lacrossegc
06-25 01:19 PM
IMHO The problem will arise with USCIS only if the employer does not pay AT ALL ... delayed/irregular payments (as long as they meet the proffered wage on the LCA) should be fine. Not paying at all will be a serious breach of contract and the employers will be in serious trouble for doing that ....
What I meant to say is, I did not get paid in 2007 for the work I performed in 2007. But I got paid last month for the pay periods (up to 12/15/07). So that amount will reflect in this year's W2 and not last year's.
Like you had rightly said in your last para, I am concerned if USCIS would have a problem about the fact that I did not gt paid and receive a W2 even though I worked on H1-B in 2007. When they process my I-485, I am afraid this might come up as a query.
I am going to talk to the lawyers about this. I would like to know how this situation can be addressed today as the damage has already been done.
What I meant to say is, I did not get paid in 2007 for the work I performed in 2007. But I got paid last month for the pay periods (up to 12/15/07). So that amount will reflect in this year's W2 and not last year's.
Like you had rightly said in your last para, I am concerned if USCIS would have a problem about the fact that I did not gt paid and receive a W2 even though I worked on H1-B in 2007. When they process my I-485, I am afraid this might come up as a query.
I am going to talk to the lawyers about this. I would like to know how this situation can be addressed today as the damage has already been done.
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shirish
08-15 03:16 PM
One of my friend wa sin a similer situation, he received RFE though. He had indications of TB in his child hood, so the doc had done the x-ray directly, no TB test for him. He got an RFE in june. He replied with the TB test and he got his GC in july (around end of july)
abhay
10-30 09:14 AM
Thanks Guys, I called Delhi customer support. They said not to over-write but just to go to the counter and explain the mistake to the consulate officer. Apparently even they cannot edit those fields.
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ufo2002
05-11 07:43 PM
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't that Roberto guy in the program an illegal who used 245i to get his GC? Sounds like he got his GC long before this retrogression hit, so did he skip LCA phase and went straight into 140/485?
more...
MannyD
10-25 01:19 PM
should be valid preferably until you get your new I140 approved.
Wanted to seek clarification: When you say "valid" do you mean past employer doesn't withdraw the 140 petition / substitute the LC? Or does 140 have a "valid till" date?
And I note that someone mentioned we can go for any EB category in the new company. Can we also port the PD for any other job profile or should the job profile (as in approved LC/140) be matching in the new job?
Thanks!
Wanted to seek clarification: When you say "valid" do you mean past employer doesn't withdraw the 140 petition / substitute the LC? Or does 140 have a "valid till" date?
And I note that someone mentioned we can go for any EB category in the new company. Can we also port the PD for any other job profile or should the job profile (as in approved LC/140) be matching in the new job?
Thanks!
sabbygirl99
03-28 04:45 PM
You can't have an F1 AND an H1. So if she was on an F1, then that means she did not have an H1....which means she was not working....but employer still did this for her? It's all moot anyways - b/c no way would my employer do anything like this for me. They barely understand my situation.
A member posted that s/he did labor certification and I-140 on F1. I don't remember the name of the thread.
You can do labor certification without H1 as long as employer is willing.
A member posted that s/he did labor certification and I-140 on F1. I don't remember the name of the thread.
You can do labor certification without H1 as long as employer is willing.
more...
xlr8r
09-15 02:58 PM
This is bizarre stuff.
It says that NSC I-140 processing date for EB2 is March 13, 2008. Since when did they become so efficient to jump from July 6th, 2007 to March 2008? I guess they mistakenly typed 2008 instead of 2007?
Those lazy bums had better get ready for an onslaught of Service Requests. :)
It says that NSC I-140 processing date for EB2 is March 13, 2008. Since when did they become so efficient to jump from July 6th, 2007 to March 2008? I guess they mistakenly typed 2008 instead of 2007?
Those lazy bums had better get ready for an onslaught of Service Requests. :)
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sac-r-ten
01-30 11:43 AM
Hello Sac-r-ten,
Thanx a lot for your compliment. I had been following this forum online since 2007 july fiasco & this forum had given me lot of knowledge & helped me out to make the right decission whenever I was underguided or misguided by lawyers (very unfortunate though that we spend a lot on fee to give such professional people). I will always try to do my best if my knowledge can help any person like me who falls as a pray in the hands of immigration people.
