Mike Tyson Tattoos

nope..neither for LC or 140...
Raziz,
Did you get any queries ever? I mean RFEs?

I seriously doubt if they will introduce favorable GC amendments in the next round.The focus is on the illegals and we will get negatively affected in the process. Our best course of action would be to oppose this bill and hope for it to fail. My 2 cents.

PS I do hope I am proven wrong though :-)

I strongly feel that CIR should be brought back and our amends included by our lobbying. Next time CIR is brought back, I am sure favorable amends for H1b GC applicants will be included/debated. I am only concerned about why there are no updates from the IV core group so far. Lets hope the lobbying firm that IV has hired is keeping track of the "behind the doors" discussions to make CIR more pleasing to those who voted against the closure of vote.

Thanks and wait for ur response. Also i wanted to know whether my employer or lawyer will come to know if i apply for FOIA, and will it affect my application. Another thing is my employer is not responding whether my 140 is approved or not. so i really don;t know the status of my application and he is not willing to give me the receipt #.

So please let me know will it affect my application.
thanks

logiclife,

Is this related to IsnAmerica.org? I see many people in both the places. If these two are different then it is really bad that we are not uniting our efforts.

my 2 cents
Rishi

I am also in similar situation.

I have pending I-485 and used AC21 to switch to the new company but I am still in H1B status. However, my wife is using EAD and she need to travel using AP.

Can anyone suggest whether there will be any issue in travelling outside USA, if I (Primary applicant) is still in H1B status but used AC-21 and wife is using EAD (has to use AP)?

Thanks in advance.

BK
what does your lawyer say????

Isnt recording conversations without the consent illegal? :confused:

This may be correct but , if you sent the tape of employer abusing /cursing its own employees to DOL along with other allegations , they might well pay special attention and scrutinize him or his company thoroghly.

I am on F1 too and i recently went to India after we had applied for i-485. I used my AP and when i had asked in my Office of International education I was told that the moment i applied for i485 my F1 was cancelled.

Given the demographics of the greater Seattle area in general, and Redmond in particular - I'm surprised "softies" haven't taken over the WA chapter completely... :)

Hope to see all of you in DC..

cheers!
jazz

My wife and me have joined the yahoogroups for WA chapter, We are going for the rally, how can we encourage more friends in WA state to go? I know there are people willing to sponsor, provide part of funds, help with accommodation and so on and if anyone in WA has any of these limitations, people are willing to coordinate. How do we get the point across to all Washingtonian GC sufferers or people who just filed for 485 and don't see the bleak tomorrow. How do we wake them up all up? We have so many employers here, is there something we can do to wake them up from the slumber and mirage of filing 485? I must admit, I was sleeping too until yesterday when we booked our tickets.

Guys,

Don't create new thred for every single question you have.. You can find right thred and put it there..

Yes you can file for 485 even though your H1B extension is pending.



Hi,
My 8th year H1 extension is pending with CIS, and my current H1 expires on June 26, 07. Can I file my 485 when my H1 status is pending from CIS?

Please advise.:confused:

Why Is H-1B A Dirty Word?
By Eleanor Pelta, AILA First Vice President

H-1B workers certainly seem to be under fire these days on many fronts. A new memo issued by USCIS on the employer-employee relationship imposes new extra-regulatory regulations on the types of activities in which H-1B workers can engage as well as the types of enterprises that can petition for H-1B workers. The memo targets the consulting industry directly, deftly slips in a new concept that seems to prohibit H-1B petitions for employer-owners of businesses, and will surely constitute an open invitation to the Service Centers to hit H-1B petitioners with a new slew of kitchen-sink RFE's. On another front, USCIS continues to make unannounced H-1B site visits, often repeatedly to the same employer. Apart from the "in-terrorem" impact of such visits, I personally cannot see the utility of three different visits to the same employer, particularly after the first one or two visits show that the employer is fully compliant.

But USCIS isn't the only agency that is rigorously targeting H-1B's. An AILA member recently reported that CBP pulled newly-arrived Indian nationals holding H-1B visas out of an immigration inspection line and reportedly placed them in Expedited Removal. The legal basis of those actions is still unclear. However, the tactic is too close to racial profiling for my own comfort.

