Don't celebrate it yet!!

I also renewed EAD just because fee's are going to increase, after first two AP use I did not renew the AP further.

StillAlive.. same with my case too.. In fact I let my EAD expire because spouse and myself were on H1 and we did not need an EAD. Renewed our EAD's last month just in case we needed it.

alterego2... I would still try to see if it is possible to work on H1.

Thanks.
GCVaruma.
 
Whoever says that they are approving by RD is talking bull shit. My RD is 05/03 and all I hv seen is approvals from 2004. When you call them they say "your case is sitting in an area (area 51 i guess) WAITING to be picked up an officer. Stupid USCIS is going to mess up big time again where they will approve in haphazard manner and after few months take the PD to 18th century. My question to them is if they cannot consume the the visas in timely manner and are sitting on our applications for gazillion years why can't they just pick up the applications and stamp "approved" to all of them (atleast to those application which they claim are all set to be picked up by an OFFICER).
 
Thanks for the info guys. I will try to confirm this with my lawyer next week. My H1b is still valid for another 1 yr and I am still with the same employer.
 
What do you think the situation will be with EB3 ROW?
My PD is July 05 - I was thinking of doing it through Consular Processing because my company is not doing so well and I am not sure that they will continue to exist... My lawyers says it might be a mistake to do CP.. What do you guys think?

Suppose you opt for consular processing and the priority dates retrogress again ... well, in that case you have to wait. Moreover you won't have the EAD, Advanced parole and AC21 benefits that are associated with I-485. Of course, the brighter side of CP is faster processing (provided the PDs remain current).

My 2 c.
 
USCIS do not approve by Reciept Date.....believe me, my I140 was approved in 3 weeks after filing it wherein processing dates showed a 4 month delay....this not only happened to me but two of my friends.....we did not filed for premium processing by the way

that is why im very optimistic
 
really bad situation long term because of this ALL current

These morons are completely clueless..

Instead of EB2 INDIA movement of 1 week in 8 months, and EB3 movement of 2 weeks in 8 months, had they advanced these dates in smaller increments, people in the Q earlier - would have filed for 485 and generated demand by this time to consume the VISAs in the FIFO fashion. Now everything is a mess, again.

This particularly hurts EB2/EB3 india applications in 2002-2004 timeframe really bad.., because now everything is current.., all EB3 applications from all other countries filed after Sep 2005, are all eligible to apply, and generate demand in the next 6 months.

That number alone is close to 150K.

Plus, the current I-485 backlog is 500K, according to the ombudsman report.
plus, there will be another possibe 70K ( adjusting for valid ones -- 50K ), to be added from the BEC's

so we are looking at a total of 800K I-485 apps all in one shot before sep 2007( this is again from the ombudsman report ), a majority of which would be INDIA / CHINA EB2 / 3. Even if it is just 400 K.

and start oct 2007, when the country limit kicks in all of the visa's will go to EB3 from other countries.

Assuming only 10000, is available for india that is just 5K visas/ year.

The math looks ridiculous.,

If they had not made everything current.., all that INDIA/ CHINA guys in 2002-2004 would have to deal with would have been EB3 ROW apps until 2005.

and if the I-485 backlog situation continued, and such flood gate opened next year -- may be they could have gone thru summer 2008.

NOW, everything is a huge mess. however, filers from 2005 onwards especiallly from IN/CH lucked out, as they could now atleast file I-485.

Much depends on how much of the floodgate that opened now, will actually go to INDIA / CHINA in EB2/EB3 before Sep 2007 in a FIFO manner. since those are the severly affected parties.

Even god cannot, help these clueless USCIS morons.
 
based on all these, what cud we expect

What could we possibly expect for

EB2 INDIA in Oct 2007 until Mar 2008.

would it stay in 2002, is there a chance it could go to early/ mid 2003 ?
 
U have to wait for yr turn. May be sometime on or before Monday,they will put the new processing dates for service centers, which I suspect will move dates well back in to 2004 or later.
From my conversation with IO today @ NSC, it is very imminent that the new processing dates update for service centers due at any time will spell out who can expect approvals in the coming months..... cases with old RDs will see approvals in bunches..... CASES WILL BE APPROVED ONLY BASED ON 485 RDs.
JMJ

errrr......Processing dates for I-485 both Nebraska and Texas are March, 2007 for June 15 bulletin.....NOT 2004 as you predicted :D
 
errrr......Processing dates for I-485 both Nebraska and Texas are March, 2007 for June 15 bulletin.....NOT 2004 as you predicted :D

Yeah I just saw that. Im sorta kinda excited, not sure how this will effect my wait for the GC though.
 
What the #^%$! EAD/AP processing dates at NSC are Nov 22nd and June 25th 2006! 485 dates are March 2007! All this following on the heels of all EB categories being made current! Complete madness or perhaps a sick joke, and where the joke is on us.

Do they expect us to apply for EADs as soon as we get the previous one! ie keep one application in the oven at all times. If they want money they will approve it right away if not then they will take their time. Someone tell me how this makes any sense?
 
