Newark local office transfer: tracker

s_aich said:
Hi Everyone,

I have taken infopass appointment to check if Newark office received my file or not.

My Attorney is discouraging me from doing so. If anyone have experience of checking file transfer status earlier, please kindly share with us.

Also, is there a way to expedite or enquire to Service center for file transfer situations.

Thanks,
s_aich
Click to expand...

I have done it personally at Newark. You can definitely check if your case has been received, no issues. But expediting it, I dont think that you can do it. All you need to do is to wait and pray.

Your lawyer is wrong!
 
HI, want GC Soon:

Our case is NIW, I am not sure your question. Any way, I have worked for only one company and no any question was asked about future employment.
 
Finnaly Iam writing this message:

Our EB3 case approved yesterday (8-4-2005)

(Newark TD. November 17 2005).

Interview experience was same as all others so, Iam not going to repead.
They will mail us Cards after October-(wait-wait-wait...........)
We like to thank this forum members.
Good luck to all....
 
EB3 Case Interviewd at Newark.

EB3 CASE labor pd OCT 1998
Substituted Labor.
Concurrent Filing Sep 2002.
140 Approved Dec 2003
RFE for employment verrification.
RFE replied..
Case Transferred to Newark 11/2004
Received Inteview Letters on June, 16 for interview on Aug 05.
4th EAD approved recently [ a month ago, filed Online and received approval oin mail in 60 days.. pretty standard procedure...]

Case Initially applied thru lawyer/attorney. Did not take attorney to interview.
Ineterview scheduled at 9:00 AM

Reached there at 8:30 AM.
Security check 15 min
Gave Interview letters at the window. She asked about lawyer, answered we don't have one.

Seated in waiting area..................
At 10:00 AM a young male white officer called us into the office.
He also asked where is your lawyer... I replied we don't have one. I asked him are we supposed to bring one... He replied NO.
Std routine.... Signarutes and Index Finger Print. Took OATH...

First of all He asked whether we mind to sign a letter stating that we volinterily appeared the interview without a lawyer. We said yes and signed.

Pretty Standard Questions......... and took copies of all documents he have asked...

Child's Birth Certificate [ Shown Original Given him the copy...]
Marriage Certificate [ Shown Original Given him the copy...]
HE PARTICULARLY ASKED FOR THE I-94 STUBS FROM OUR OLD H1-B EXENSIONS. He took the Originals. [ The entire sheet of H1-B etension with I-94 attached to it at the bottom] Therse were pretty OLD... I am using my 4th EAD.

He asked for Birth Cirtificate. [ took Copies]
Tax returns [ Took copies for 5 years..]
Employer letter [ Took Original ]

Asked about the petitoner [ Different then my current Employer]
I answered theat I will Join the Petitioned Company after the Contract with the current employer is over.

He asked about the pay structure and Job Duties on both offers. Technically both Current Offer and Petitioned Offer for future employment is same. He said R U SURE that you will join the Petitioner. I firmly said yes. He said OK.

He asked for Passports. While checking them he told whether outr lawyer explained about the current EB3 Siituation. I said YES.

The he stamped on the passports : NEW SEC 245 DATE DD-MMM-YYYY Axxxxxxxxx 485 pending Signature.

He signed a letter statinng that my priority dat eis not current.

He told that we are all set and suggested us to sit tight.
I asked what will happen in October ?

He replied that he is going to order for another Finger Prints as my Finger prints will expire in Sept 2005 [ 15 Months from the date of last FP]

He also verrified my current address and suggested us to inform them immediately If there is change in address.

He tentatively told by OCT/NOV. Everything will be notified via mail when time comes. No more interviews are required....

ClocK start ticking again.... One waiting line to another... The only difference is this waiting is hopefully stress free waiting.. Waited for 9.5 years what the heck in another few months...

Every "GC Hopefull" has their own day. Today is our day... Soon it will be your day.. so don't loose the hope...

Good luck for all ..... waiting... Keep sharing your thoughts and this is a wonderful site thanks for one and all who have been made such a wonderful place to share what not..........

Over all the Interview experience is very plesent .... Just one suggestion which has already been suggested earlier... Take every piece of paper (and make a copy , few extra baggage... but surely save time and energy at the time of interview) which is related your Immigration, Personal and Financial matter.. They might ask for anything event though they say to Bring your passport and i-94 in the interview letter.

CATCH YOU ALL SOON...
 
Sec 245.

I am guessing as follows [ This is my personal opinion ]....
They might have utilising one of the existing sections to keep us "in status" while we are waiting for visa number availability..

