growing.
You know what my beard already started growing.
more...
Dhundhun
11-24 05:13 AM
Nihar, let me understand your problem and explain you, what might be happening?
#1. You are doing MBA
#2. In Apr 2007, you applied for H1B through some consultant. There was oversubscription and so lottery was there. Through lottery, you got selected - but this is not H1B approval.
#3. Meanwhile your consultant (or you) got RFE, to which you replied in Aug.
#4. H1B is usually approved in Oct/Nov. You have still not in hand but you see it aapproved on USCIS site.
#5. This period is dual status, you are on OPT and H1B is approved. If you have both OPT and H1B, you continue as OPT for taxation purpose this year. Consultant will not be deducting social security.
#6. If you are on dual status, your H1B will start from Jan 2008.
#7. But if your OPT is already expired, you can only work through consultant after getting H1B papers. You remain in USA waiting for H1B to become available.
#8. If you have not requested for OPT, you are neither on OPT nor on H1B. You are just on F1 Visa. After completing MBA, if H1B is refused, you will become out of status. OPT has to be applied 3 months before the end of session.
#1. You are doing MBA
#2. In Apr 2007, you applied for H1B through some consultant. There was oversubscription and so lottery was there. Through lottery, you got selected - but this is not H1B approval.
#3. Meanwhile your consultant (or you) got RFE, to which you replied in Aug.
#4. H1B is usually approved in Oct/Nov. You have still not in hand but you see it aapproved on USCIS site.
#5. This period is dual status, you are on OPT and H1B is approved. If you have both OPT and H1B, you continue as OPT for taxation purpose this year. Consultant will not be deducting social security.
#6. If you are on dual status, your H1B will start from Jan 2008.
#7. But if your OPT is already expired, you can only work through consultant after getting H1B papers. You remain in USA waiting for H1B to become available.
#8. If you have not requested for OPT, you are neither on OPT nor on H1B. You are just on F1 Visa. After completing MBA, if H1B is refused, you will become out of status. OPT has to be applied 3 months before the end of session.
micofrost
04-16 05:01 PM
This is my first post here but I am silent reader for past two years. I got my GC approved couple of weeks ago. A week before that, I applied for EAD and AP renewal. Is there any way to ask USCIS to refund the money back since they have debited the money from my account and also received the receipt notice for me and my wife as well? I need your valuable suggestion here,
Thanks
Call uscis and ask them send the refund to IV. Anyway, the money is gone from your a/c.
Thanks
Call uscis and ask them send the refund to IV. Anyway, the money is gone from your a/c.
more...
apk1928
04-30 01:36 PM
Here is the format that you need. I got this from my attorney.
AFFIDAVIT
OF BIRTH
I, __________________________, certify to the following:
1. I was born on ___________, 19___, in the town of ___________________ and country of ________________________. I am _____ years of age. I am currently residing at __________________________________________________ _______________________.
2. ________________________________ was born to _________________________ and _________________________ on _______________ in ____________________.
3. The above facts are within my personal knowledge because _________________ is my _____________(uncle, cousin, friend, etc.), and I was present at the time of said birth.
Dated: ______________, 200_ _____________________________
Signature
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
________ day of ___________, 200_
at ________________________________.
My commission expires ___________, 200_
___________________________ ________________________
Notary Public Official Seal
AFFIDAVIT
OF BIRTH
I, __________________________, certify to the following:
1. I was born on ___________, 19___, in the town of ___________________ and country of ________________________. I am _____ years of age. I am currently residing at __________________________________________________ _______________________.
2. ________________________________ was born to _________________________ and _________________________ on _______________ in ____________________.
3. The above facts are within my personal knowledge because _________________ is my _____________(uncle, cousin, friend, etc.), and I was present at the time of said birth.
Dated: ______________, 200_ _____________________________
Signature
Subscribed and sworn to before me this
________ day of ___________, 200_
at ________________________________.
My commission expires ___________, 200_
___________________________ ________________________
Notary Public Official Seal
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adibhatla
06-16 11:52 AM
I have seen a letter from USCIS after a congressional enquiry that the "485 is pre-adjudicated and waiting for a visa number"
Hi Chandu,
Could you tell me what needs to be written to the congressman (looking at the content).
