Company name Change - Reply from Congress Woman

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vsc9909

Registered Users (C)
Hi All,

I am posting the reply I received from my Congress woman on Company name change hold cases. According to her VSC should process 485 if amended I-140 is filed. I told her for many of us VSC is refusing to link amended I-140 to I-485. She will talk to VSC and get back to me.

"I am resonding to your e-mail to Congresswoman Biggert regarding your employment-based adjustment case. My name is Pat and investigate all the immigration inquiries for Congresswoman Biggert.

I called the Vermont Service Center to check on your case and was told, just as you thought, your case was being held up because the adjudicators there must wait for the regulations for the AC21 cases to become final. I also spoke to the congressional INS liaison office in Washington, D.C. and asked when the regulations would be finalized. I was told INS headquarters still has not completed them, so no one knows when and how they will be implemented. With the processing time on these cases still so uncertain, you might think about filing a new I-140 from your new employer. I was told the new I-140 would be attached to your I-485 and they would be processed together, based on the filing date of your I-485. This would essentially remove your adjustment case from the AC21 category and allow it to be processed as a regular adjustment case. If you would like to pursue this option, give me a call. "
 
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vsc9909
Here is something you would like to follow-up with the Congress Woman. I and several colleagues of mine have already applied for the amended I-140. Till date some have been approved. However, whenever we call VSC, we are told that even filing the amended I-140 is of no use, the AC21 regulations need to come out before company name change cases can be adjudicated.

The questions to ask are - if the process is to file an amended I-140 and get the underlying I-485 petition approved, why on earth is VSC not following this? If this behavior is infact a deviation from an INS established process, what can the Congress Woman do to rein in VSC?

Thanks a lot for your input. Hope you can use my input to probe further and help in resolving this issue.
 
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onhold,
You neeed to write to your own Congress man/woman. You can go to congress.gov and by giving your zip code can find the contact info.

Sahenshah,
After getting the above e-mail. I did call Pat and explained her the situation. I have covered the subject in detail with her. She was shocked to know that for name change cases VSC is doing this ((Her impression was there was a change of employer which needed 180 day rule to be finalized). So after hearing my explanation she promised that she will call VSC and find out what is going on. I am hoping to get some positive reply.

Also please note that according to INS regulations are not going to be finalized any time soon. So all that endd of May early june answers they are giving us is a complete lie. I dont think they will dare to lie to Congress.

God help us.
 
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Thanks vsc9909, for your patience and determination in following this up...

do let us know what you hear!!!

Hopefully, things will work out this time!!!
 
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Hi vsc9909,
  You are great. Thanks for sharing your information and taking up this problem with powerful people. I hope the congress woman office will do something on this name change issue.

    Thanks again. Wish you good luck.
 
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I have applied for the I-140 redo . I plan to do the same as soon as I receive my I-140 receipt. I would suggest everyone do this, so that this becomes a big issue.
 
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vsc9909,
Thanks for sharing this info. Looks like INS did not commit to the congress person\'s
office about May end / beginning of June.

A major setback.
So far this has been a never ending nightmare.

Again thanks vsc9909 for all your postings on this issue.

The wait continues...........
 
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vsc9909,
    Can you please post the letter, which you sent to the congresswomen.. We can use the same letter to send to our congressman

thanks
 
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Here is the format of the letter I sent

Name
Address
EAC No:
A#:

Dear Sir,

SUBJECT: INS GUIDELINES - REQUEST FOR HELP

Let me first thank you for taking time to read this letter. My name is …… and I am from …... I am writing to you about an INS Guidelines issue that is keeping my self and several people like me in a state of uncertainty and anxiety. I believe this particular issue affects several hundred people (Going by my observation of Internet News Groups/Message Boards).

The issue is related to Permanent Residency through employment. As you know, because of the severe backlog, it is already taking years to go through the complete cycle of getting permanent residency. Lately most of the cases are being put on hold because the sponsoring company’s name has changed since filing of I-140/I-485. I believe most of the INS Service Centers are not clear on how to proceed with these cases, especially INS Vermont Service Center (VSC), where I filed my I-485 application. Before AC21 law these cases were approved after a I-140 redo RFE. INS feels that after AC21 law no I-140 redo is required and cases are approvable as such. But for lack of guidelines from INS HQ, VSC has now put such cases on indefenite hold.

For the last several months, every time we call VSC, to get the status on our cases, we get the same answer that VSC is waiting for guidelines from INS Head Quarters on how to handle this type of cases. VSC doesn’t even know when the guidelines are expected.

In simple terms VSC would keep any I-485 application on hold if the applicant’s Company Name changes for any reason e.g. acquisition/merger or even a simple name change. VSC is currently processing cases filed in March/April 2000 while holding the cases filed long before that. In my case I applied for Adjustment Status in …. My GC process itself started in …... I have heard cases filed even before that are also on hold. It is a frustrating experience to wait for so many years only to see the cases on hold without knowing when they will be processed, while cases filed at a later date are being processed.

I request your kind attention to this issue and use your good offices to pursue INS HQ/VSC to come up with guidelines to handle these “Company Name Change Cases”. My case is approvable following either the old law or the new law. Even INS acknowledges that. But they are not following any law now. Please help me.
Once again, thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

PS: I-140 -> Petition of an Immigrant Labor
I-485 -> Application for Adjustment of Status to Permanent Resident
Sincerely,
 
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And here is the letter I send in reply to mail from Congresswoman office

First of all let me thank you very much for putting your time to solve my issue.I very much appreciate your help. Let me give you some more detail about my case and request a little more help if you can.

I never changed employer throught the GC process. I started this process in .... In ... I filed I-485 which is the last stage of the process. In March - April 2000 the company I work for underwent a restructure and name change. But I continue to work for them.

Initially (Jan - Feb 2001) INS were asking for I-140 redo and approving I-485 cases for my company employees based on that. Towards end of February 2001 VSC stopped asking for I-140 redo and started putting these cases on hold. I talked to VSC and they informed my case is on hold pending AC21 guidelines from INS HQ.

So I talked to my company. My Company started filing I-140 amended petitions again for all of us whose cases are on hold. They told that should lift the hold because the new amended I-140 will have the correct Company name. They have told me that they have filed a amended I-140 for me as well. This is done exactly like you suggested.

But VSC is continuing its hold telling that they have instructions to put Name Change cases on hold pending AC21 guidelines. This also is not done uniformally. Some of my collegues who were fortunate to speak to nice IIOs at VSC got their amended I-140 linked to I-485 and got their approvals. But many IIOs are refusing to do that.

I will very much appreciate if you could ask VSC to attach the new amended I-140 filed on my behalf to my I-185 and lift the hold on my I-485. They are already doing it to the lucky ones who call them. This is exactly like you suggested that I should proceed. Can you kindly help me here. VSC should be able to trace the amended I-140 filed on my behalf from my A# which is .... Thank you very much for your help.
 
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