AC21 case - Interview call

U

uknowme

Registered Users (C)
RD - Aug. 23 2001.
ND - Sept. 24th 2001.
I got relocated from Bay Area to Denver in 1st week of April and in month of July i got laid off. I got a job in Sept. (after 2 months) in Bay Area. I haven't notified the INS about the change in employment since i was hoping i would get the approval without any RFE. I got a letter from San Jose INS office for interview on Dec. 11th. They have given a list of documents to be brought. Please do give me suggestion whether i should file notification now? I spoke to my lawyer last week and she says that the case is complicated since i have used AC21 twice in the same year and she needs to do some more research as the law is new. Please if anybody who had a interview call can respond and tell me what kind of questions do they ask. I was out of Job for 2 months, will INS deny the application for this reason ? Please suggest
 
At least file the AR11

I think you should file the AR-11 as soon as possible, or any time before the interview. The AR-11 changes your address with the INS in Washington DC for security reasons. It does not change your address on the I485 application.

By this, I feel that you should be fine, specially if you have access to the address on your application.

I am interested in this case, please till me, when did you apply for your I-485. Also, do you have any record with the FBI.

Thanks and good luck.
 
Uknowme: You can always tell that INS has not come out with guidelines as to how to inform INS about the job change when 485 is pending. So stop worrying about that issue.

Prepare all the documents with the help of new employer. Make sure that the title, salary and responsibilities closely match the one described in LC/140. Ask your lawyer to concentrate on how to answer the INS agent if the questions on those 3 crucial differences are raised at the time of interview.
 
Thanks for your reply and the encouragement.

The lawyer has already notified the INS (CSC and the san jose office) about the address change and i received the notification for the interview at my current address.

>I am interested in this case, please till me, when did you apply >for your I-485. Also, do you have any record with the FBI.

I applied for I-485 on Aug. 23rd 2001 and the Notice date is Sept. 24h 2001. Regarding the record with FBI i am not clear with the question. They have my Finger Prints but i don't have any criminal records and only couple of parking tickets.

I had one more question for you Is it require to have the lawyer alongwith you at the time of the interview.

Thanks.
 
Thanks Jaxen. That is very informative.
The lawyer was saying that since i have moved to Denver from Bay Area (within the same company) i used the 485 portability at that time and again when i joined another employer in Sept. Currently the INS has not issued any guidelines about multiple uses of portability and she is trying to make sure that there are no policies out there which say about how many times the portability can be used. Other than that can they deny the application since i was not working for 2 months?
 
I dont believe that relocation used up portability once unless you changed your employer. The portability counts only the number of employers that you actually informed INS. So even if you change and didnt update them, then you didnt use portability. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Krishna02.
I too (and couple of my friends) had this conception that the protability is used only when you change the employer, but seems that that is not true. Infact i came to know about this 2 weeks back, when i was asking the lawyer to apply for the change in employment. In month of April, when i moved from Bay Area to Denver, the lawyer had informed the INS about the change in location.
Anyway the latest inforamtion i got back from the lawyer is that there are no guidelines currently about the multiple uses of portability so i should be okay. The lawyer is charging me hefty fees for sending the change in employer notification, preparing the documents for the interview and for her Physical presence at the time of the interview.
Basically i am trying to figure out whether her Physical presence is really required and also whether INS has denied GC to anybody in the case where the individual was out of Job for 2 months.
Thanks and I appreciate help of you guys.
 
HI uknowme

I THINK IT WOULD BE BETTER TO KEEP YOUR LAWYER IN INTERVIEW WITH YOU. I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT HEFTY CHARGE RIGHT NOW.

ABOUT 2 MONTH YOUR WERE UNEMPLOYED, IT HAS TO NOTHING TO WITH GC PROCESS IF YOU USE EAD FOR THAT. ONCE YOU FILE I-485 YOU ARE IN ADJUSTMENT STATUS AND SAME WAY IN AC21 IT DOESN'T SAY YOU NEED TO WORK ALL THE TIME UNLIKE H1. YOU DON'T NEED TO LET THEM KNOW ABOUT TWO MONTH, ONLY THEY CARE IF YOU CAN FIND JOB SIMILAR TO YOUR LC/ i-140 AND THEY DIDN'T APPROVE YOUR CASE IN 180 DAYS. IN ADDTION TO THAT YOU HAVE CURRENT JOB, SO AS JAXEN SUGGEST BE PREPARE WITH ALL THE DOCUMENT FROM CURRENT COMPANY AND GO WITH CONFIDENCE.

GOOD LUCK.

