Crap - Wife's case xferred to DC & we r moving
- Thread starter goastros
- Start date
Thanks for all your suggestions, guys esp Poon.
No update so far but both my wife & my case got a new LUD of 9th July.
george/poon/cwpj, do you receive any such transfer notice in mail as well ?
or is it just your online status that tells you abt the transfer ?
do you guys think I shd file for AR-11 on monday by mail to the kentucky address and take the certified mail receipt to the dc local office in person and tell them i am moving to Houston ?
or file for Ar-11 and use some friend in VA area's address.
In my case, one problem i have had is i was unemployed from feb to july 03.
my 2003 w2 is lot less.therefore hvg the attorney at the time of interview would be good for me.
No update so far but both my wife & my case got a new LUD of 9th July.
george/poon/cwpj, do you receive any such transfer notice in mail as well ?
or is it just your online status that tells you abt the transfer ?
do you guys think I shd file for AR-11 on monday by mail to the kentucky address and take the certified mail receipt to the dc local office in person and tell them i am moving to Houston ?
or file for Ar-11 and use some friend in VA area's address.
In my case, one problem i have had is i was unemployed from feb to july 03.
my 2003 w2 is lot less.therefore hvg the attorney at the time of interview would be good for me.
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
Answer: BOTH.goastros said:
For my I-485 transfer, I did not get a transfer notice. Neither did my attorney.
For my I-131 transfer, I did get a transfer notice from TSC at my address.
GoAstros,
I think by Monday you would be able to get some clear idea of about your course of action will be once the dust settles. Did you find out which office is faster, DC or Houston?
Do not worry about local interview as it is not scheduled immediately. You should not be worried about the gap in 2003. They may ask W2's of last three years. But that was past and everyone had economic rough times after 2001. Even I did. What is more important is you are in job now which has intention to retain you permanently ( GC sponsorer) and your current job is in same or similar job classification filed in your LC. Your salary more than the one in LC does not pose a problem but less salary could. As long as you have pay stubs for past 6 months then you are fine.
At this juncture, the only thing you should be thinking is,
"Whether to continue with processing in DC even though you are moving to Houston or initiate a file transfer from DC to Houston".
I think by Monday you would be able to get some clear idea of about your course of action will be once the dust settles. Did you find out which office is faster, DC or Houston?
Do not worry about local interview as it is not scheduled immediately. You should not be worried about the gap in 2003. They may ask W2's of last three years. But that was past and everyone had economic rough times after 2001. Even I did. What is more important is you are in job now which has intention to retain you permanently ( GC sponsorer) and your current job is in same or similar job classification filed in your LC. Your salary more than the one in LC does not pose a problem but less salary could. As long as you have pay stubs for past 6 months then you are fine.
At this juncture, the only thing you should be thinking is,
"Whether to continue with processing in DC even though you are moving to Houston or initiate a file transfer from DC to Houston".
curiousGeorge
Registered Users (C)
goastros,
for my I-485 transfer, my lawyer got the transfer letter. He forwarded a copy to me.
for my I-485 transfer, my lawyer got the transfer letter. He forwarded a copy to me.
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
And my take on it is that even if no initiation is done from goastros' side, DC office, when it takes the file for interview will initiate an automatic transfer to Houston, TX, after seeing that the candidate is no more within its jurisdiction to adjudicate the case. Hence my advice to goastros is to not waste any more time on counting your luck at DC, but to see if that process of transfer to Houston can be initiated ASAP. That will save a lot of your time and eventual frustration as well.longGC said:
My two cents!
harvydonald
Registered Users (C)
poongunranar
what you said makes pefrect sense if you think logically....but in the case of USCIS everything is not logical.
I know of a similar case when the person moved from Houston to Florida, and back to Houston. The company in Florida had bought the company in Houston, they moved him to Florida, and six months later laid him off. He moved back to Houston and found a new job. He filed AR11 each time and called and informed them about the address change. They transfered his case to Florida local office. When the interview date came, him and his wife flew down to Florida got their stamps and came back. He was out of job for about three months in between...
what you said makes pefrect sense if you think logically....but in the case of USCIS everything is not logical.
I know of a similar case when the person moved from Houston to Florida, and back to Houston. The company in Florida had bought the company in Houston, they moved him to Florida, and six months later laid him off. He moved back to Houston and found a new job. He filed AR11 each time and called and informed them about the address change. They transfered his case to Florida local office. When the interview date came, him and his wife flew down to Florida got their stamps and came back. He was out of job for about three months in between...
poongunranar said:And my take on it is that even if no initiation is done from goastros' side, DC office, when it takes the file for interview will initiate an automatic transfer to Houston, TX, after seeing that the candidate is no more within its jurisdiction to adjudicate the case. Hence my advice to goastros is to not waste any more time on counting your luck at DC, but to see if that process of transfer to Houston can be initiated ASAP. That will save a lot of your time and eventual frustration as well.