The original abstract of New Section 245 is as follows:

http://www.callyourlawyers.com/mobile/245(i)revival-3.html

What is the new Section 245(i) about?
The newly enacted provision has the effect of extending the 1/14/1998 date to 4/30/2001. Therefore, anyone who has filed a visa petition or labor certification on or before April 30, 2001, will be eligible to adjust their status in the U.S., regardless of entering without a visa or overstaying their visa, as long as they pay the required $1000 penalty. The new law also requires that persons who wish to take advantage of the new provision must have been in the United States on December 21, 2000, and be able to prove this fact to the INS, in order to benefit from the extension of the provision.

Who can benefit from the new Section 245(i)?
The enactment of this new provision is extremely important for persons who entered the U.S. without a visa and have remained here illegally and for those persons who entered legally, but subsequently became illegal and remained in the U.S. more than 6 months beyond the expiration date of their admission. Persons in these situations will be able to obtain permanent residence if they file a visa petition or labor certification on or before April 30, 2001, and are otherwise eligible for a green card.

What about the date - December 21, 2000?:
Under the new law, beneficiaries of an immigrant petition or labor certification that is filed after the old deadline of January 14, 1998, but before the new deadline of April 30, 2001, must prove that they were physically present in the United States on December 21, 2000, by submitting evidence of physical presence in the U.S. This evidence could include any receipts for December 21 that include the beneficiary's name, a letter from an employer or school, a hospital record or similar documentation.

Please note:

Applicants do not necessarily have to use the pre April 30, 2001, petition. This initial filing preserves the ability to adjust. Applicants can later submit a visa application in a different category when they become eligible for that category, but utilize the pre April 30, 2001, petition to secure their eligibility for adjustment of status.

Applicants must pay an additional fee of $1000 when they submit their adjustment of status application in order to take advantage of the new 245(i) provision.

245(i) only allows people who illegally entered the United States or are out of status for various reasons to adjust their status in the U.S. if they are otherwise eligible. It does not authorize anyone to remain in the United States or to obtain work permission while here.
 
"Want GC Soon" case "Approved" after Interview at Newark on 08/05/2005

Hi Folks,
"Yes" "Yes" I am atlast approved. I wanted to let you all know that my GC Interview at Newark, NJ went well today (08/05/2005) and I am atlast "APPROVED". But since my employer filed me in EB3, I wasn't able to get my passport stamped today. The officer stamped my A number with the date on the passport.

After coming into US in 1998 and didn't have any plans of settling down in US and so didnt apply for my GC until Nov 2003 using Substituted Labor.

Our appointment was at 1pm today and we entered Newark at 12:30pm, completed our security check, proceeded to 13th floor at 12:45pm and gave our interview letter at the reception window. The receptionist asked if we had a lawyer, I replied "No".

She took the interview letter and said that I would be called soon. I waited, waited and waited........ They didnt have a wall clock on the waiting room and I didnt take my cell phone as I left it in the car and didnt wear a watch. So, I didnt know what the current time was but I knew that I waited for a long time. My wife was with me and I asked her to have something in the 2nd floor and she brought me a muffin and when I was eating outside (Eating/Drinking is strictly prohibited in the waiting room), I checked with the security officer as what the time is. She said its 2:45pm and asked me to check with the receptionist again. When I asked the receptionist she said that the officers have gone out to lunch and probably they will call you once they return. We waiting patiently for our turn. There were atleast 75 people in the waiting room.

At 3:10 pm, a middle aged lady called my name and asked me to follow her. She took the fingerprints/signature first and asked us to follow to her cube. She asked us to take the oath and said "OK", I have so many things to ask you. I was nervous in the beginning but still didnt show it on my face and was pretending cool.

She asked my wife's birth certificate as she didnt have it. We got my wife's birth certificate day before yesterday(08/03) from India after a great struggle of 6 months and it was delayed by the courier for almost 10 days because of rains in Bombay. So the six month wait on the Birth Certificate atleast helped us to answer the first question.

Then the officer asked me how many years was I on F1 status. I have 6 H1Bs and 1 F1 in the past 7.5 years, and I replied 18 months. Then she was asking me as why your sponsoring employer didnt hire you even though I have an EAD through him. She asked me if I still have plans to join my future employer (Remember, I have never worked for the sponsoring employer till date), she asked me where I am working and I replied NY. She asked my paystubs with my current employer and asked if I have an offer letter from my future employer. I replied "YES", she looked at it and started calculating my salary which was more than 100% from my future employer and asked me an explanation on that as well. I gave her a good explanation and she was happy.