Appreciate your help in this regard.
MA
Hi Chandu,
Could you tell me what needs to be written to the congressman (looking at the content).
Appreciate your help in this regard.
MA
more...
meridiani.planum
11-03 01:50 AM
Hi,
My employer applied for my H1b Extension and the case was received on Aug 5th by USCIS. The online status still shows the case to be in "Initial Review". Out of curiosity, I called USCIS and they told me that they can only reveal information abuot the case to my employer. So I called my employer and they gave me a shocking news - They had received an RFE about a month ago and they "forgot" to inform me. They are not revealing me the details of the RFE.
We have to respond to the RFE by Nov 3rd, and since I had a change of project(I did provide the previous client letter when we had originally applied for H1b extension) they are asking me to get a client letter and other proofs within a day!!!! My client is taking its on time and I do not think I will get the client letter to send it in time.
1) What are my options here? Not knowing what the RFE is, being told about the RFE with just 2 days remaining, can I threaten to take any legal action against my employer?
2) Is it my right to get a copy of the RFE?
3) How come the case status did not change on USCIS website?
My current visa expires on Nov 20th. Please advice ASAP!
sorry to say but your employer is useless. by playing around with your H1 petition he is messing around with your legal status in the US. Since he has already proven himself untrustworthy, I would suggest you move on asap: find another job and transfer your H1. Since you already have a client, should be easier to get a transfer done. Also, do the transfer with premium processing even if you have to pay $1k out of your own pocket.
P.S: H1 is his own petition, you are just the beneficiary. You dont have a right to see the RFE and he does not have an obligation to share information about it with you. Thats the legal part. morally and ethically the way he is acting sucks.
My employer applied for my H1b Extension and the case was received on Aug 5th by USCIS. The online status still shows the case to be in "Initial Review". Out of curiosity, I called USCIS and they told me that they can only reveal information abuot the case to my employer. So I called my employer and they gave me a shocking news - They had received an RFE about a month ago and they "forgot" to inform me. They are not revealing me the details of the RFE.
We have to respond to the RFE by Nov 3rd, and since I had a change of project(I did provide the previous client letter when we had originally applied for H1b extension) they are asking me to get a client letter and other proofs within a day!!!! My client is taking its on time and I do not think I will get the client letter to send it in time.
1) What are my options here? Not knowing what the RFE is, being told about the RFE with just 2 days remaining, can I threaten to take any legal action against my employer?
2) Is it my right to get a copy of the RFE?
3) How come the case status did not change on USCIS website?
My current visa expires on Nov 20th. Please advice ASAP!
sorry to say but your employer is useless. by playing around with your H1 petition he is messing around with your legal status in the US. Since he has already proven himself untrustworthy, I would suggest you move on asap: find another job and transfer your H1. Since you already have a client, should be easier to get a transfer done. Also, do the transfer with premium processing even if you have to pay $1k out of your own pocket.
P.S: H1 is his own petition, you are just the beneficiary. You dont have a right to see the RFE and he does not have an obligation to share information about it with you. Thats the legal part. morally and ethically the way he is acting sucks.
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pyaradesi
01-10 12:09 PM
Hi H1TechSlave,
I am guessing you are basing your proposal on the UC Davis report/link in your post. Yes, there are companies and individuals who are misusing the H1b system, but this is the case with any law, regulation not just immigration. You will never have a perfect system. An example of this is democracy, we are well aware that democracy with its virtues, comes with a price of chaos and corruption. This does not mean we opt for a totalitarian system.
The H1b represents the American Dream for Indians and a lot of other folks from across the world. Plumbers, carpenters, coal workers, homeless people, and literally bums were allowed to immigrate thorough Ellis Island without even needing a visa. Now to come and say that you need to be a genius to get an H1b visa, and IITs are not the best institutions is just preposterous. This report basically states that mojority of H1bs are incompetent folks who come from weak US universities. The Amercican Dream is a universal concept that should be protected at any cost. Protectionist legislation with stymie growth.
