AC 21 Case - Approved after interview !!!

I

Indiana Jones

Registered Users (C)
Friends,

I am glad to post this message that my I-485 case has been approved after an interview at the local INS center.

Here are the details.
EB2, India - PD sometime in 1997.
485 RD - Nov 8, 2000 ND Dec 1, 2000 FP Apr 24, 2001.
Changed jobs myself (employer didnot lay me off-- got a better offer so left the desi consulting company and took a permanent position with a top company ).
I did not apply for EAD along with my 485.. so when I decided to change jobs I applied it in April 2001. Also I asked the new employer to start my H1 which they did in June 2001. H1 and EAD both are approved in July 2001. So joined the new employer in July 2001 (this is welll after 180 days from both RD and ND). I DIDNOT inform INS about the job change.
I thought I will handle it if they generate an RFE.
RFE is generated for Employment letter, W2s and Tax returns. - Oct 2001.
Responded with new employment letter and copies of W2s and Tax returns on Nov 6, 2001.
Case transferred to INS Hartford on Nov 19, 2001.
Interview letter received from INS Hartford on Dec 15, 2001.... interview on January 15, 2002.
Spoke to attorney (he does not work for my old company or my new company... I went with him by myself since day 1.. so no attorney problem due to job change)
January 15th , 2002
Went to INS Hartford @ 7:35AM.
Security check @7:55AM.. dropped the interview letter @8:02AM
Officer came and called us in @ 8:07AM and took oath.
Asked basic questions like Were u ever arrested ? Out of Status ? When married ? etc ...
You dont need an attorney to answer those questions.
Asked for the new employment letter, paystubs, old employment paystubs. I also carried the old employer\'s experience letter. She took that also.
Approved my case. Asked my wife the same questions and took our daughter\'s birth certificate and approved her case as well. Stamped I-551 in both of our passports. But she didnot accept our pictures, so redid our pictures for $11 each. The same photo person took our index finger prints and signatures and we are out of there by 8:30AM. The IIO told me that the cards will arrive in 6 to 9 months !!??. Maybe it is the standard answer.

So good luck to all of you AC 21 people and Enjoy. I will visit this site for a few more times to answer any questions you guys might have.
I also want to wish abci and others good luck with their interviews. Just Hang in there guys ! Your day will come very soon !
 
Congratulations

Hi It looks like a piece of cake after the approval huh?... have a beer and relax.
 
Indiana Jones - Congratulations!

Thanks a million for explaning the whole situation. People will get lots of info out of this. At least you are so eager to share your experience happiness with us as soon as you got it.
I have one question - Do you have any idea is it better to change lawyers after we change job. I know you don\'t have this experience but any idea may be helpful.
Was your job title, experience exactly same with old and new company. Like if your old company gave you title as "software engineer" the new one also have to have the same title of "software engineer"??
Good luck and God bless you.
 
Did you apply EAD before you change company or after?

Does EAD application need company employment letter? Thanks.
 
Hi Indiana Jones, Congrats

Is your case trasnferred to local INS because you switched employers? What do you think, I am in same situation, I want to change my screwy employer after 180 days. Pls. suggest something. Thanks in advance.
 
Indiana Jones please clarify this

I am confused about the job.

The law says new job should be same or similar to the job for which
labour certification was approved.

But how to interpret this. Could you post as to what was the job title and description in old and new job.

I am having a hard time deciding whether a switch from a programmer
analyst to software programmer falls in similar job defination or not.

From what I have researched, I could not find an exact match on
software programmer but I found
programmer analyst and computer programmer fall in two different
occupations. So how does this same or similar job work?
 
Thanks guys

Thank you .. I waited a looong time for this day. I am singing that song .. We are having beer at noon on Tuesday......!!:)

Changing lawyers is better .. I think. This is because you have to pay from your pocket for all the services from the old lawyer (your old company will not pay him anymore !!).
Then coming to my job description ... I didnot get the same job description and the position. I would say they are similar. I asked the HR people from the new company to use some tech words (like Java, C++, Web Design etc) from my original labor. The new company didnot have position names like Systems Analyst etc... which are INS words. So I asked the new HR people to use the position name of Systems Analyst (from my original labor) which they agreed. So I should say that I tailored my new employment letter to my requirement.

