'Approval' and 'Resident Since' Dates are Different

[krocker]

online USCIS shows that my I-485 is approved on 03/06/2006.
Plastic Card shows 'CARD EXPIRES' 03/06/16 & 'Resident Since' 06/30/05

which date is my actual GC date?
the reason i ask is cuz, my PD is 04/30/01 which is still retrogressed and some people think that the approval is in error and needs to be cancelled.
Pls. share your thoughts.

 

[too_long]

I see how someone argue 'resident since' date, but how can anyone know the approval is an error. you filed an application and it was approved. thats the bottom line. dont worry about anything else.
i think it is a typo on the card, nothing more. if it bothers call uscis and ask for a new card. I would not worry about it, and just file for citizinship in year 2011

 

[krocker]

But the 'Resident Since' date doesnt appear to be a typo!
because i gave my FP on 06/01/05 and i did see 3 LUDs in 3 days on my i-485 right around 06/30/05!!! i swear. but then nuttin happened since.

I see how someone argue 'resident since' date, but how can anyone know the approval is an error. you filed an application and it was approved. thats the bottom line. dont worry about anything else.
i think it is a typo on the card, nothing more. if it bothers call uscis and ask for a new card. I would not worry about it, and just file for citizinship in year 2011

 

[poongunranar]

Call USCIS

But the 'Resident Since' date doesnt appear to be a typo!
because i gave my FP on 06/01/05 and i did see 3 LUDs in 3 days on my i-485 right around 06/30/05!!! i swear. but then nuttin happened since.

First, Congratulations. Now, usually the "Resident from" date should be the actual date of your GC approval. Forget about the online status. You should have received an I-797 or I-181. What date does it have? This date should match the date in your Green-Card. If it is not, call USCIS and explain. They must send you a different card. Please note, Green-Card plastic is just an evidence of your "status." It is not "status" per se. So, assuming your GC plastic card says (in error, of course) that you are a resident since 2000, you cannot assume you can file for citizenship immediately!!! That same logic applies for any typo in the plastic card if there is a contrarian date of permanent residence!

 

[harapatta2005]

first of all congrats. according to your post krocker it appears that your 485 was approved in june 05 since at that time your date was current and not retrogessed. i am assuming that the online status approval date of march 06 is an error.

i wouldnt be worried if i wwere in place. so enjoy ur freedom.

 

[krocker]

There is a good reason for my worry.
a. My approval email notification and online status update both says my i-485 was approved on 03/06/2006. which mathces the expiry date on the plastic.

b. My wife was issued a H4 visa in October after being refused in september.
Visa officer in Chennai told her that she needs to come on via FTJ process. Then she had to appear with a new appointment and an explanation letter with my status time line and SRC number to prove that the i-485 hasnt been approved yet!!

any thoughts?

first of all congrats. according to your post krocker it appears that your 485 was approved in june 05 since at that time your date was current and not retrogessed. i am assuming that the online status approval date of march 06 is an error.

i wouldnt be worried if i wwere in place. so enjoy ur freedom.

 

[poongunranar]

Please clarify KROCKER

b. My wife was issued a H4 visa in October after being refused in september.
Visa officer in Chennai told her that she needs to come on via FTJ process. Then she had to appear with a new appointment and an explanation letter with my status time line and SRC number to prove that the i-485 hasnt been approved yet!!
any thoughts?

Can you kindly elaborate and explain more in detail on this one? She went for a H4 visa to the consulate.
1. Why did they deny in September?
2. Why did they approve in October?
3. If she is already qualified for a NON-IMMIGRANT-VISA, which is what H4 is, why did the consulate people suggest that she come via FTJ process?
4. Were you married after JUNE 30, 2005?