USCIS may/must Introduce Premium Processing for EAD/AP

The way things have gone so far within the legal immigration system (if there is a consistent one), I would welcome 'Premium Processing' for EAD and AP just like they have introduced PP for I-140. I wouldn't be too optimistic of PP for I-485 but it seems only logical that they introduce PP for EAD and AP with the flood of those applications arriving in June and July mainly from Indians, the milking cows of the legal immigration system.

Please don't take me wrong as I am one of them too.
 
oh's website indicates severe retro is likely to strike back come september'07 and fdbl indicates that severe retro is likely in FY'08 again. But no one seems to be predicting about august'07. Are the dates likely to stay current for two months?
If only 50% EB numbers have been so far utilized (Oh's website), what is the chance that the remaining 50% would be used up in one month (unless GC is issued, it does not get counted as a number used up) and retro cometh again in August'07 bulletin?
 
Why would I need EAD/Ap if 485 is approved? ;)

The way things have gone so far within the legal immigration system (if there is a consistent one), I would welcome 'Premium Processing' for EAD and AP just like they have introduced PP for I-140. I wouldn't be too optimistic of PP for I-485 but it seems only logical that they introduce PP for EAD and AP with the flood of those applications arriving in June and July mainly from Indians, the milking cows of the legal immigration system.

Please don't take me wrong as I am one of them too.
 
Oh! I Bet You'll Need EAD/AP Come Retrogression

You may be OK with a PD of 2004 in the ROW category of just applying and waiting for the I-485 to be approved. Many people with EB2 and EB3 from India and China will most certainly need EAD/AP when retrogression for these countries kicks in for the September bulletin.

Why would I need EAD/Ap if 485 is approved? ;)
 
If only 50% EB numbers have been so far utilized (Oh's website), what is the chance that the remaining 50% would be used up in one month (unless GC is issued, it does not get counted as a number used up) and retro cometh again in August'07 bulletin?
There is no way they will work so fast and approve 50% of the quota in one month. They are way too inefficient to do that. I doubt they will even use up the rest of the remaining 50% before the end of September.
 
I agree

There is no way they will work so fast and approve 50% of the quota in one month. They are way too inefficient to do that. I doubt they will even use up the rest of the remaining 50% before the end of September.


This is true. Here are my reasons.

1) They will be inundated with not just 485 applications now but EADs, APs, H1bs which they are still working on, 140s and all other traffic will increase this summer. That said 485 petitions are not the only ones needing manpower for sorting out.

2) In FY 2005 when AC21 provisions were in force and visa numbers freely available, they processed about 247K visas, ie about 20K a month. I doubt they can go much faster, whatever the demand.

3) PP requests will take up a lot of their time and resources and their volume is skyrocketing. I definitely do not believe then when they say PP does not affect non PP processing times.

My suspicion is they intend to clear up all the 485 RD petitions which are either pre-approved or approvable (having cleared all checks etc). They will most likely just hold all the current lot of 485s they receive in a pile until then. Very few if any of them will see approvals this fiscal year in my view. That March 5th date from the service centers is unlikely to move for the rest of FY 2007. They will work on cases before that.
I suspect it is a good time to be someone with an early RD 485 and all name checks etc cleared. The same situation as earlier this year will prevail in Sept/Oct 2007 with a whole lot more people at the 485 stage.
 
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I also agree that the new flood of 485's come July 1 will just be kept in a pile and then reopened only when it comes time to issue EADs.
This flood of 485 is likely to be so overwhelming that they may say there are enough 485 for the entire FY'08, 09 and make EB2&3 categories unavailable for 2 years for some oversubscribed countries. This is bad news for someone starting their GC process now (getting ready with perm) as they have no chance of filing 140\485 for the foreseeable future.
This strategy of oscillating dates between current to late 90's is fairly arbitrary.
This is true. Here are my reasons.

1) They will be inundated with not just 485 applications now but EADs, APs, H1bs which they are still working on, 140s and all other traffic will increase this summer. That said 485 petitions are not the only ones needing manpower for sorting out.

2) In FY 2005 when AC21 provisions were in force and visa numbers freely available, they processed about 247K visas, ie about 20K a month. I doubt they can go much faster, whatever the demand.

3) PP requests will take up a lot of their time and resources and their volume is skyrocketing. I definitely do not believe then when they say PP does not affect non PP processing times.

My suspicion is they intend to clear up all the 485 RD petitions which are either pre-approved or approvable (having cleared all checks etc). They will most likely just hold all the current lot of 485s they receive in a pile until then. Very few if any of them will see approvals this fiscal year in my view. That March 5th date from the service centers is unlikely to move for the rest of FY 2007. They will work on cases before that.
I suspect it is a good time to be someone with an early RD 485 and all name checks etc cleared. The same situation as earlier this year will prevail in Sept/Oct 2007 with a whole lot more people at the 485 stage.
 
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