EAD doesnot need Employment letter.. atleast in my case it didnot. Just pictures, 485 receipt, $100/- and EAD application. Thats all.

I hope these answers will help you guys !
 
more info

I also forgot to mention that my salary was considerably more than that was mentioned in my original labor.
I asked the Immigration Officer right after the interview "Why my case was transferred ?". She replied "because you switched jobs". So I know that my case is transferred because of the job change.
 
So the trick is really getting the almost same letter as in LC.

I got your point.

Thanks for the info, congrats and have fun.
 
Quick question to Indiana Jones?

Congrats!!! Since you did not infom INS about your job change, I wonder how INS finally know that you did change your job???
 
Hearty Congratulations !!!!!!

Information provided will be of great help to us, there are \'n\' number of folks who are
looking for this type of information.

Thanks again for sharing this info. with us, good luck to you and your family.
 
Could you post the text of the letters you sent in response to that RFE

I would prefer using a approved text!

Thanks

Fellow
 
fellowgc.. here is the text of the letters

Letter - 1 from the new company

Vermont Service Center
Immigration & Naturalization Service

                Re: Application for Adjustment of Status of xxxx xxxx
Dear Sir/Madam:

        Please be advised that Mr. xxx has been employed by Microsoft Inc., as a Systems Architect since_____________, 2001. In this capacity, he designs, analyzes, enhances and provides migration of applications running on NT, Linux, Oracle, Java and C++. His salary is ___________ a year.

        We intend to employ him for the foreseeable future.

Sincerely,

HR Dept

I hope this helps !
 
Congratulations!!

Congtratulations!! Long wait, sweet results.

This all information has been greatly appreciated and very helpful.

I have some questions for you which will make it easier for those deciding to go for AC21 or not,

1) How/Why did you get an RFE if they didn\'t know until you replied about the New Employer, or changing jobs?
2)Did your previous employer inform them about the job change?
3)How many days were you in after your 180 day completion when you initiated your new job processing(talking to new HR,....)?
4)How many paystubbs and W2s, tax returns(years in the past) do theyt ask for, 2-3 or all?

Thanks a lot,
Answers to these questions will benefit a lot of folks here.
Appreciate your Time and response.
Enjoy!!
 
Thanks for all your help.

I am this close to taking the plunge. Could you simply summarize your learnings about how to make the job change and what all to keep track of and what to beware of?
 
Congratulations!!

Congtratulations!! Long wait, sweet results.

This all information has been greatly appreciated and very helpful.

I have some questions for you which will make it easier for those deciding to go for AC21 or not,

1) How/Why did you get an RFE if they didn\'t know until you replied about the New Employer, or changing jobs?
2)Did your previous employer inform them about the job change?
3)How many days were you in after your 180 day completion when you initiated your new job processing(talking to new HR,....)?
4)How many paystubbs and W2s, tax returns(years in the past) do theyt ask for, 2-3 or all?

Thanks a lot,
Answers to these questions will benefit a lot of folks here.
Appreciate your Time and response.
Enjoy!!
 
DownToEarth -- answers are here

1) I am not sure why they generated an RFE in my case. But they have been doing this a lot these days. Also most of the guys from my old company got RFEs. So may be my old (desi) company has a flag against its name ?.
2) My old employer was professional and helpful. They didnot inform INS about my job change. I beleive them. They helped me even after I left them. I guess I am lucky :)
3)Actually I was talking to the new company people for a while. Things started to materialise soon after I filed for 485. Within 2 months since I filed for 485 -- AC21 came into existence. So I decided to use it. So I should say the whole deal took about 5 to 6 months.
4) For RFE - 3 years W2s and Tax returns.
   For the interview - recent 3 pay stubs.
 
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