 

[krocker]

Pls. find the attachment. It should answer all your below questions and more..
I created this docuemnt for my wife to take with her to the consulate in October. They looked at it for a good half hour. both the visa officer and her supervisor. Apparently they had a long discussion while researching in their computers and finally, the visa officer looked at her boss and asked "what should we do?" and the boss replied "go ahead and issue the visa". the visa officer double checked the response before issuing the visa. We belive that this attachemnt saved the day for us.

I'm posting this to give others hope and provide some direction.

Can you kindly elaborate and explain more in detail on this one? She went for a H4 visa to the consulate.
1. Why did they deny in September?
2. Why did they approve in October?
3. If she is already qualified for a NON-IMMIGRANT-VISA, which is what H4 is, why did the consulate people suggest that she come via FTJ process?
4. Were you married after JUNE 30, 2005?

 

[poongunranar]

KROCKER -- I am darn impressed with your punctilio.

Pls. find the attachment. It should answer all your below questions and more..
I created this docuemnt for my wife to take with her to the consulate in October. They looked at it for a good half hour. both the visa officer and her supervisor. Apparently they had a long discussion while researching in their computers and finally, the visa officer looked at her boss and asked "what should we do?" and the boss replied "go ahead and issue the visa". the visa officer double checked the response before issuing the visa. We belive that this attachemnt saved the day for us.

I'm posting this to give others hope and provide some direction.

Friend, Kudos to you for a stellar follow-up email you have written to the authorities. I am darn impressed with your punctilio. I would definitely have you as my attorney, if you ever thought of taking up law and giving your bar-examinations.

That much said, let me offer my two cents. If you had been approved on 06/20/2005, then there is no way the Madras Consulate could have issued your wife a H4. Please note, that you have the A#, which clearly would show them what your current status is. During my 2-year of frequenting the US border with Canada on my business trips, I knew how easily they were able to tell me if I was approved or not. (This includes all my travel on AP subsequent to my interview in April 2005. Please note that I was not approved until September 30, 2005.)

So, assuming you were approved on 06/30/2005, the Consular people would have immediately denied your wife for a H4-B dependent visa. They didn't do that. The only other reason would be that USCIS approved your petition on 06/30/2005 but not updated all the systems to reflect the same. This includes all final follow-ups they need to do to close your file at the time of approval. They definitely saw in their systems that you were an "AoS" applicant who hasn't been given the "LPR" status. Now, their main bone of contention was how can we give her a H4 when her husband was not in H1, but was in Paroled status! That whole confusion gave your new bride enough heartburn with a denial. (Man, I pity the poor girl for having been sucked into this immigration gobbledygook and nonsensical legalese!!! What a huge shock it would have been!!).

Subsequently when you sent this beautiful rejoinder (again, man, I am so very impressed) the Consular people even then had only questions and skepticism owing to your "H1 versus Parole status" and not if you were currently an "AoS" or "LPR."

Since the priority date is not current for you to get approved, there are other possibilities that I can think of. For sake of brevity, I need one more final question to be clarified.

In your GC (PLASTIC), you will find CATEGORY. Please provide that info please. We may be able to zero it on the possible date of approval. Please....

 

[krocker]

I should say, you are asking all the right questions and leaving me no room but to take u into the next chapter in my unfinished book.

This is a whole new dimension of the above issue.
So.. She came in Oct and left in Dec to finish her thesis program.
We couldn’t file for her i-485 while she was here, cuz of the retrogression.
Now, she is in Chennai with an invalid H4 visa, cuz of my i-485 approval.
We weighed the options of brining her back into USA the very next day, cuz apparently; believe it or not, the POE wouldn’t have the latest status of her H4 status until a cpl. of weeks after the status change. That would've caused us be below problems.
1. Chance of POE finding out and refusing her an entry.
2. Risk of potential accusation of intent to fraud and hence permanently bar her from entering
3. Risk of being stuck in USA with a status, if entered on H4, and waiting for the PD to be current in order to file her i-485. We don’t know if it will be April 1st or may1st or June 1st!!
4. If she needs to stick around in USA for more than 2 weeks, she would potentially loose value of all the work she did since Jan 06. That will put her behind in her schedule by how ever many months since Jan 06 till she returns to India after filing her i-485. Assuming her being out of status doesn’t cuz any issues. I can’t stop grinning, when I think/foresee of the divine comedy.