My two cents!
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
harvydonald
I truly accept your argument and as I had mentioned elsewhere, there are always exceptions. This may be one of the reasons, why USCIS is nowadays asking that the local-office be also informed of address change if there were at least one petition that was either adjudicated or pending adjudication by the local office. Also, usually when a petition is adjudicated favorably, it doesn't really matter, however, if INS should observe something in a petition that may result in a denial to the petitioner, then, it will not be in INS's best interest to have jurisdiction and venue issues defang its decision. (The Appellate Courts will summarily dismiss its decision to deny based on the jurisdiction and venue issues, if the petitioner disputes them in his appeal.) Hence, more than the petitioner, it is for INS to be sure that the right office interviews the right petitioner/beneficiary. That much said, there are instances, such as the one you have posited, where INS may have done precisely the opposite.
Even then, I will justify in your example as to what INS did was perfectly logical. Kindly allow me to explain. Your friend filed AR-11, but did he intimate the Florida local office about his moving to Houston? Also, when the Florida company had bought the Houston Company, they did the right thing in transferring his petition to Florida and when he was subsequently laid-off by the Florida Company, did he officially intimate about this to the Florida local office, citing AC-21? Nope! Now, with these issues at hand, how can the Florida local office know that the guy is not working in Florida anymore or even is laid off? Due to a paucity of information at its hand, it merely assumed status quo to continue and hence summoned him for interview at Florida.
I truly accept your argument and as I had mentioned elsewhere, there are always exceptions. This may be one of the reasons, why USCIS is nowadays asking that the local-office be also informed of address change if there were at least one petition that was either adjudicated or pending adjudication by the local office. Also, usually when a petition is adjudicated favorably, it doesn't really matter, however, if INS should observe something in a petition that may result in a denial to the petitioner, then, it will not be in INS's best interest to have jurisdiction and venue issues defang its decision. (The Appellate Courts will summarily dismiss its decision to deny based on the jurisdiction and venue issues, if the petitioner disputes them in his appeal.) Hence, more than the petitioner, it is for INS to be sure that the right office interviews the right petitioner/beneficiary. That much said, there are instances, such as the one you have posited, where INS may have done precisely the opposite.
Even then, I will justify in your example as to what INS did was perfectly logical. Kindly allow me to explain. Your friend filed AR-11, but did he intimate the Florida local office about his moving to Houston? Also, when the Florida company had bought the Houston Company, they did the right thing in transferring his petition to Florida and when he was subsequently laid-off by the Florida Company, did he officially intimate about this to the Florida local office, citing AC-21? Nope! Now, with these issues at hand, how can the Florida local office know that the guy is not working in Florida anymore or even is laid off? Due to a paucity of information at its hand, it merely assumed status quo to continue and hence summoned him for interview at Florida.
harvydonald
Registered Users (C)
poongunranar
You are right. He did not inform the local office at any time.
He called the 1800 number and asked them to update each case with the new address.
thanks
You are right. He did not inform the local office at any time.
He called the 1800 number and asked them to update each case with the new address.
thanks
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
Thanks, harvydonald
Thanks, harvydonald. Your corroboration again vindicates my supposition. It is only through corroboration, I gain more confidence on what I say or presume in this forum. Thanks, once again. God bless.
Thanks, harvydonald. Your corroboration again vindicates my supposition. It is only through corroboration, I gain more confidence on what I say or presume in this forum. Thanks, once again. God bless.
Thanks guys.
As per the processing dates, longGC Washington DC (May 03) is way ahead of Houston times. ( June 02).
If that is the RD, then we shd be immediately scheduled for interviews.
But we all know that is not going to happen.
Actually on this forum, I was going over postings of people who have been transferred to houston and to washington dc office ( it is 30 pages long).
Overall I realize it is again Arbitrary. People with older Transfer date or RD have had to wait longer than others.
I gave a thought of filing a AR-11 & giving some friend in VA's address , like Miami_Fl_TSC suggested.
But I know my attorney will not agree to that. Cos last time when I moved from TX to VA, he adviced me against using any friend's address.
Now he has told me to go ahead and file AR-11 by certified mail and then after the move he would call DC local office and initiate a file transfer to houston office).