The report focuses on H1bs stealing American Jobs, is there any data on the kind of people being displaced, their qualifications?
Put aside the h1b for a minute, what about the agricultural workers who come here, do you need to be the best cherry picker in all of Mexico to work in the US?
Now, this report was published in 2003, it has been buried for good reason.
How do you define "Genius", is Albert Einstein a genius? Is this a measurable concept? Do geniuses create jobs? History tells us that geniuses made a lot of news and history but very little else. The world runs not because of geniuses, but because of a few smart people and millions of average folks.
Do we need to tackle mom&pop h1b sweatshops? yes, but not by changing the fundamental nature of "h1b".
I am guessing you are basing your proposal on the UC Davis report/link in your post. Yes, there are companies and individuals who are misusing the H1b system, but this is the case with any law, regulation not just immigration. You will never have a perfect system. An example of this is democracy, we are well aware that democracy with its virtues, comes with a price of chaos and corruption. This does not mean we opt for a totalitarian system.
The H1b represents the American Dream for Indians and a lot of other folks from across the world. Plumbers, carpenters, coal workers, homeless people, and literally bums were allowed to immigrate thorough Ellis Island without even needing a visa. Now to come and say that you need to be a genius to get an H1b visa, and IITs are not the best institutions is just preposterous. This report basically states that mojority of H1bs are incompetent folks who come from weak US universities. The Amercican Dream is a universal concept that should be protected at any cost. Protectionist legislation with stymie growth.
The report focuses on H1bs stealing American Jobs, is there any data on the kind of people being displaced, their qualifications?
Put aside the h1b for a minute, what about the agricultural workers who come here, do you need to be the best cherry picker in all of Mexico to work in the US?
Now, this report was published in 2003, it has been buried for good reason.
How do you define "Genius", is Albert Einstein a genius? Is this a measurable concept? Do geniuses create jobs? History tells us that geniuses made a lot of news and history but very little else. The world runs not because of geniuses, but because of a few smart people and millions of average folks.
Do we need to tackle mom&pop h1b sweatshops? yes, but not by changing the fundamental nature of "h1b".
more...
dilbert_cal
09-26 06:15 PM
this is good stuff. hopefully they have more of these noids so that people can stop this insanity with switching categories, priority dates, labor substitution and exploiting the system.
Cool down yabadaba. No need to generalise stuff.
There are cases where people who are qualified to be in EB2 were put in EB3 for xyz reasons. To assume that everyone who does a category switch or PD switch or labor substitution is exploiting the system is an incorrect assumption.
OP feels he is in bad shape - the least you can do is to be a nice person and either ignore his post or to give him moral support at the least.
Regarding what my views are about what has pissed you off so much, well, this is not the right thread to talk about it - so I'll keep it to myself.
OP - If you can provide more details about your case, it will be helpful.
Cool down yabadaba. No need to generalise stuff.
There are cases where people who are qualified to be in EB2 were put in EB3 for xyz reasons. To assume that everyone who does a category switch or PD switch or labor substitution is exploiting the system is an incorrect assumption.
OP feels he is in bad shape - the least you can do is to be a nice person and either ignore his post or to give him moral support at the least.
Regarding what my views are about what has pissed you off so much, well, this is not the right thread to talk about it - so I'll keep it to myself.
OP - If you can provide more details about your case, it will be helpful.
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sathyaraj
11-02 10:18 AM
Internet - In either case, it helps EB3 for the next yr as these 61,000 nurses are removed from EB3 quota.
Also I am wondering whether nurses also have PD or something like that. If most of them have PD > 2006 then they will not be able to use EB3 visas as it is retrogressed and stuck at 2001/2002.
Recapture of GC numbers by nurses will help EB3 is a false belief.
Recapture of GC by nurses will first take away EB3 greencards from the usual annual quota and once finished, they will go to taking the 61K quota. (Read the provison and previous rule followed in allotment of 50K visas in 2005)
Who will be hurt the most?