So we decided to let her focus on her program and be done with it, instead of being here nor there totally.

Also, we understand the implications.
1. She can only back to USA thru CP.
2. CP interview is dependent on my PD being current. This is the biggest unknown. 04/30/01!!!

In spite of the sea of events and information, my darkness is abt the Plastic.
1. Should I take solace in the fact that the resident date takes the precedence over the approval date, hence my PD not being current is a moot issue?
2. Should I keep it and initiate an i-824??
3. Should I get it cancelled and get back inline as H1??
4. How long will it take for the correction process.
5. Federal employees dont like to be told that they possibly goofed.

You would think somebody has answers to these questions.
After 5 Lawyers and nonstop reading, I haven’t gotten one straight answer.
Uh.. again..

anymore questions??
Thanks for listening and paying attention.

Friend, Kudos to you for a stellar follow-up email you have written to the authorities. I am darn impressed with your punctilio. I would definitely have you as my attorney, if you ever thought of taking up law and giving your bar-examinations.

That much said, let me offer my two cents. If you had been approved on 06/20/2005, then there is no way the Madras Consulate could have issued your wife a H4. Please note, that you have the A#, which clearly would show them what your current status is. During my 2-year of frequenting the US border with Canada on my business trips, I knew how easily they were able to tell me if I was approved or not. (This includes all my travel on AP subsequent to my interview in April 2005. Please note that I was not approved until September 30, 2005.)

So, assuming you were approved on 06/30/2005, the Consular people would have immediately denied your wife for a H4-B dependent visa. They didn't do that. They definitely saw in their systems that you were an "AoS" applicant who hasn't been given the "LPR" status. Now, their main bone of contention was how can we give her a H4 when her husband was not in H1, but was in Paroled status! That whole confusion gave your new bride enough heartburn with a denial. (Man, I pity the poor girl for having been sucked into this immigration gobbledygook and nonsensical legalese!!! What a huge shock it would have been!!).

Subsequently when you sent this beautiful rejoinder (again, man, I am so very impressed) the Consular people even then had only questions and skepticism owing to your "H1 versus Parole status" and not if you were currently an "AoS" or "LPR."

For aforementioned reasons, I have "reason to believe" with the preponderance of evidence, that you were approved on 03/06/2006 and not 06/30/2005. Therefore, what you have in the plastic card is wrong and you need to contact USCIS for the corrected plastic card. BTW, a very important and pertinent question is what is in for your wife? What date does she have in her plastic card?

 

[poongunranar]

My Questions are Socratesian )

I should say, you are asking all the right questions and leaving me no room but to take u into the next chapter in my unfinished book.

This is a whole new dimension of the above issue.
So.. She came in Oct and left in Dec to finish her thesis program.
We couldn’t file for her i-485 while she was here, cuz of the retrogression.
Now, she is in Chennai with an invalid H4 visa, cuz of my i-485 approval.
We weighed the options of brining her back into USA the very next day, cuz apparently; believe it or not, the POE wouldn’t have the latest status of her H4 status until a cpl. of weeks after the status change. That would've caused us be below problems.
1. Chance of POE finding out and refusing her an entry.
2. Risk of potential accusation of intent to fraud and hence permanently bar her from entering
3. Risk of being stuck in USA with a status, if entered on H4, and waiting for the PD to be current in order to file her i-485. We don’t know if it will be April 1st or may1st or June 1st!!
4. If she needs to stick around in USA for more than 2 weeks, she would potentially loose value of all the work she did since Jan 06. That will put her behind in her schedule by how ever many months since Jan 06 till she returns to India after filing her i-485. Assuming her being out of status doesn’t cuz any issues. I can’t stop grinning, when I think/foresee of the divine comedy.