Finally, recent H-1B "skirmishes" include various U.S. consular posts in India issuing "pink letters" that are, simply put, consular "RFE's" appearing to question the bona fides of the H-1B and requesting information on a host of truly repetitive and/or irrelevant topics. Much of the information that is routinely requested on a pink letter is already in the copy of the H-1B visa petition. Some of the letters request payroll information for all employees of the sponsoring company, a ridiculous request in most instances, particularly for major multi-national companies. One of the most frustrating actions we are seeing from consular officers in this context is the checking off or highlighting of every single category of additional information on the form letter, whether directly applicable or not, in effect a "paper wall" that must be overcome before an applicant can have the H-1B visa issued. Very discouraging to both employer and employee.

How have we come to a point in time where the H-1B category in and of itself is so disdained and mistrusted? Of course I'm aware that instances of fraud have cast this category in a bad light. But I think that vehemence of the administrative attack on the H-1B category is so disproportionate to the actual statistics about fraud. And interestingly, the disproportionate heavy-handed administrative reaction comes not from the agency specifically tasked with H-1B enforcement—the Department of Labor—but from CIS, CBP and State. Sometimes I just have to shake my head and ask myself what makes people so darn angry about a visa category that, at bottom, is designed to bring in relatively tiny number of really smart people to work in U.S. businesses of any size. It has to be a reaction against something else.

Yes, a great number of IT consultants come to the US on H-1B's. It is important to remember that so many of these individuals are extremely well-educated, capable people, working in an industry in which there are a large number of high profile players. And arguably, the high profile consulting companies have the most at stake if they do not focus on compliance, as they are the easiest enforcement target and they need their business model to work in the U.S. in order to survive. Some people may not like the business model, although arguably IT consulting companies provide needed services that allow US businesses, such as banks and insurance companies to focus on their own core strengths. Like it or not, though, this business model is perfectly legal under current law, and the agencies that enforce our immigration laws have no business trying to eviscerate it by policy or a pattern of discretionary actions.

It is true that some IT consulting companies' practices have been the focus of fraud investigations. But DOL has stringent rules in place to deal with the bad guys. Benching H-1B workers without pay, paying below the prevailing wage, sending H-1B workers on long-term assignments to a site not covered by an LCA—these are the practices we most often hear about, and every single one of these is a violation of an existing regulation that could be enforced by the Department of Labor. When an employer violates wage and hour rules, DOL investigates the practices and enforces the regulations against that employer. But no one shuts down an entire industry as a result.

And the IT consulting industry is not the only user of the H-1B visa. Let's not forget how many other critical fields use H-1B workers. In my own career alone, I have seen H-1B petitions for nanoscientists, ornithologists, CEO's of significant not for profit organizations, teachers, applied mathematicians, risk analysts, professionals involved in pharmaceutical research and development, automotive designers, international legal experts, film editors, microimaging engineers. H-1B's are valuable to small and large businesses alike, arguably even more to that emerging business that needs one key expert to develop a new product or service and get the business off the ground.


The assault on H-1B's is not only offensive, it's dangerous. Here's why:



* H-1B's create jobs—statistics show that 5 jobs are created in the U.S. for every H-1B worker hired. An administrative clamp-down in the program will hinder this job creation. And think about the valuable sharing of skills and expertise between H-1B workers and U.S. workers—this is lost when companies are discouraged from using the program.
* The anti-H-1B assault dissuades large businesses from conducting research and development in the US, and encourages the relocation of those facilities in jurisdictions that are friendlier to foreign professionals.
* The anti-H-1B assault chills the formation of small businesses in the US, particularly in emerging technologies. This will most certainly be one of the long-term results of USCIS' most recent memo.
* The attack on H-1B's offends our friends and allies in the world. An example: Earlier this year India –one of the U.S.'s closest allies --announced new visa restrictions on foreign nationals working there. Surely the treatment of Indian national H-1B workers at the hands of our agencies involved in the immigration process would not have escaped the attention of the Indian government as they issued their own restrictions.
* The increasing challenges in the H-1B program may have the effect of encouraging foreign students who were educated in the U.S. to seek permanent positions elsewhere.

