Citizenship Interview//employment history

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needanadvice

Registered Users (C)
Recently went to apply for a Citizenship. After the interview (N-562), the IO have asked me for W-2 from 01-03 and name of the business owner and contact information.

[In 2000, 5 months into filing I-485, my employer closed the business for good. So not only that I ended up changing an employer, I also changed my “occupation field”. I had approved EAD. On 2002, I received my GC............]

However, my W-2 are from different employers and I have been holding different occupations and do not know the new the contact information of the employer who petition for my I-140.I have not heard from him since he shut down the business in late 2000.

I plan to discuss this /w an immigration attorney, but rite now, I am very worried due to uncertainties. Your input and advice is greatly appreciated.
 
needanadvice said:
Recently went to apply for a Citizenship. After the interview (N-562), the IO have asked me for W-2 from 01-03 and name of the business owner and contact information.

[In 2000, 5 months into filing I-485, my employer closed the business for good. So not only that I ended up changing an employer, I also changed my “occupation field”. I had approved EAD. On 2002, I received my GC............]

However, my W-2 are from different employers and I have been holding different occupations and do not know the new the contact information of the employer who petition for my I-140.I have not heard from him since he shut down the business in late 2000.

I plan to discuss this /w an immigration attorney, but rite now, I am very worried due to uncertainties. Your input and advice is greatly appreciated.
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You are doing the right thing by contacting an immigration attorney. Per AC21 you are required to be in the same or similar occupation. I wonder why the IO asked you for a W2 from 2003 if the green card was approved in 2002. Per my knowledge it is OK if you change occupations after you are a permanent resident.

You timeline isn't very clear to me. Please post a clearer chronology of events and further details.
 
thanks immigrteful!

my timeline:

I-140approved on July 2000.
I-485 RD August 2000
Received EAD October 2000.
<business shutdown December 2000>.
Received GC July 2002.

#took a different jobs with a different employer on jan 2001#

Does this help?
rgds.
 
needanadvice said:
thanks immigrteful!

my timeline:

I-140approved on July 2000.
I-485 RD August 2000
Received EAD October 2000.
<business shutdown December 2000>.
Received GC July 2002.

#took a different jobs with a different employer on jan 2001#

Does this help?
rgds.
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Were you employed at the time your green card was approved? You've already mentioned that your Jan 2001 job was in a different occupation. How did the IO/you determine that?

I am just another N-400 applicant in a similar situation and not expert and I do not want to scare you but there's a good chance that your attorney might ask you to withdraw your N-400.
 
immigrateful said:
I am just another N-400 applicant in a similar situation and not expert and I do not want to scare you but there's a good chance that your attorney might ask you to withdraw your N-400.
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Its probably a little too late for that to be much use if you've already given them the W-2s. With USCIS already sniffing around, you're pretty much just going to have to wait and see what they decide.
 
immigrateful said:
I wonder why the IO asked you for a W2 from 2003 if the green card was approved in 2002.
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They're asking for W-2's from 2001-2003. Sometimes they'll ask for W-2's for the entire 5 years leading up to the citizenship application. Not necessarily because they think your job changes are questionable, but because they want some evidence that you were employed where you said you were employed.
 
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thanks guys.

I agree it may not do much to hire a lawyer now, but I am completely distarcted and very worried.

I have not handed them W-2 yet. I had my interview for US Citizenship done about 2 weeks ago and on N-562, IO checked on "decission cannot be made". He told me that I will hear from them within 60 days. Well! to my benefit, it took less than 1 week. In this letter, it says (1) provide W-2 from 2001-2003 (2) list the date I worked for the petioner and contact name of the mgr/owner.
 
needanadvice said:
Recently went to apply for a Citizenship. After the interview (N-562), the IO have asked me for W-2 from 01-03 and name of the business owner and contact information
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Do you know if they meant the W-2's that were printed in 2001-2003, or the W-2's for the 2001-2003 tax years (printed in 2002-2004)? If they meant the 2001-2003 tax years, the now-closed employer wouldn't be part of that, since they shut down in 2000. If you don't know what they meant, assume it was for the 2001-2003 tax years and sent them in. If they meant something different they'll respond. Did they specifically ask for the contact info of the sponsoring employer, or did they just ask about the employers for which you should provide a W-2 for 2001-2003?
 