Anyways, if you don't mind, can you pls. explain the reason on what basis did they deny your I-140 application. You did mention on education basis, but can you pls. elaborate the reason. I am really tensed about it at my I-140 is pending since more then 2.5 years now. I also received an RFE on it & havn't heard about it since then.
Your input might help me. Thank you in advance
I have a BE in Electronics (4yrs) from reputed univ in india. they thought it is a 3 yr course and denied it. i did education eval and sent them all the semester marksheets, degree certificate (which i had sent in original I140 application as well) again along with the eval. How can they be so blind. all the hardships i went thru in my engg just flashed thru my eyes when they said they did not find it equivalent to their course done here.
Anyways,I am relieved that at least i have a H1 now for few more yrs.
All the best to you.
Thanx a lot for your compliment. I had been following this forum online since 2007 july fiasco & this forum had given me lot of knowledge & helped me out to make the right decission whenever I was underguided or misguided by lawyers (very unfortunate though that we spend a lot on fee to give such professional people). I will always try to do my best if my knowledge can help any person like me who falls as a pray in the hands of immigration people.
Anyways, if you don't mind, can you pls. explain the reason on what basis did they deny your I-140 application. You did mention on education basis, but can you pls. elaborate the reason. I am really tensed about it at my I-140 is pending since more then 2.5 years now. I also received an RFE on it & havn't heard about it since then.
Your input might help me. Thank you in advance
I have a BE in Electronics (4yrs) from reputed univ in india. they thought it is a 3 yr course and denied it. i did education eval and sent them all the semester marksheets, degree certificate (which i had sent in original I140 application as well) again along with the eval. How can they be so blind. all the hardships i went thru in my engg just flashed thru my eyes when they said they did not find it equivalent to their course done here.
Anyways,I am relieved that at least i have a H1 now for few more yrs.
All the best to you.
more...
arunasri
08-26 04:21 PM
My EAD is pending. I applied on Jul 3rd. Current EAD expires on Sep 26th. I am little worried.
Do you have USCIS phone# with extensions that you pressed to reach Customer service.
Do you have USCIS phone# with extensions that you pressed to reach Customer service.
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hazishak
09-04 10:22 AM
I did read somewhere that it takes 30 days for USCIS to locate one single file. All applications might not be in the database as only 30% (approx) of all the pending applications are databased.
How difficult is it to find info about the old cases. It is a simple search query on the database. (One single query)
How difficult is it to find info about the old cases. It is a simple search query on the database. (One single query)
more...
eb3retro
08-30 12:38 PM
My PD is 2002 Aug
hi redhat..
welcome to IV. looks like you joined IV recently. I hope you will get answers for your questions here and will come out of this RFE mess. Please do consider abt giving IV (and yourself) a hand in the Washington Rally. All the best.
hi redhat..
welcome to IV. looks like you joined IV recently. I hope you will get answers for your questions here and will come out of this RFE mess. Please do consider abt giving IV (and yourself) a hand in the Washington Rally. All the best.
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485Question
10-29 03:21 PM
Give a try if they can update it.
more...
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rolrblade
07-20 01:33 PM
What happens if I get my EAD after 180 days of concurrent filing i-140 & i-485, and my employer no longer has a vacancy for me. Can I start at another job or do I have to refile the i-140. (I'm not presently working for the company yet)
All :
this discussion is covered in more detail on this thread.
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10693
Please follow it there. It will help answer so many of your questions.
Sorry techbuyer....to steal your thunder :)
All :
this discussion is covered in more detail on this thread.
http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10693
Please follow it there. It will help answer so many of your questions.
Sorry techbuyer....to steal your thunder :)
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sparky_jones
09-15 12:52 PM
Any ideas? (My wife and son are in india now).
Anyway, I will support IV wholeheartedly going forward. Of course, I got benefitted from it. I am a long timer, 2001, EB3.
Congrats. Good to see an EB3-I approval. This is something we get to see rarely here. Hope you are able to celebrate with your family soon!
Anyway, I will support IV wholeheartedly going forward. Of course, I got benefitted from it. I am a long timer, 2001, EB3.
