Finally our GC cases were approved (both for me and my spouse).
In fact our cases were quite straight forward, however the entire journey was very painful. I started my I-140 application in March, 2000 with EB1 (outstanding researcher) when I was still a Ph.D. student living in the territory of Texas Service Center. Four months later, our lawyer called me that he found TSC lost my I-140 application, so we had to file everything again. Fortunately, he had all the copies, so I didn't have to ask all those prominent people to write the recommondation letters again. The lawyer re-submitted my I-140 case in July 2000. Ten months later, my lawyer called me that my I-140 based on EB1 was approved in May 2001, which was just one week before I moved to Washington DC.
Before I moved to Washington DC, I already filed my OPT 4 months ahead of time. However, my OPT (I only applied for 8 months ) didn't arrive on time. So I had to stay at home for two months without pay. But I was happy at that time because my I-140 was approved. So I just took those two months to prepare all the documents for our I-485 applications. The same lawyer helped us file our I-485 applications including EADs and APs in the end of August, 2001. My spouse and I were dreaming that afte all these years we finally could go back to China for Christmas. We called our parents and told them our plans. They were very happy and began to get things ready for our first homecoming. However, neither of us realized the real nightmare just started.
Soon after our I-485 applications were mailed, "9.11" happened. Everything was screwed up. For 3 months, I didn't get a RN from VSC. I checked the bank and found out that my money orders were never cashed. I felt something wrong. So I called the lawyer. The lawyer told me to cancel the old money orders and he would re-submit our I-485. Then 2 months later, I still didn't hear anything or receive anything from VSC. I began to worry about it. But both the lawyer and my spouse comforted me that the same bad luck wouldn't happen to me. The lawyer also told me that the second time he mailed our I-485, he requested the signature of VSC when they received our packages. So he had VSC's signature and was very confident that our applications were not lost in the mail. He thought after "9.11" VSC was in a big mess, and everything was still slowed down. I should be patient. Then I waited for aother month, still heard nothing, the bank checks not cashed neither. My 8-month OPT was running out, and I didn't have H1 to back up because I was working for US government. So I filed another OPT for the rest of 4 months, and called the lawyer to submit our I-485 the 3rd time. Then this time waiting for another two months, still nothing happened. I went crazy. I was completely running out of OPT, couldn't have H1 except J1 or H4 (spouse was under H1 at that time). No matter how the spouse and lawyer used all kinds of morden statistics to explain to me that it was impossible that VSC lost our I-485 three times, I just couldn't bear it any more. So the lawyer submitted our I-485 4th time. This time I only waited for one month, because I only got one month of OPT left. No matter how many times the spouse and lawyer told me what the hell tiny percentage my I-485 was lost by VSC 4 times straight, I just told them in face: go to the hell. I was broken, couldn't sleep or eat, lost weight dramatically. This had been a year after my I-140 was approved, however, I still didn't know where my I-485 was. My depression touched my lawyer deeply. He also realized the seriousness. So he took all the copies of our I-485, flew to Vermont, and submitted our applications in person. This time he was able to talk to the supervisory officer in VSC face to face, and showed her all the signatures he got every time he mailed our I-485. That lady issued us I-485 RN immediately, and mailed our first EADs a couple days later. It was only half month toward the expiration of my last 4-month OPT.
The nightmare didn't just stop here. Even right now I recall the whole journey, I am still very emotional. It's not a normal life for a normal person. I can't finish the whole story at this time. I will continue it later.
Just want to tell those people who live in 7th district of Virginia, go to ask Congressman Eric Cantor for help if you have already waited for I-485 for more than 2 years. He and his representative Ms. Susan Barney are extremely helpful and efficient. With their help and pushing, FBI finished our name check on July 9, and Norfolk CIS approved our GC on Sept. 9.
In fact our cases were quite straight forward, however the entire journey was very painful. I started my I-140 application in March, 2000 with EB1 (outstanding researcher) when I was still a Ph.D. student living in the territory of Texas Service Center. Four months later, our lawyer called me that he found TSC lost my I-140 application, so we had to file everything again. Fortunately, he had all the copies, so I didn't have to ask all those prominent people to write the recommondation letters again. The lawyer re-submitted my I-140 case in July 2000. Ten months later, my lawyer called me that my I-140 based on EB1 was approved in May 2001, which was just one week before I moved to Washington DC.
Before I moved to Washington DC, I already filed my OPT 4 months ahead of time. However, my OPT (I only applied for 8 months ) didn't arrive on time. So I had to stay at home for two months without pay. But I was happy at that time because my I-140 was approved. So I just took those two months to prepare all the documents for our I-485 applications. The same lawyer helped us file our I-485 applications including EADs and APs in the end of August, 2001. My spouse and I were dreaming that afte all these years we finally could go back to China for Christmas. We called our parents and told them our plans. They were very happy and began to get things ready for our first homecoming. However, neither of us realized the real nightmare just started.
Soon after our I-485 applications were mailed, "9.11" happened. Everything was screwed up. For 3 months, I didn't get a RN from VSC. I checked the bank and found out that my money orders were never cashed. I felt something wrong. So I called the lawyer. The lawyer told me to cancel the old money orders and he would re-submit our I-485. Then 2 months later, I still didn't hear anything or receive anything from VSC. I began to worry about it. But both the lawyer and my spouse comforted me that the same bad luck wouldn't happen to me. The lawyer also told me that the second time he mailed our I-485, he requested the signature of VSC when they received our packages. So he had VSC's signature and was very confident that our applications were not lost in the mail. He thought after "9.11" VSC was in a big mess, and everything was still slowed down. I should be patient. Then I waited for aother month, still heard nothing, the bank checks not cashed neither. My 8-month OPT was running out, and I didn't have H1 to back up because I was working for US government. So I filed another OPT for the rest of 4 months, and called the lawyer to submit our I-485 the 3rd time. Then this time waiting for another two months, still nothing happened. I went crazy. I was completely running out of OPT, couldn't have H1 except J1 or H4 (spouse was under H1 at that time). No matter how the spouse and lawyer used all kinds of morden statistics to explain to me that it was impossible that VSC lost our I-485 three times, I just couldn't bear it any more. So the lawyer submitted our I-485 4th time. This time I only waited for one month, because I only got one month of OPT left. No matter how many times the spouse and lawyer told me what the hell tiny percentage my I-485 was lost by VSC 4 times straight, I just told them in face: go to the hell. I was broken, couldn't sleep or eat, lost weight dramatically. This had been a year after my I-140 was approved, however, I still didn't know where my I-485 was. My depression touched my lawyer deeply. He also realized the seriousness. So he took all the copies of our I-485, flew to Vermont, and submitted our applications in person. This time he was able to talk to the supervisory officer in VSC face to face, and showed her all the signatures he got every time he mailed our I-485. That lady issued us I-485 RN immediately, and mailed our first EADs a couple days later. It was only half month toward the expiration of my last 4-month OPT.
The nightmare didn't just stop here. Even right now I recall the whole journey, I am still very emotional. It's not a normal life for a normal person. I can't finish the whole story at this time. I will continue it later.
Just want to tell those people who live in 7th district of Virginia, go to ask Congressman Eric Cantor for help if you have already waited for I-485 for more than 2 years. He and his representative Ms. Susan Barney are extremely helpful and efficient. With their help and pushing, FBI finished our name check on July 9, and Norfolk CIS approved our GC on Sept. 9.