JB



Originally posted by uknowme
Thanks Krishna02.
I too (and couple of my friends) had this conception that the protability is used only when you change the employer, but seems that that is not true. Infact i came to know about this 2 weeks back, when i was asking the lawyer to apply for the change in employment. In month of April, when i moved from Bay Area to Denver, the lawyer had informed the INS about the change in location.
Anyway the latest inforamtion i got back from the lawyer is that there are no guidelines currently about the multiple uses of portability so i should be okay. The lawyer is charging me hefty fees for sending the change in employer notification, preparing the documents for the interview and for her Physical presence at the time of the interview.
Basically i am trying to figure out whether her Physical presence is really required and also whether INS has denied GC to anybody in the case where the individual was out of Job for 2 months.
Thanks and I appreciate help of you guys.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks JBM.
Thanks to all you goys for providing such valuable information and suggestion. I am definitely planning to have the lawyer alongwith me in the interview and now i am feeling confident that there are higher chances of approval.

thanks,
uknowme ;)
 
Hi Guys,

The interview went well. The reason they had transferred the case to local INS office was due to error in the Medical Exam result. I gave them the correct medical exam result. Now The GC is kind of approved pending CIA checks. Unfortunately they have stopped approving I-485 from last 3-4 weeks. Hope once they start approving, I will get the GC.
I really appreciate the valuable information given by you guys and thanks for the encouragement.
You guys are really doing a good job. Keep it UP.

uknowme :)
 
What exactly did they ask you in the interview? If they told you the medical exam result was incorrect, how were you able to give them the corrected one right at the interview?
 
Since i had changed jobs, the lawyer had prepared documents giving the information (products, where are they used and financial position) about the current company and the employment verification letter.
The immigration officer asked me when did i move back to CA, do i still reside in CO, is my company based in CO and am i working as a consultant? Basically she was trying to figure out whether i have completely moved to CA and whether i am working as a consultant or permanent employee. Then she asked me about the current job responsibilities and whether they are similar to what i was doing in my prior job.
Once she was satisfied with the answers, she gave me the reason for the case being transferred. I had to get a new medical exam result from the Doctor and submit it 2-3 days later. Basically she had given me Notice in which she had requested the Doctor about the information she required.
I hope this answeres ur questions. Do let me know if u have more questions.

uknowme
 
can you please

post the format of letter drafted?
also did you inform ins before the rfe or did tell them of the job change later
 
Hi Mandrake,

The seralogic test for syphillis was postive, but the confirmatory test was negative. In the medical form, there is a question regarding the first test, but there is no question for the confirmatory test. In the answer to the question the Dr. had made a mistake of checking both the reactive and non-reactive boxes. To the copy she gave me both the boxes were marked but the one (sealed envelope) sent to INS she had used whitener to remove the check mark on the non reactive box. IO suspected some tampering and hence the interview. Dr. had used Notes section to indicate the information about the confirmatory test.
I went to the Dr. next day and got the information corrected. I haven't heard from INS after that. I think they are fine with the new medical exam result.

Hi Dev28,

Other than creating a new email address if u have some idea where i can send u the email address i would be more than glad. I dont' want to put the email address here since i don't want to receive too many mails. Please no offence to anybody.

Hi tombann,

I have attached the format. Modified the names with alphabets. Important things as Mr Jaxen has suggested are the title, salary and responsibilities closely matching the one described in LC/140.

regards,
Uknowme
 
Finally got the approval yesterday. Thanks Jaxen, Krishna and JBM for ur advice and encouragement. Keep up the good work.

Uknowme
 
unknowme, advice needed from you

Hi Unknowme,

Thanks for your post. And I need some advice for my coming interview with INS.

I got laid off after 140 approval before filing 485. And my sponsor still gave me the letter for filing 485. I got RFE for employment at the end of Oct and I responded INS in early Dec with two letters - one from my old employer and one from new employer. But I didn't indicate that I used AC21.

Now my case got transferred to local INS office. My attorney and I were discussing the case and trying to find a better way to argue the case at the interview. One is that I will go back to my old company since they still give me this updated employment letter, but since I am already working for some other company right now and it is hard to convince INS that I will go back. The other one is using AC21, but not sure if that applies to my case, since I got laid off before 180 days. But your case is similar (at least sounds like it), did you get lay off before 180 days?

Any suggestions or advices will be truly appreciated!

gpw


PS: Is anyone out there got approved using AC 21 and got laid off before 180 days or never worked for their sponsors?

Thanks.
 
Hi GPW,

I was laid off after 180 days. In the interview the IO never asked when u were laid off, but since i had the reduction in workforce letter from company we gave it to her. Also we did not take the last payslips from my previous company. My observation was that IO was more interested in figuring out if u had criminal background or if i had stayed illegally over here. Also whether i am working in the similar field and getting the similar salary.

Your case is very complicated. You don't require pay slips from the old company if u can prove that u joined the current company after 180 days of filing of 485. One thing is INS does not has any guidelines for the use of AC21 so u can still avail of the AC21 portability. I can just think of the above scenario and hope that IO is more bothered about ur current job. In my case her questions were mostly related to my current residency and current job. She didn't ask much about the previous job. Let me know if u have more questions.

Uknowme
 
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