So we decided to let her focus on her program and be done with it, instead of being here nor there totally.

Also, we understand the implications.
1. She can only back to USA thru CP.
2. CP interview is dependent on my PD being current. This is the biggest unknown. 04/30/01!!!

In spite of the sea of events and information, my darkness is abt the Plastic.
1. Should I take solace in the fact that the resident date takes the precedence over the approval date, hence my PD not being current is a moot issue?
2. Should I keep it and initiate an i-824??
3. Should I get it cancelled and get back inline as H1??
4. How long will it take for the correction process.
5. Federal employees dont like to be told that they possibly goofed.

You would think somebody has answers to these questions.
After 5 Lawyers and nonstop reading, I haven’t gotten one straight answer.
Uh.. again..

anymore questions??
Thanks for listening and paying attention.

My questions are Socratesian and they will lead both of us to a deeper understanding of the problem. Remember, I was focusing on I-181/I-797 ab ovo. And with all the additional problems you are having now with your wife (thanks to all your painstaking explanations), the issue of I-181/I-797 for filing an I-824 assumes greater significance.

Remember, you need either of these two docs for your wife's FTJ.

Setting aside that issue, I don't think you can surrender your GC and say that you be treated as a H1. I may be wrong, but as far as I know the 8CFR and Immigration rules, any surrender would automatically convey an intent to "disown your resident status." Please don't do that without honchoing all the possibilities and opinions. Immigration law provides an opportunity to surrender your LPR status for a ten-year B1/B2 visa. But, I am not sure if you, out of your own accord ask USCIS to revert your status back to H1 status quo ante .

Personally, I feel, you cannot make any major decision on bullets 1-5 before assessing the actual approval date. I know, it is a Catch-22 issue. You want to assess the approval date and hence you are asking those questions. You are asking those questions because you don't know the approval date.

As I said, I-181/I-797 is a key document, especially if you have to file for FTJ to bring your wife. Getting this document will help us understand the approval date.

Also, could you kindly take a look at CATEGORY in the plastic card?

 

[krocker]

Your are right abt the I-181 holding the master key to my door to the unknown.
Most likely I-797, even, will show the same date as the website or the email notification. Only way to see whats in I-181 is to file a FOIA request. ugh... more paper work means more red tape.

you would think, $200 for 15 mintues will answer all your questions. but NO.
Multiply that by few more high profile attorneys.. still Square 1.
After paying so much money in consulting fees and unlimited hours of studying and following the process, i'm failing w/o answers.....

Here is the latest and one of the most sensible explanations i received from an attorney today.

Apparently, in June 2005 Immigration services requested Dept. of State to issue them a block of Visa numbers, claiming that they have big backlog of applications that need to be flushed out.
During that process, Immigration services came back and further claimed that they have used up all those numbers and provided the dept. of state with actual file names tied to each visa number, as part of the reconciliation/tracking effort.
Once they ran out of the alloted visa numbers, we entered the phase of retrogression. Interesting postulation.. isnt it??

Now, my 'Residence Since' showing as 06/30/2005 is also the last day of the period where my PD was current. This is not necessarily a coincidence!!
i dont know what that above statement means?
did the immigration services not physically open each file to assign a visa number?
or is it some kind of administrative short cut, where they broke up a single step of assinging a visa number and close the file into a two step process??
so that they can reserve a visa number, in the essence of time, and worry about closing the file later on?

If that is the case, my GC should be totally valid and i will be qualified for naturalization, ~8 months earlier than 03/06/06.

So.. that should give hope to others in similar situation where they might have their Residence status kicked in but they dont know yet cuz they file is not approved and closed.

I wish someone on this forum had a direct access to an INS officer to validate these theories. To think abt it, these are not entirely wild. we are just trying to make the best sense out of the current situation on hand.