( since my case has not been transferred as yet, it will be to TSC.
And now Based on what Poon is saying I feel filing AR-11 to my own TX address would be the right thing to do.
another thought was to give up this position in houston , revoke my resignation and continue staying here in DC area. My boss and my team in DC like me and with the position in houston I have to start again from scratch.
But with my house situation, I decided to make the move.
Like some of you have adviced I should not let GC control my life.
whenever it happens it happens.
As per the processing dates, longGC Washington DC (May 03) is way ahead of Houston times. ( June 02).
If that is the RD, then we shd be immediately scheduled for interviews.
But we all know that is not going to happen.
Actually on this forum, I was going over postings of people who have been transferred to houston and to washington dc office ( it is 30 pages long).
Overall I realize it is again Arbitrary. People with older Transfer date or RD have had to wait longer than others.
I gave a thought of filing a AR-11 & giving some friend in VA's address , like Miami_Fl_TSC suggested.
But I know my attorney will not agree to that. Cos last time when I moved from TX to VA, he adviced me against using any friend's address.
Now he has told me to go ahead and file AR-11 by certified mail and then after the move he would call DC local office and initiate a file transfer to houston office).
( since my case has not been transferred as yet, it will be to TSC.
And now Based on what Poon is saying I feel filing AR-11 to my own TX address would be the right thing to do.
another thought was to give up this position in houston , revoke my resignation and continue staying here in DC area. My boss and my team in DC like me and with the position in houston I have to start again from scratch.
But with my house situation, I decided to make the move.
Like some of you have adviced I should not let GC control my life.
whenever it happens it happens.
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
goastros
Do not forget that you should not stop with Houston, TX, but also include Washington DC office for notifying the address change, since your file is currently with Washington DC.
goastros said:
Do not forget that you should not stop with Houston, TX, but also include Washington DC office for notifying the address change, since your file is currently with Washington DC.
Your RD is May 02 so you are fine in Houston as you can schedule an interview there immediately (processing time June 02) and you are fine with DC (May 03) too.
The balance of choice between two gray variables,
1. What are repercussions by giving your friend's address in DC?
2. How much time would it take for your file to go from DC to Houston?
If you can find answers to these questions then you can weigh your options based on these two factors.
There are some interim solutions,
1. This depends on your employer in Houston. That is, tell your employer in Houston that becasue of some immigration issues you can not join for another three months. Basically you are buying time. . Meanwhile you continue in DC and you MAY get interview call and get adjudicated.
2. This depends on your wife and it is a tough decision. You move to Houston for a new job but let your wife be in DC. You may have to travel every other week-end and she could travel in between. This can add some logistics cost.
3. Combination of 1 and 2. If 1 is possible then do that and if you get scheduled within 3 months then fine. If not try 2. after that.
The balance of choice between two gray variables,
1. What are repercussions by giving your friend's address in DC?
2. How much time would it take for your file to go from DC to Houston?
If you can find answers to these questions then you can weigh your options based on these two factors.
There are some interim solutions,
1. This depends on your employer in Houston. That is, tell your employer in Houston that becasue of some immigration issues you can not join for another three months. Basically you are buying time.
. Meanwhile you continue in DC and you MAY get interview call and get adjudicated.2. This depends on your wife and it is a tough decision. You move to Houston for a new job but let your wife be in DC. You may have to travel every other week-end and she could travel in between. This can add some logistics cost.
3. Combination of 1 and 2. If 1 is possible then do that and if you get scheduled within 3 months then fine. If not try 2. after that.
GoAstros,
Yesterday I slept thinking a best solution for you. I was awake at 4 AM in the morning and the thought continued. Here we need not find answer to one more question,
"How much time would it take to schedule an interview in DC?"
Your date is current and your ( wife's) file is transferred to local DC office then in my opinion it should not take longer than 2 weeks. During this time, your wife can be in DC without changing your residence while you can be on job in Houston.
Please correct me if I am missing some information here.
Yesterday I slept thinking a best solution for you. I was awake at 4 AM in the morning and the thought continued. Here we need not find answer to one more question,
"How much time would it take to schedule an interview in DC?"
Your date is current and your ( wife's) file is transferred to local DC office then in my opinion it should not take longer than 2 weeks. During this time, your wife can be in DC without changing your residence while you can be on job in Houston.
Please correct me if I am missing some information here.