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Why apply for citizenship so soon, if you have questionable job changes? I would wait at least a couple of years beyond the 5-year mark, to put the iffy job situations well behind the 5-year employment history requested on the N-400 application.
 
tax year 2001-2003..... however, I applied and accepted a job that was completely different from what my employer had petitioned for.

"I have been reading articles that says one can change job while I-485 is still pending (after 180 days) and won't be penalized as long as the new job is within the same field".

In my case I already have the GC. What my be the worst case senario?

thx again
 
needanadvice said:
tax year 2001-2003..... however, I applied and accepted a job that was completely different from what my employer had petitioned for.
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Tax years 2001-03, so the employer who shut down in 2000 wouldn't be included in that, unless they owed you money (like for unused vacation) and paid it to you in 2001.

In my case I already have the GC. What my be the worst case senario?
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Worst case scenario is that they'll revoke your green card. But even without the W-2, it sounds like they already know that you changed occupations, right? If they already know that but still haven't denied your citizenship, it probably means the reason for wanting the W-2 and employer contact information is for verifying that you were employed where you claimed to be employed. However, if they don't know that you changed occupations, they may find it out after contacting the employers (in which case you'll want to consider withdrawing before giving them that information ... but talk to a lawyer before you withdraw or proceed with this application).
 
Will do. ...Yes, IO knows about the job change. It's in my N-400 application and I told him duirngan interview that the business was shutdown while my I-485 was pending.

Thanks again for your time and input.
 
needanadvice said:
thanks guys.

I agree it may not do much to hire a lawyer now, but I am completely distarcted and very worried.

I have not handed them W-2 yet. I had my interview for US Citizenship done about 2 weeks ago and on N-562, IO checked on "decission cannot be made". He told me that I will hear from them within 60 days. Well! to my benefit, it took less than 1 week. In this letter, it says (1) provide W-2 from 2001-2003 (2) list the date I worked for the petioner and contact name of the mgr/owner.
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Needanadvice - you should hire a competent immigration attorney who has dealt with similar scenarios in the past and has sufficient experience with AC21.

I consulted several attorneys for a slightly different scenario and I have found that not all attorneys are as knowledgeable as they should be, given the stakes.

If you are unable to provide W2s or prove that your job change was in a same or similar area, it is likely that USCIS will determine that you obtained your green card fraudulently and they will deny your citizenship. There can also be a slight possibility of the green card being revoked though I have never heard about it.

Unless you have a spouse who is a citizen or another means of obtaining a visa to live and work in the USA, you should seriously consider working with your attorney to withdraw your application.

That way you could re-apply for citizenship several years later when all of this is in the past.

I am sure that if you prepare yourself with the right information, hire the right attorney and make wise decisions, you will be OK.

Good luck!
 
Wouldn't this come up again even after several years even if I withdraw it now?

I do have copies of my W-2s. It's very true, each lawyers have their own swist.

I will keep you posted.
 
needanadvice said:
Wouldn't this come up again even after several years even if I withdraw it now?
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The interviewer can bring up anything, but the more time that has passed is the less they'll be concerned about what happened around the time you got your green card. The primary focus of your employment history is the 5 years right before filing the N-400.
 
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needanadvice said:
Will do. ...Yes, IO knows about the job change. It's in my N-400 application and I told him duirngan interview that the business was shutdown while my I-485 was pending.
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They are aware of the job change ... they know you changed from company A to company B. But are they aware of the change of occupations?
 
Jackolantern said:
They are aware of the job change ... they know you changed from company A to company B. But are they aware of the change of occupations?
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One hopes not...

Was it really a very different field, or something that could be argued to be somewhat similar?

While I'm not advocating any particular course of action, I would suspect that your application would simply be denied if you didn't respond to the RFE in a timely manner. That may or may not be a better outcome than submitting the evidence and waiting for adjudication - its impossible to know in advance.

I will however say that revoking a GC is much harder for USCIS than simply denying naturalization. The key difference is that revoking LPR places the burden of proof on USCIS (and requires a court appearance in front of an immigration judge), while anything related to N-400 has the burden of proof resting on the applicant. The the less evidence you hand over, the harder it would be for USCIS to successfully petition for your removal.
 
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