Congrats. Good to see an EB3-I approval. This is something we get to see rarely here. Hope you are able to celebrate with your family soon!
more...
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americandesi
10-21 07:41 PM
Refer http://www.murthy.com/news/n_staiss.html and search for "Multiple I-485 Filings Not Advisable"
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wandmaker
11-05 10:43 AM
......
I want to convert this H1b application to Premium Processing now, that is after responding to the RFE. My current company's lawyer claims that we cannot convert to Premium Processing after an RFE is issued and answered. Is this is true? Can an application be converted to PP only if it does not receive an RFE? I thought it can be converted anytime...please advice.
You need to send in the I-907, please read section "Premium Processing Service for Form I-129 -Upgrades for Pending Cases" on Page 2 of Download Instructions PDF USCIS - Request for Premium Processing Service (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=79ef78264614d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD)
...
If you have already filed Form I-129, and you wish to requestPremium Processing Service, file Form I-907 with the ServiceCenter where Form I-129 is pending. Include a copy of FormI-797, Notice of Action, or a copy of the transfer notice, ifapplicable, showing the location of the relating petition. Toensure that Form I-907 is matched up with the pending FormI-129, you must completely answer Questions 1 through 5 inPart 2 of Form I-907. If this information is not provided, theForm I-907 will be rejected. The Premium Processingaddresses for each service center that handles Form I-129 islisted in the Form I-129 filing chart
...
I want to convert this H1b application to Premium Processing now, that is after responding to the RFE. My current company's lawyer claims that we cannot convert to Premium Processing after an RFE is issued and answered. Is this is true? Can an application be converted to PP only if it does not receive an RFE? I thought it can be converted anytime...please advice.
You need to send in the I-907, please read section "Premium Processing Service for Form I-129 -Upgrades for Pending Cases" on Page 2 of Download Instructions PDF USCIS - Request for Premium Processing Service (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=79ef78264614d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCR D&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1 RCRD)
...
If you have already filed Form I-129, and you wish to requestPremium Processing Service, file Form I-907 with the ServiceCenter where Form I-129 is pending. Include a copy of FormI-797, Notice of Action, or a copy of the transfer notice, ifapplicable, showing the location of the relating petition. Toensure that Form I-907 is matched up with the pending FormI-129, you must completely answer Questions 1 through 5 inPart 2 of Form I-907. If this information is not provided, theForm I-907 will be rejected. The Premium Processingaddresses for each service center that handles Form I-129 islisted in the Form I-129 filing chart
...
more...
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Raju
07-05 06:20 AM
Actually it would have been greater mess if they would have allowed to file 500 to 700k persons if that number is correct. Mainly those who are missing the bus due to marriage and other reasons would have suffered a lot. PD date movement
should be as accurate as possible or gc number should be increased. Or if they allow to file everyone then processing of application should be based on PD.
Senthil1,
You are wrong. I-485 approval is based on the combination of PD and RD. When a PD is current for an application then they look at RD. So if the dates retrogress after applying then the apps will sit on the shelves till the PD becomes current. You are stupid to think that just because a few people cannot apply, no one should be allowed to apply. There is a reason why they have to wait and you will find this kind of people all the time.
should be as accurate as possible or gc number should be increased. Or if they allow to file everyone then processing of application should be based on PD.
Senthil1,
You are wrong. I-485 approval is based on the combination of PD and RD. When a PD is current for an application then they look at RD. So if the dates retrogress after applying then the apps will sit on the shelves till the PD becomes current. You are stupid to think that just because a few people cannot apply, no one should be allowed to apply. There is a reason why they have to wait and you will find this kind of people all the time.
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chandrajp
08-15 03:56 PM
Did you use AC21? how long ago you applied for 485?
Yes, I used. But I did not inform USCIS when I switched jobs. The problem happened with my old employer's employment. It did not give good description of my job duties. That is the reason IO asked for the latest employment letter. I sent latest employment letter and three latest pay stubs and I think attorney might have attached a covering letter. After USCIS received on 06/19, I got approved on 06/29 this year
Yes, I used. But I did not inform USCIS when I switched jobs. The problem happened with my old employer's employment. It did not give good description of my job duties. That is the reason IO asked for the latest employment letter. I sent latest employment letter and three latest pay stubs and I think attorney might have attached a covering letter. After USCIS received on 06/19, I got approved on 06/29 this year
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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.