Then she asked me about 2004 tax returns, my H1 copy for my last employer. I gave her copies. She then asked me if I have 2 photographs for both me and my wife. I replied yes and handed over the photos and she looked at my wife's pictures and said that they are small and you need to take pictures again and come back again today. She gave us a letter stating that we need 2 photographs and we went to 972, Broad Street and took 4 pictures for $10.00 and came back to Immigration office and handed them again to the Immigration Officer and asked if every thing is ok. She said that everything is complete and we dont need to come back for any interview and once the visa numbers are available in October, we will get the Green Card directly to our address. The officer confirmed if we are still staying in the same address and I replied "Yes".

I asked the officer that I have plans to go to India in Dec as I havent been to India for the past 6.5 years and showed her my air ticket. She said that I would 99.99% get my GC before then or to have a cushion, better apply "Advance Parole" so that your travel plans are not messed up.

The officer took all (5 - I94's) for me and one I94 for my wife and didnt take my old Advance Parole and EAD's.

She then shook hands with me and said you are all set and I am sorry that I couldn't give you a stamp today because of visa number unavailability. She also said that priority dates may even go backwards after a few months. Even for the people who are interviewed, once the visa numbers are available they will go through "priority date" first before they start issuing the green cards. This was the news that I got from my officer.

Even though I have double masters and have over 12 years of experience my employer screwed me in applying through EB3, which I wasnt aware until last month.

My Story:
Labor: Priority Date: May 2001 - Labor Substitution
EAD/AP/140/485 - Applied Nov 2003
1st EAD/AP - Approved (Interim) given for 1 yr - Feb 2004
140 - Approved - June 6, 2004 - No RFE
Finger Prints given - October 30, 2004
Case Transferred to Newark - Dec 10, 2004
Case Enquiry in Newark in person - Jan 10, 2004 - got a confirmation that
my file was received on Dec 15, 2004
Received Interview Letter - June 19, 2005
Interview Date - August 5, 2005
Approved - August 5, 2005
No RFE at any Stage
=========================================================

Another story: - GC Inteview in Newark, August 5, 2005 @ 1:30pm

There was another Indian guy who had also been interviewed on future employment today at 1:30pm. He had brought his lawyer and paid a wholesum amount of $500.00 for 2 hours.

His labor is substitution and was on 'C++' programming. You know what, his immigration officer asked him to write a "C++" program and since this guy had lost touch in C++, he had few errors in syntax and the immigration officer corrected his program and said that he was once a "C++" programmer and approved his Green Card today since he was under EB2 category.

A friendly advise, if your labor is mentioning a different skill and if you have never worked in those skill sets, and if the file is transferred then better learn something about the skill set.

I have heard of writing programs in Madras, India or in Indian Consulates but this is the first time I heard that they have been asked for GC interview.

Again, I would like to thankyou all for all the support, encouragement, cooperation in getting my GC approved and I wish you all good luck.

I hope that my posting even though its very long, would atleast help a few who are waiting for their interview this month and for the months to come.

Good Luck and Wish you all the Best.

Krishna
 
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Did they stamp your passport.

Congrats Krishna,

Just curious, Did they stamp your passport with anything ? Did they issued you any letter stating that they have conducted interview and the result of the interview ?

They gave us one such letter:

Reason checked:
Your Priority date ids not current at this time snd your case will be held in abeyance until such time a visa number is available for your priority date. Please refrain from inquiring on the status of your case until 90 days after the priority date is current.

They stamped our passport as follows:
NEW
SEC 245
DATE:08-05-05
Axxxxxxxx
485 pending
Signature of the officer


pardon my spellings. my keyboard is messed up...
 
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Thankyou Patchacard!

pacchacard said:
Congrats Krishna,

Just curious, Did they stamp your passport with anything ? Did they issued you any letter stating that they have conducted interview and the result of the interview ?

They gave us one such letter:

Reason checked:
Your Priority date ids not current at this time snd your case will be held in abeyance until such time a visa number is available for your priority date. Please refrain from inquiring on the status of your case until 90 days after the priority date is current.

They stamped our passport as follows:
NEW
SEC 245
DATE:08-05-05
Axxxxxxxx
485 pending
Signature of the officer


pardon my spellings. my keyboard is messed up...
Click to expand...

Yes Patchacard, I got the same letter with the details listed above. Thanks for your wishes!
 
Hi Folks,

Those of you recently attend interview in Newark or those are schedule for
interview in next few weeks, kindly fill-up the tracker with your info(specifically, your priority date). It will help other members to get an idea about interview scheduling time.

Members whose cases are recently transfered to Newark can also fill-up
the tracker.

This will help a lot for all of us who are waiting for interview.

-Thanks
 
sponsor letter for Employment based applicaiton - for my interview on 8/17

can anyone please urgently post the format of the employment letter.
my interview is on 8/17/05.
The sponsoring company is my current employer, and i will continue working with them in the future. what should the letter state?
 
riyaz404-t said:
can anyone please urgently post the format of the employment letter.
my interview is on 8/17/05.
The sponsoring company is my current employer, and i will continue working with them in the future. what should the letter state?
Click to expand...