Whatever the cause of the visceral reaction against H-1B workers might be—whether it stems from a fear that fraud will become more widespread or whether it is simply a broader reaction against foreign workers that often raises its head during any down economy –I sincerely hope that the agencies are able to gain some perspective on the program that allows them to treat legitimate H-1B employers and employees with the respect they deserve and to effectively enforce against those who are non-compliant, rather than casting a wide net and treating all H-1B users as abusers.

source link : http://ailaleadership.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-is-h-1b-dirty-word.html#comment-form

Dont the bill have to be placed in federal register after the Prez signs it, for 90 days for it to be law? I remember so from the PERM regulation timeline.

Do you have any kind of documentation or a Link for this by any chance?

Hi,

I live in CA. I E-file EAD application online. In the instruction pdf file the address is Phoenix,AZ but in the confirmation document it is Lincoln,NE.

Which is the right address to send the supporting documents? :confused:

Please help.

Thanks in Advance.
Tinku

He is gone .............

This one is an earlier bills introduced earlier ,This is similar to the bills being discussed

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:1:./temp/~c110j4GOX5::

Since the text of this bill is similar to other bill should we try to get these law maker's support.





http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press...vatorsAct.html

KENNEDY AND MCCAUL ANNOUNCE “NEW AMERICAN INNOVATORS ACT”




(Washington, DC) - Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced the introduction of the New American Innovators Act. The New American Innovators Act would exempt foreign students receiving Ph.D.’s from accredited, American universities from numerical immigration limits.

“The New American Innovators Act takes the best and the brightest and moves them to the front of the green card line,” said Congressman Patrick Kennedy. “The global competition for talent is getting fiercer with each passing year. Although we already have the most talented workforce in the world, we cannot sit idly by while other countries work to attract the best international talent – especially when those individuals have been educated in our universities. The New American Innovators Act targets the cream of the crop. These are individuals who will generate breakthroughs, start businesses, create jobs, and ultimately help to drive our economic growth for years to come. It is absurd that we would spend time and money educating them only to force them to go to our economic competitors, even if they want to stay.”

“We need to ensure that U.S. employers continue to create and stay on the ‘cutting-edge’ of the global market,” stated Congressman Michael McCaul. “I am proud to work across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion to co-introduce this bill with Congressman Kennedy that will add to America’s economic strength by offering increased access to the best talent, no matter where they may be born. These individuals are the best and the brightest, having graduated from U.S. universities with doctorate degrees and are already present and working in America. These professionals add to our prosperity, by making enormous contributions to our economy. The last thing we want to do is force them to leave the country. ”

“We must continue to be committed to ensuring U.S. employers have the talent necessary to compete worldwide. Without the ability to retain them, we risk losing these hard-working, valued workers, who we have spent an enormous amount of funds training and educating to our national competitors abroad.”

Thanks for all the details. Greatly appreciate your advise. Looks like lot of information needs to be collected and without a research background I think its really a long shot to justify the time effort and resources.

I agree that unless the person really is outstanding, with lots of publications, conference presentations, reference letters, journal articles, etc, it is very difficult to get an EB-1 approved as an outstanding researcher or extraordinary ability. I just filed one, for example, and the package weighed almost 5 lbs, and included 54 exhibits. Yes, it was approved!

Update : My 140 got approved on Oct 31 @ NSC after ability to pay RFE was addressed with CPA eval documentation. Thanks for all your assistance and support!



This is my GC application history

1. PD for Labor - Aug 2003
2. Labor(Regular) Application Approved - Nov 2005
3. i-140 applied in Jan 2006
4. RFE received question was for company not self, i-140 withdrawn.
5. Transferred my H1 to the companys sister concern and reapplied for i140 in June 2006.
6. Applied for i140 premium processing on June 22nd, 2007.

Current status for i-140 : Recieved and pending at Nebraska service center.

