485-Pending
Registered Users (C)
Passport Stamping Experience:
Arrived at the INS office at approximatey 9:00 am. Parked the car behind the Federal Building at a pay park lot (there are several around the federal building; $6.95 for the whole day).
Went to the back entrance and was surprised to find no line at all. We were told to the go the first room where we were finger printed and signed on the Form. Surrendered all the documents (Approval Notice, EAD, AP, Two Photographs). We were assigned a call number and were told to wait in the adjacent room. There were a lot of people inside waiting.
Luckily there is a cafeteria in the second floor. Went to the cafeteria and spent some time. We also went out of the building for a stroll on Broad Street. It was pleasant day, sunny and not humid. We were back inside the building by 11:00 am. Our number was called at around 11:15 am. The stamping took 2 minutes.
While the officer was stamping my Passport, all the things which happened in the past flashed in my mind. Thought to myself, "had to go through all this non-sense, for that stupid stamp".
Anyway, came out of the building and celebrated with my wife with a nice lunch. Decided to take the entire day off. Also the stamping happened to be on Ganesha Chaturthi, what an irony, thought it would be a good omen and hoping that there will not be an more impediments in the future (for those of you who are Indian, you know what I mean).
Also see my previous posting below,
Previous Posting about Approval (Deleted due to Immigrationportal.com System Crash)
Finally it is over!!!!. I still cannot believe it. My details are as follows, PD: Dec 1996; I-140: July 2000; I-485 RD: Aug 2000; ND: Sep 2000, AD: July 2001. No RFE.
I am soooo numb with the whole process, I am not even feeling elated. Well, you will see why…. read my story……..
Came to the US in 1990 as a student. Finished my Masters and went on Practical Training. The US economy was just coming out of a recession back then and finding a job just out of school was tough. Any way managed to find a job and processed my H1 by myself. Back then it was easy and you could do your H1 by yourself.
Changed companies in 1994 and applied for GC in 1996 (February). There was no RIR back then, just regular labor approval. I received a letter for clarification from the NJ department of labor regarding the job responsibilities. My STUPID attorney (yes I am going to mention his name Alan Heckler) did not respond to the query from the DOL, neither did he inform me about it. The DOL abandoned my case and told me reapply. So I reapplied for labor approval in December 1996. This is when all started to go wrong. The federal govt. had budget cuts and the processing time for labor approval in NJ started to prolong. It took the NJDOL, three and half years to process my case. Applied for I-140 in July 2000 and got approval in one week. (My employer was very forceful with the INS and asked for an expedited review, since I was running out of my H1 status).
Anyway, got through the I-140 process and applied for I-485 in August 2000. ND was September 2000. And you know the rest of the story…. Approval in July 2001.
In the mean time, my spouse could not accept a lot of offers since they were not ready to do a H1 for her. Being a professional and not ready to lose touch with her subjects she volunteered at a lot of places. Even though they were ready to pay her, she could not accept payment because she was on H4. Both of us went through a lot for this crap known as GC. I don\'t know if it was worth it. I lost a lot of opportunities for professional advancement in my career because of this. A lot people who came to the US way after me (like 1998 onwards) had GC before me. Made me feel very low at some times…what am I saying not some times ..but most of the time.
Any way, there was some relief from this board. Visiting the board became part of my daily routine. Most of the t
Arrived at the INS office at approximatey 9:00 am. Parked the car behind the Federal Building at a pay park lot (there are several around the federal building; $6.95 for the whole day).
Went to the back entrance and was surprised to find no line at all. We were told to the go the first room where we were finger printed and signed on the Form. Surrendered all the documents (Approval Notice, EAD, AP, Two Photographs). We were assigned a call number and were told to wait in the adjacent room. There were a lot of people inside waiting.
Luckily there is a cafeteria in the second floor. Went to the cafeteria and spent some time. We also went out of the building for a stroll on Broad Street. It was pleasant day, sunny and not humid. We were back inside the building by 11:00 am. Our number was called at around 11:15 am. The stamping took 2 minutes.
While the officer was stamping my Passport, all the things which happened in the past flashed in my mind. Thought to myself, "had to go through all this non-sense, for that stupid stamp".
Anyway, came out of the building and celebrated with my wife with a nice lunch. Decided to take the entire day off. Also the stamping happened to be on Ganesha Chaturthi, what an irony, thought it would be a good omen and hoping that there will not be an more impediments in the future (for those of you who are Indian, you know what I mean).
Also see my previous posting below,
Previous Posting about Approval (Deleted due to Immigrationportal.com System Crash)
Finally it is over!!!!. I still cannot believe it. My details are as follows, PD: Dec 1996; I-140: July 2000; I-485 RD: Aug 2000; ND: Sep 2000, AD: July 2001. No RFE.
I am soooo numb with the whole process, I am not even feeling elated. Well, you will see why…. read my story……..
Came to the US in 1990 as a student. Finished my Masters and went on Practical Training. The US economy was just coming out of a recession back then and finding a job just out of school was tough. Any way managed to find a job and processed my H1 by myself. Back then it was easy and you could do your H1 by yourself.
Changed companies in 1994 and applied for GC in 1996 (February). There was no RIR back then, just regular labor approval. I received a letter for clarification from the NJ department of labor regarding the job responsibilities. My STUPID attorney (yes I am going to mention his name Alan Heckler) did not respond to the query from the DOL, neither did he inform me about it. The DOL abandoned my case and told me reapply. So I reapplied for labor approval in December 1996. This is when all started to go wrong. The federal govt. had budget cuts and the processing time for labor approval in NJ started to prolong. It took the NJDOL, three and half years to process my case. Applied for I-140 in July 2000 and got approval in one week. (My employer was very forceful with the INS and asked for an expedited review, since I was running out of my H1 status).
Anyway, got through the I-140 process and applied for I-485 in August 2000. ND was September 2000. And you know the rest of the story…. Approval in July 2001.
In the mean time, my spouse could not accept a lot of offers since they were not ready to do a H1 for her. Being a professional and not ready to lose touch with her subjects she volunteered at a lot of places. Even though they were ready to pay her, she could not accept payment because she was on H4. Both of us went through a lot for this crap known as GC. I don\'t know if it was worth it. I lost a lot of opportunities for professional advancement in my career because of this. A lot people who came to the US way after me (like 1998 onwards) had GC before me. Made me feel very low at some times…what am I saying not some times ..but most of the time.
Any way, there was some relief from this board. Visiting the board became part of my daily routine. Most of the t