India and China because they are oversubscribed countries to some extent ROW. So nurses will get priority in the limited quota of these countries and once the quota is finished, they will go on to take the 61K quota. This will hurt regular EB3 people as their quota is exhausted. This is one of the many reasons why dates for india are so far backlogged.
If government really wants to help nurses then they should probably give them extra H1B visas or J1 viisas or something. They should not be giving them direct greencards meant for regular EB3 folks and denying EB3 folks waiting in line for a long time.
This is happening because of the strong nurses lobby and bodyshoppers who bring in the nurses directly on greencards.
Go talk to foriegn nurses and they will tell you more about bodyshoppers.
Also I am wondering whether nurses also have PD or something like that. If most of them have PD > 2006 then they will not be able to use EB3 visas as it is retrogressed and stuck at 2001/2002.
Recapture of GC numbers by nurses will help EB3 is a false belief.
Recapture of GC by nurses will first take away EB3 greencards from the usual annual quota and once finished, they will go to taking the 61K quota. (Read the provison and previous rule followed in allotment of 50K visas in 2005)
Who will be hurt the most?
India and China because they are oversubscribed countries to some extent ROW. So nurses will get priority in the limited quota of these countries and once the quota is finished, they will go on to take the 61K quota. This will hurt regular EB3 people as their quota is exhausted. This is one of the many reasons why dates for india are so far backlogged.
If government really wants to help nurses then they should probably give them extra H1B visas or J1 viisas or something. They should not be giving them direct greencards meant for regular EB3 folks and denying EB3 folks waiting in line for a long time.
This is happening because of the strong nurses lobby and bodyshoppers who bring in the nurses directly on greencards.
Go talk to foriegn nurses and they will tell you more about bodyshoppers.
more...
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willigetagc
08-11 11:36 PM
that makes it tough.... Check with your lawyers. I presume your BC also mentions the name of the hospital where you were born.
If it does'nt then get an affidavit from your parents saying you were born at home and your BC was registered incorrectly. If it does, I dunno what to do....
Also, ask your parents to consult a lawyer in India and see if BC can be corrected through other means.
If it does'nt then get an affidavit from your parents saying you were born at home and your BC was registered incorrectly. If it does, I dunno what to do....
Also, ask your parents to consult a lawyer in India and see if BC can be corrected through other means.
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bidhanc
05-11 12:35 PM
Hi,
I believe the number is
1-800-989-TALK
Call in once it's on the air.
Bidhan
I believe the number is
1-800-989-TALK
Call in once it's on the air.
Bidhan
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07-18 10:40 AM
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kerstbrd
07-04 06:16 PM
I am from Bosnia, so yes I guess it's ROW (rest of the world).
I whish you all the best resolution of this crisis. Trully. I really feel your pain and the pain of many of my friends who are affected by this.
I know when I first came on this site, it was devastating to read about so much negative stuff, so many cases in a limbo for years. I wanted to read som positive stories too. So, I hope that cases like mine give some people hope.
Thanks for the positive update.
I whish you all the best resolution of this crisis. Trully. I really feel your pain and the pain of many of my friends who are affected by this.
I know when I first came on this site, it was devastating to read about so much negative stuff, so many cases in a limbo for years. I wanted to read som positive stories too. So, I hope that cases like mine give some people hope.
Thanks for the positive update.
more...
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ameryki
10-17 08:29 PM
Boss once you get an ead after applying for 485 one must consider taking the risks after 180 days because the chances of getting that 485 denied are slim to none unless your application has opportunities if you know what i mean.:)
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StukAtBEC
02-16 10:19 PM
Folks,
I need to invoke AC21 at the earliest. I have applied my 485 and I-140 concurrently on Aug 17th. It has just been over 183 days. My 140 is still pending. Due to some reasons, I have to leave my current employer immodestly.
I know there has been lot of threads discussing about risks involved with using AC21 without approved 140. But I do not have an option at this point. My PD date is Nov-2004 and the way I-140 's are being processed, it is going take at least couple more months before I can expect my 140 approval.
I have the following questions:
1) I read in Aytes memo, that if it is over 180 days, they would check for evidence that the case is approval or would have been approval had it been adjudicated within 180 days. Now, if the USCIS sends an RFE for 140 after 180 days, would it still go to my old firm's attorney? If yes, then how would we handle this scenarrio...