Questions
Q1. What is i-140 receipt date for premium processing. Is it the date the fed-ex package is recvd by USCIS or is it a date issued by USCIS that should reach my lawyer?

Q2. If in case the USCIS need to provide my attorney a receipt date, we have NOT received one as yet. Does that mean they have not even looked at the application as yet?

Q3. Can i apply for i485 in the worst case that i do not receive approval for i140 by Aug 17th under the concurrent filing rule.

Any assistance would be highly appreciated.

I have EB3 PD of 2004 and it will take a while to get GC for sure. I am in a situation where I do not want to go for stamping and want to use AP in Feb 2008. If I do use AP will it invalidate my H1 with the same employer. My H1 6th year ends in 2010. If I get married in India at a later date will it be an issue to bring my spouse on H4 since I am a parolee?

Is there a way around this with a H1 extention at a later date and stamping at a later date?

Thanks

I sent in my I-140,I-485,EAD & AP applications to Nebraska Service Center which was the nodal agency to receive all I-140 applications during July -August 2007. They then would transfer some of the cases to TSC for processing. Due the visa bulletin fiasco, my applications were transferred to VSC for data entry and all my receipts have an EAC number. I received my EAD & AP and also a transfer notice informing that my I-485 was transferred to TSC as my job is in a state that comes under TSC's jurisdiction. But I did not hear anything about my I-140 being transferred to TSC. So we called up USCIS to check on it. We were informed that VSC would process my I-140 application and it was not necessary for it to be transferred to TSC unlike I-485.
My concern is VSC is taking for ever to process I-140's and currently are processing Apr 06 applications. I believe the dates have remained like that for a while now. Atleast TSC says clearly that they will process I-140 in 6 months, but VSC has no such processing times mentioned. Due to no fault of mine, my application ended up in VSC and is stuck there until some kind folks pick them for reviewing..which may take more than a year going by the current processing times. Is there anything I could do to have it transferred to TSC? Are there other members in the same situation? There is no likelihood of PPS starting anytime soon....what are my options to fix this problem? I thought under the new bi-specialization procedures only NSC & TSC processed I-140 applications...

How did you know your I-140 went to VSC?
I am curious because a lot of I-140's from my office (all filed in March 2007) are still pending approval with TSC. When we called USCIS for the status they asked us to call back after a couple of weeks (they need 30 days past the 6 months processing timeline). I am curious if these apps in fact got re-routed to some other service center. I hope they would send out a notification if they decided to do that!

BTW, to answer your question, I think there is no way out, except to wait for VSC processing timelines to show up! (I assume you are saying they are not showing a processing timeline for I-140's at VSC.)

So the bulletin from Mumbai consulate was accurate after all. I am gald that there is some movement forward, but I will be even more happier if the processing dates at Nebraska will move forward faster :D

read the last paragraph of the link you posted

Adjustment applications and ancillary benefits – The new application fee for an I-485 is a package fee that includes associated EAD and advance parole applications. Thus, if you file an I-485 with the fee listed above, while you will still need to submit applications for an EAD and advance parole, you will not need to pay a separate fee so long as your adjustment application is pending. However, if you filed your I-485 before this fee change, to apply for or renew your EAD or advance parole, you must file a new application with the new fee for those applications.

Thanks. Clear as day!! This sucks.

This meand all the people here filing in July will have to shell out 340$ for EAD and 305$ for AP each year.

Can someone answer Q2?

Arjun, thanks for clarifying those things. I have a couple of final questions before I book my trip if you could please help me again.

(1) My first H1B was valid from Oct 2004 to Oct 2007, and I got my stamp in Dubai. The stamp expired on Oct 2007. My second H1B is valid from Oct 2007 to Oct 2010, and I am planning to go to Halifax for the stamping. I have stayed at the same company all this time. Does "revalidation" include my situation?

(2) When leaving for Canada, they did not take your white I-94 card (stapled to passport) at the US airport. When arriving in the US, they replaced your old I-94 with a new I-94 at the US airport. Please confirm that all this is correct.

Thanks again. My company uses "immigration lawyers", but they seem rather incompetent, as many of you have experienced.