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
Things are not so rosy at DC
I know of a friend whose case is known to me through a mutual friend, in that it was transferred to Washington DC about 6 months ago and is still without an interview call, despite DC office being current. I am not sure, what is peculiar about this office. I was told that he hasn't walked to the office in person. I am also not sure, if DC office does anything different if approached personally. I always thought that this office being current will immediately send interview notices. At least in this friend's case, it has not happened. So, things may not be so rosy at DC. However, goastros can walk personally to the office to find things out and report it here.
I know of a friend whose case is known to me through a mutual friend, in that it was transferred to Washington DC about 6 months ago and is still without an interview call, despite DC office being current. I am not sure, what is peculiar about this office. I was told that he hasn't walked to the office in person. I am also not sure, if DC office does anything different if approached personally. I always thought that this office being current will immediately send interview notices. At least in this friend's case, it has not happened. So, things may not be so rosy at DC. However, goastros can walk personally to the office to find things out and report it here.
GoAstros,
Yes, as poongun... says, it does not hurt to go to local DC office and inquire personally. In the worst case, you loose 2 hours and come back with no firm answer. If I were you , I would try immediately.
Atlanta is processing May 01 cases. I had advised to TxSlaveGC to approach the Atlanta office. He did, and luckily was adjudicated on the same day. But the difference is, he had his file transferred to Atlanta when he went and his RD was May 01.
What poongun... says may be right but you can not take one case and generalize for entire DC office. If you use 'Advanced Search' and look into this forum then I am sure you will find cases with local DC transferees. Please explore those and see if you could find answers to the Qs I asked in previous posts on this thread.
Yes, as poongun... says, it does not hurt to go to local DC office and inquire personally. In the worst case, you loose 2 hours and come back with no firm answer. If I were you , I would try immediately.
Atlanta is processing May 01 cases. I had advised to TxSlaveGC to approach the Atlanta office. He did, and luckily was adjudicated on the same day. But the difference is, he had his file transferred to Atlanta when he went and his RD was May 01.
What poongun... says may be right but you can not take one case and generalize for entire DC office. If you use 'Advanced Search' and look into this forum then I am sure you will find cases with local DC transferees. Please explore those and see if you could find answers to the Qs I asked in previous posts on this thread.
LongGC, please don't lose sleep over my problems. You are too kind person.
Once again, Poon is right , the DC local office transfer is very arbitrary.
Plus there is this arlington office which is apparently going to temporarily move
Since i have not rec'd any transfer notice by mail, i don't what I could do.
I had been to the arlington office in april for my IEAD. Very Rude service.
As per my wife staying back in DC for the time, that's not an option, longgc.
we have a 14 month old son.
i will check with my attorney today as well.
Once again, Poon is right , the DC local office transfer is very arbitrary.
Plus there is this arlington office which is apparently going to temporarily move
Since i have not rec'd any transfer notice by mail, i don't what I could do.
I had been to the arlington office in april for my IEAD. Very Rude service.
As per my wife staying back in DC for the time, that's not an option, longgc.
we have a 14 month old son.
i will check with my attorney today as well.
Miami_FL_TSC
Registered Users (C)
goastros said:
My attorney is Kurzban:
The guy wrote books, is listed on AILA, fought cases in Supreme court, A famous professor in local university.
But I never wanted him to represent me. I could have got my PR card years ago but I wasted years to just start the process explaining this guy and my company why/ how to do my immigration (I think this guy is an expert with refugee immigration, but I think most of the guys on this forum know more about Employment based immigration). I was registered for CP but pulled it back to do 485 just because I could not trust my company/attorney to be on their toes when required. Past couple of years the paralegal I was dealing with is very knowledgeable, helpful and what not. I always check with her for advise.
The point I am making is IF YOU trust your Attorney, express your concerns and advise received form here and after that just follow what he says.
poongunranar
Registered Users (C)
Miami_FL_TSC said:
So long as it is merely an advice and not legal advice, it is fine. Because, in this country, a paralegal is not supposed to tender legal advice and if anybody even claims so, that may land both the paralegal as well as her supervising attorney under jeopardy. In fact there is an explicit Disciplinary Rule (DR) of the American Bar Association -- DR 3-101(a) -- that both your attorney and your paralegal will be familiar with and most of us are unfamiliar with. It directly forbids a paralegal from tendering legal advice. I am merely bringing this to your kind attention because, knowingly or unknowingly, even if you wanted to highlight the best attention you are receiving from your paralegal, any open claim to that fact would land her into trouble. In fact, the truth of the fact is that many paralegals are better in tendering 'advice' than the paid 'legal advice' the attorneys give. Unfortunately, we cannot even laud their efforts in the open for the troubles it may cause to them. Yikes!