I work for a Big 5 Consulting firm and ability to pay should not be an issue. As far as my education is concerned, I have Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering from India and a MS in the same field in US...My experience matches the labor cert. requirements. What are the chance that I might get an RFE? I filed my application at TSC
2) Also, if the 140 is approved, it would go to my old company's attorney..right? How would I get a copy of the same.
3) If I invoke AC21 using my EAD and in the worst case scenario, if my 140 and 485 is rejected, can I then transfer my H1B to an other company (I still have some years left) or will that be a problem because I was not on H-1b at that time?
Would it be treated as a new application where in I have to try to get into the quota or it would just be a normal H-1b transfer...
Also, I'm looking for a good attorney to help me invoke AC21...Please advise!
Gurus... please help me with your suggestions.
I need to invoke AC21 at the earliest. I have applied my 485 and I-140 concurrently on Aug 17th. It has just been over 183 days. My 140 is still pending. Due to some reasons, I have to leave my current employer immodestly.
I know there has been lot of threads discussing about risks involved with using AC21 without approved 140. But I do not have an option at this point. My PD date is Nov-2004 and the way I-140 's are being processed, it is going take at least couple more months before I can expect my 140 approval.
I have the following questions:
1) I read in Aytes memo, that if it is over 180 days, they would check for evidence that the case is approval or would have been approval had it been adjudicated within 180 days. Now, if the USCIS sends an RFE for 140 after 180 days, would it still go to my old firm's attorney? If yes, then how would we handle this scenarrio...
I work for a Big 5 Consulting firm and ability to pay should not be an issue. As far as my education is concerned, I have Bachelors in Computer Science Engineering from India and a MS in the same field in US...My experience matches the labor cert. requirements. What are the chance that I might get an RFE? I filed my application at TSC
2) Also, if the 140 is approved, it would go to my old company's attorney..right? How would I get a copy of the same.
3) If I invoke AC21 using my EAD and in the worst case scenario, if my 140 and 485 is rejected, can I then transfer my H1B to an other company (I still have some years left) or will that be a problem because I was not on H-1b at that time?
Would it be treated as a new application where in I have to try to get into the quota or it would just be a normal H-1b transfer...
Also, I'm looking for a good attorney to help me invoke AC21...Please advise!
Gurus... please help me with your suggestions.
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purgan
11-11 10:32 AM
Randell,
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
Maon
07-02 02:18 PM
Today morning when I was just adding the notarised birth affidavit that I had recievd last night from India and was leaving to fedex the papers to Nebraska, my lawyer called up and informed of the update and asked me not to send the app. Now after reading all the posts here, could someone advice if I should send the app- I mean if there is some re-thinking by USCIS, would they might say show us the sent reciept etc ???
Pls advice,
Thanks,
Pls advice,
Thanks,
abhijitp
12-08 07:20 PM
The sooner you get the stability that your GC brings, the easier it is for you to:
1. stop wasting money on renewing EADs/APs/ extending your H1B's
2. buy a house, stop wasting money on rent, build equity!
3. look for better job opportunities, the sky is the limit if you have the skills!
4. even within your present job, negotiate a better increment!
the list is long... (like you didn't know about it:) ) !
So... invest now in your future and sign up for a monthly contribution!
You know you will thank yourself you did!
I know I know... there is always the inevitable urge for "instant" gratification.... so here is the deal... the next 4 folks who do it and PM me will win a year long subscription to Readers' Digest!
1. stop wasting money on renewing EADs/APs/ extending your H1B's
2. buy a house, stop wasting money on rent, build equity!
3. look for better job opportunities, the sky is the limit if you have the skills!
4. even within your present job, negotiate a better increment!
the list is long... (like you didn't know about it:) ) !
So... invest now in your future and sign up for a monthly contribution!
You know you will thank yourself you did!
I know I know... there is always the inevitable urge for "instant" gratification.... so here is the deal... the next 4 folks who do it and PM me will win a year long subscription to Readers' Digest!
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