DSLStart
09-19 02:53 PM
It takes some time for VFS to receive passport from embassy. Sometimes 3/4 days.
But didn't you ask her if you were granted visa or not? If they retained your passport thats tell that visa is issued. Also keep tracking via SMS, that seems to be more accurate. Keep us posted here. Good luck.
i had interview at mumbai consulate on friday morning 9.30.
EVERYONE please take time to read and reply...
the officer was very rude... i said good morning upon entering and she did not reply.... then she said she is getting strange people since morning and no one is following her instructions....
she asked me the name of company, my job title etc..i replied ...
and then she asked me for my old passport and wrote CWOP on expired visa.....
she asked my wife if she has old passport and i said no and there it started..."SHE got angry and said did i asked you? let her speak... " "women can speak for herself etc..." she did utter some few words slowly so i said "excuse me" and that's it..she told me people like me should not be in usa..etc...etc........."
here is the deal...she did not gave me any slip or anything and said we can go now.....
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
will i get my passport with stamp? or do they send Pink/Yellow/White slip through courier?
expert any advise?
i tracked the passport on VFS site on Saturday morning and VFS says they have not received passport from the embassy. is this normal? should i wait till monday evening before jump on any conclusion?
But didn't you ask her if you were granted visa or not? If they retained your passport thats tell that visa is issued. Also keep tracking via SMS, that seems to be more accurate. Keep us posted here. Good luck.
i had interview at mumbai consulate on friday morning 9.30.
EVERYONE please take time to read and reply...
the officer was very rude... i said good morning upon entering and she did not reply.... then she said she is getting strange people since morning and no one is following her instructions....
she asked me the name of company, my job title etc..i replied ...
and then she asked me for my old passport and wrote CWOP on expired visa.....
she asked my wife if she has old passport and i said no and there it started..."SHE got angry and said did i asked you? let her speak... " "women can speak for herself etc..." she did utter some few words slowly so i said "excuse me" and that's it..she told me people like me should not be in usa..etc...etc........."
here is the deal...she did not gave me any slip or anything and said we can go now.....
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
will i get my passport with stamp? or do they send Pink/Yellow/White slip through courier?
expert any advise?
i tracked the passport on VFS site on Saturday morning and VFS says they have not received passport from the embassy. is this normal? should i wait till monday evening before jump on any conclusion?
sunny1000
05-10 04:29 PM
Hi all,
I have been trying to get an appointment from Hyderabad consulate, AP, India for the past two days on 27th or 28th of May 2009.
When I check the availability, the website shows that 27 thru 29th of May are available for appointments. But after I create and save the application it doesn't take me to the page where I can select the appointment dates. We sent an email to VFS customer support but till now we did not receive any reply.We are two H1bs(myself and my husband) and two H4s(kids).
Did anyone get an appointment successfully ?
The entire process of H1b revalidation itself is a tormenting procedure. On the top of it VFS website is really annoying.Sorry for venting my frustration.
Can anyone please help me out and guide me through the process.
Thanks in advance
Amul
If I remember this right, you cannot block the date until you "submit" the application, not "save" the application. I think you have to click "next" until you go to the appointments page after you have completed all you DS forms.
Again, this is from my memory and it is getting old. So, take it for what it is worth.
I have been trying to get an appointment from Hyderabad consulate, AP, India for the past two days on 27th or 28th of May 2009.
When I check the availability, the website shows that 27 thru 29th of May are available for appointments. But after I create and save the application it doesn't take me to the page where I can select the appointment dates. We sent an email to VFS customer support but till now we did not receive any reply.We are two H1bs(myself and my husband) and two H4s(kids).
Did anyone get an appointment successfully ?
The entire process of H1b revalidation itself is a tormenting procedure. On the top of it VFS website is really annoying.Sorry for venting my frustration.
Can anyone please help me out and guide me through the process.
Thanks in advance
Amul
If I remember this right, you cannot block the date until you "submit" the application, not "save" the application. I think you have to click "next" until you go to the appointments page after you have completed all you DS forms.
Again, this is from my memory and it is getting old. So, take it for what it is worth.