On your company letter head:

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

To:
The Immigration Officer,
USCIS,
Newark, NJ

Dear Sir/Madam,
This is to inform you that Mr. Riyaz404 is working as a software consultant with "your organization name" from (date) to (date). He is a full time employee and works for 40 hrs/week and is being paid an annual salary of $$$$$ with health benefits.

Mr. Riyaz404 is currently working with "your clients name" from (date you joined at the client site) and his project is ongoing.

We request you to kindly extend all courtesies in approving his 485 petition and issue the immigrant visa.

Please give us a call at (your company's phone number) incase of any further questions/clarifications.

Thankyou

Regards,
(Your company's president or HR signature)
Date:???????

Good Luck on your interview Riyaz404!
 
Thanks a million : you are lifesaver

Want GC Soon said:
On your company letter head:

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

To:
The Immigration Officer,
USCIS,
Newark, NJ

Dear Sir/Madam,
This is to inform you that Mr. Riyaz404 is working as a software consultant with "your organization name" from (date) to (date). He is a full time employee and works for 40 hrs/week and is being paid an annual salary of $$$$$ with health benefits.

Mr. Riyaz404 is currently working with "your clients name" from (date you joined at the client site) and his project is ongoing.

We request you to kindly extend all courtesies in approving his 485 petition and issue the immigrant visa.

Please give us a call at (your company's phone number) incase of any further questions/clarifications.

Thankyou

Regards,
(Your company's president or HR signature)
Date:???????

Good Luck on your interview Riyaz404!
Click to expand...
 
Hi Guys,

If your I-485 file is transfered to Newark office and your address is under Cherry-hill office jurisdiction, can you kindly post your details into cherry-hill
folder please?

I couldn't find any separate folder for cherry-hill so that we can track cases
transfered to cherry-hill office properly.

Thanks for you help,
 
Interview Docs

Among the docs asked in the interview, would you be expected to show original 1-140 approval notice? Mine is with the lawyer, and lawyer is too busy filing h1s as quota begins october. Should I bother getting it from my lawer or they almost never ask?
 
riyaz404-t said:
Among the docs asked in the interview, would you be expected to show original 1-140 approval notice? Mine is with the lawyer, and lawyer is too busy filing h1s as quota begins october. Should I bother getting it from my lawer or they almost never ask?
Click to expand...

The officer doesnt look at 140 approval(even copy or original) as they already have one with them. The latest news is that H1B quota for 2006 has already reached its limit. So your lawyer should be free incase if you need anything.

Good Luck!
 
Thanks Want GC soon

Want GC Soon said:
The officer doesnt look at 140 approval(even copy or original) as they already have one with them. The latest news is that H1B quota for 2006 has already reached its limit. So your lawyer should be free incase if you need anything.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...
 
When will be my interview?

Can somebody please tell me when can I expect an interview based on my Transfer date and Priority date in my signature.

Thanks
 
My EB3 Interview at Newark

I had my interview yesterday.
Note that my case is EB3 filed in Feb 2002.

My interview as at 11 AM and I reached at 10.30. After 1 hour 45 mins we were called in. Officer took fingerprints of our index finger, made us sign a Attorney waiver, and asked us all the papers like tax returns, paystubs, birth certificate (all copies), and employment letter. Asked since when I work for the petitioner, and how did I enter US. I said on H1B Visa. He asked why do I have Permanant Residency in Canada, and I explained.

In the end, he said since Visa numbers are unavailable, my file will remain pending. Approval once numbers are available will be mailed directly, so he confirmed my mailing address.

He was a pretty laid back, i can tell you. But then, ours was a fairly straightforward case.

So in our case, wait continues. It was bittersweet.
 
Question regarding Job Switch

My interview at Newark is complete. Approval pending since visa numbers unavailable.

My petitionar does not mind if i join my client Permanantly. In fact he would like me to (he is a nice guy, so wants whats best for me)

Will it hurt my future applications for Citizenship or GC renewal. Can I invoke AC21 and switch at this juncture? What do good lawyers who are unbiased usually advise in this situation? I have heard rumours that one must work for petitionar atleast for 6-12 months before switching to another job? Is it true?If so, that's absurd, because they allow you to swtich using Ac21 before approval, but not after approval? Please throw some light, if someone has good knowledge about the same.
 
Congratulations Riyaz404-t. I know that you are not happy with outcome of your interview. Still the coming waiting period would be sweet.

Did you submit the original of birth certificate before?

How many pay stubs given to the officer?

now relax and enjoy.

Thanks for posting your experience
 
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