My questions are Socratesian and they will lead both of us to a deeper understanding of the problem. Remember, I was focusing on I-181/I-797 ab ovo. And with all the additional problems you are having now with your wife (thanks to all your painstaking explanations), the issue of I-181/I-797 for filing an I-824 assumes greater significance.

Remember, you need either of these two docs for your wife's FTJ.

Setting aside that issue, I don't think you can surrender your GC and say that you be treated as a H1. I may be wrong, but as far as I know the 8CFR and Immigration rules, any surrender would automatically convey an intent to "disown your resident status." Please don't do that without honchoing all the possibilities and opinions. Immigration law provides an opportunity to surrender your LPR status for a ten-year B1/B2 visa. But, I am not sure if you, out of your own accord ask USCIS to revert your status back to H1 status quo ante .

Personally, I feel, you cannot make any major decision on bullets 1-5 before assessing the actual approval date. I know, it is a Catch-22 issue. You want to assess the approval date and hence you are asking those questions. You are asking those questions because you don't know the approval date.

As I said, I-181/I-797 is a key document, especially if you have to file for FTJ to bring your wife. Getting this document will help us understand the approval date.

Also, could you kindly take a look at CATEGORY in the plastic card?

 

[krocker]

I dont have a good vibe about this.

Krocker. Dont give it much thought, just enjoy, congratulations!
One way or another you were approved and that's the important thing here.
I know many on this forum don't like it , but I firmly beleive there's people out there being approved despite dammed priority dates. I've heard couple of cases outside this forum and quite few on this forum. Nothing it's always 100% clear with USCIS, so why the speculation? We all should be used by now to the fact that USCIS is totally unpredictable!

 

[gcaaa111]

Krocker, I wouldn't worry much.

There will be no reasoning with USCIS actions.

In my case My 485 approved in record time in 92 days... which is on May 24th 2005 but my 140 was not approved by that time. I worried just like you. But went for the PP stamping and got the card in mail in 10 days, after a month my 140 got approved and approval date of my 140 is showing in website and also in approval notice as 29th June 2005.

Now tell me , Is there any reasoning how they approved my 485 befopre my 140??? I dont bother on that... All I care about my card which is in my hand

 

[mvusa]

Krocker

I don't know what you mean with your posting. I was just trying to tell you not to worry and that the important thing was that you were approved.

I wont post anything else on your case if it gives you bad vibes.
regards,

 

[krocker]

mvusa,
my friend.. vibe has to do with the dates being different and the discomfort due to the resulting unkown. This forum is our water hole, our fountain, our bus stop... u are always welcome to share your peice of advice.
Thank you.

Krocker

I don't know what you mean with your posting. I was just trying to tell you not to worry and that the important thing was that you were approved.

I wont post anything else on your case if it gives you bad vibes.
regards,

 

[krocker]

poongunranar,
Category - 37 on the plastic. hope this helps u 'solve the puzzle.
thanks.

 

[Call me Shrek]

Funny that, I had my card backdated, too. Called CIS, got through to an officer and he said that the card is correct and approval notice is wrong, because it was issued too late. How true is it and how does it apply to your circumstances? Dunno. Good luck!

Shrek

online USCIS shows that my I-485 is approved on 03/06/2006.
Plastic Card shows 'CARD EXPIRES' 03/06/16 & 'Resident Since' 06/30/05

which date is my actual GC date?
the reason i ask is cuz, my PD is 04/30/01 which is still retrogressed and some people think that the approval is in error and needs to be cancelled.
Pls. share your thoughts.

 

[poongunranar]

I am 100% convinced your approval is bona fide and was approved on 06/30/2005

poongunranar,
Category - 37 on the plastic. hope this helps u 'solve the puzzle.
thanks.

Thanks, Krocker. Sorry for the delayed response.

This clearly rules out any error on the part of USCIS to have approved your case by demanding a EB2 visa from the US State Department. So, this clarifies my doubt and I am 100% certain that this approval of yours is bona fide and was approved on 06/30/2005. Because, E37 denotes EB-3 and the only time EB-3 was current for India was on 06/30/2005 and it was not current on 03/06/2006. So, I am not going to worry if your PR was approved in error. Rather, I take it as being approved on the facts of the case and is bona fide.

Now, it is very unfortunate that you didn't get to file for your wife when she came here last year. I don't know why some members of this forum get antsy for you being more fastidious. Your question is manifold and it is not just about your approval, rather it is about your wife currently in limbo status in Madras. Anyway, your problem is that you cannot bring your wife back because you have failed to file for her I-485 during her brief visit here. You need to go through FTJ only and you can file for it only when your date becomes current.

Now you can quickly do the following things: File for I-824 immediately so that it gets approved and you are ready to file everything in one shot for the very first available date when your EB3 becomes current. Since the H1-B visa season is about to start from April 1, 2006, you can see if your wife qualifies for H1-B and file for one. Else, she has to file for L1-A (if she qualifies) or L1-B through her employer. This way, she can come into the US on a valid, genuine dual-intent visa and then you can apply I-485 as a follow-to-join here in the US. Else, she has to wait for another year or year-and-a-half in Madras before she can be with you.

 

[krocker]

poongunranar,
u've been a great support in true spirit of a forum participant. Thank you for actively solving the riddle. now, i keep seeing in other forums that Chennai doesnt require an I-824. All they need is a letter to the consulate w/ a requisite list of docs, requesting to open a file and assign a case number for my wife and initate the packet 3 & packet 4 processes.
A good 8 months have passed since i've been a permanent resident, if we go by 6/30/05 date. let us not even dwell on the fact that Chennai issued my wife a H4 in October as they, probably, were in the same dark room with me.
somewhere somebody mentioned that there is only a 1yr grace period to apply for FTJs after the LPR is granted. That would put me 3/4ths closer to the 1 yr limit. Having mentioned that, here are my questions that became logical extensions to the issue at hand.

1. Since, my PD, 4/30/01, is not current, would the consulate have an issue with processing my wife's FTJ even the interview date is beyod the 1yr limit.
2. Does the PD beed to be current for the consulate to create her file and have the packet 3 reviewed? i'm hoping to gain some time, since Chennai consulate doesnt require I-824 anyways.
3. If my PD becomes current on 05/01/06. Just assume. How long would it take for the interview to be scheduled?

Thanks, Krocker. Sorry for the delayed response.

This clearly rules out any error on the part of USCIS to have approved your case by demanding a EB2 visa from the US State Department. So, this clarifies my doubt and I am 100% certain that this approval of yours is bona fide and was approved on 06/30/2005. Because, E37 denotes EB-3 and the only time EB-3 was current for India was on 06/30/2005 and it was not current on 03/06/2006. So, I am not going to worry if your PR was approved in error. Rather, I take it as being approved on the facts of the case and is bona fide.

Now, it is very unfortunate that you didn't get to file for your wife when she came here last year. I don't know why some members of this forum get antsy for you being more fastidious. Your question is manifold and it is not just about your approval, rather it is about your wife currently in limbo status in Madras. Anyway, your problem is that you cannot bring your wife back because you have failed to file for her I-485 during her brief visit here. You need to go through FTJ only and you can file for it only when your date becomes current.

Now you can quickly do the following things: File for I-824 immediately so that it gets approved and you are ready to file everything in one shot for the very first available date when your EB3 becomes current. Since the H1-B visa season is about to start from April 1, 2006, you can see if your wife qualifies for H1-B and file for one. Else, she has to file for L1-A (if she qualifies) or L1-B through her employer. This way, she can come into the US on a valid, genuine dual-intent visa and then you can apply I-485 as a follow-to-join here in the US. Else, she has to wait for another year or year-and-a-half in Madras before she can be with you.