DV 2020 AOS Only

[Sm1smom]

Hey mom,
I m 100% the owner of the company of my home country.

Being the owner of the company back in your home country is not enough to qualify for a L1B AFAIK. You’ll need to be able to convince USCIS that you as an owner and employer, are also both an employee of the company in a managerial position in order to qualify for intra-company transfer which is what L1B filing involves.

For H1B, those who filed and were picked in the H1B lottery back in April have already been notified - did you receive a selection notification and are now waiting for USCIS to complete the processing?

 

[Sm1smom]

Great;
Thank you!
Question: In case one of my filed visa is approved before August 2019, will I be able to unlock the DS-260 and choose AOS again?

You can hold off on notifying KCC or changing to CP for now. If one of your pending petitions gets approved before your current status expires in August, you simply continue with your previously selected AOS processing.

 

[SusieQQQ]

Being the owner of the company back in your home country is not enough to qualify for a L1B AFAIK. You’ll need to be able to convince USCIS that you as an owner and employer, are also both an employee of the company in a managerial position in order to qualify for intra-company transfer which is what L1B filing involves.

Plus the company has to keep operating back in the home country - that is what the crux of my question was. They don't want situations where small business owners use a company as a backdoor to immigration into the US, hence why the L visas are fairly short term in length and extension is contingent on proving the original company still exists as a going concern.

 

[Farad]

So what you are saying is that you’ve heard uscis officials give preference to some citizens over others because of some private channel of communication between them? Hmmm. Please keep us updated if you find a lawyer who claims to have such a back-channel of communication and is able to use it to advantage his clients over others.

We have heard of cases here where lawyers have messed up DV, and of some where lawyers don’t seem to have damaged cases. I’ve never seen a case where it’s claimed a lawyer had some kind of private advantage.

By the way, it’s quite unusual for a case current in July not to be completed in time from what we have seen here. Did your friend have any issues with background checks, or any other case specific issues that you know of?

Oh - edit to add - they exhausted visas before DV ended in DV2017, see the last few pages of the thread here https://forums.immigration.com/threads/dv-2017-aos-only.331328/page-198
This may have been the problem your friend faced.
The issues with visa numbers not being put aside for AOS has been discussed already. A lawyer certainly can’t manufacture a visa number when none is available.

Would you please explain how a lawyer can damage a DV-related adjustment of status application?

 

[SusieQQQ]

Would you please explain how a lawyer can damage a DV-related adjustment of status application?

Most lawyers don’t /can’t know much about DV AOS so there is a lot of scope to get things wrong, because they approach it like a “normal” AOS case. We have seen it before on this forum. I don’t remember the poster’s name but there was a woman a few years back who nearly got her case totally sabotaged by her lawyer and only saved it with sm1smom’s help, We have also seen cases where there is no damage per se but clients are billed for, basically, teaching the lawyer about DV with the help of this forum’s advice about what their lawyer should be doing.
By all means, engage a lawyer if you wish and if you feel it will be beneficial to your case.

 

[Farad]

Most lawyers don’t /can’t know much about DV AOS so there is a lot of scope to get things wrong, because they approach it like a “normal” AOS case. We have seen it before on this forum. I don’t remember the poster’s name but there was a woman a few years back who nearly got her case totally sabotaged by her lawyer and only saved it with sm1smom’s help, We have also seen cases where there is no damage per se but clients are billed for, basically, teaching the lawyer about DV with the help of this forum’s advice about what their lawyer should be doing.
By all means, engage a lawyer if you wish and if you feel it will be beneficial to your case.

You are right. Lawyers don't know about DV as much as we do with the help of this forum. I may only hire a lawyer in case my application gets stuck in processing (except background check). I don't think I can schedule Infopass sessions and push the USCIS FO for expediting my case.
That being said, attorney fee is very important to me. I don't want to spend more than a refundable $1500 on it.
I have heard that attorney fee for I-140 petitions can be refundable but I am not sure about AOS's attorney fee.

 

[SusieQQQ]

You are right. Lawyers don't know about DV as much as we do with the help of this forum. I may only hire a lawyer in case my application gets stuck in processing (except background check). I don't think I can schedule Infopass sessions and push the USCIS FO for expediting my case.
That being said, attorney fee is very important to me. I don't want to spend more than a refundable $1500 on it.
I have heard that attorney fee for I-140 petitions can be refundable but I am not sure about AOS's attorney fee.

Lol. No attorney is going to give you a refundable fee for anything DV AOS related! They’re not going to be able to guarantee anything but will still have to put in the hours, and they aren’t going to work for free.
Also, you won’t necessarily know why your application seems stuck. If you end up with a FO who batches cases and doesn’t really care about speed as long as they are done before end FY, there’s not much you can do either. I fear you may discover you have much less control over the speed of this process than you expect.
As I said before, please share with the forum if you find an attorney who credibly claims they can expedite DV cases in some kind of way that normal applicants can’t.

 

[AdamaCoulibaly]

I’m not mom. Can you please....answer the actual questions that are asked.

1. You can’t be in the US on L1 and running the company in your home country at the same time. Who will be running the company in your home country while you are in the US?

2. Again - did you file for cap exempt H1? The 2020 results are out afaik (someone correct me if I’m wrong) so I am assuming you were not picked in the lottery if you are still waiting for a decision.

I’m not mom. Can you please....answer the actual questions that are asked. Sorry about that

1. You can’t be in the US on L1 and running the company in your home country at the same time. Who will be running the company in your home country while you are in the US? Well, this is about an IT Company based on Cloud technologies and Consulting.we have teams and after the US our next office will be in Europe.

2. Again - did you file for cap exempt H1? The 2020 results are out afaik (someone correct me if I’m wrong) so I am assuming you were not picked in the lottery if you are still waiting for a decision. That s not an issue, I will ask the attorney tomorrow

Thank you all for all your help, I think I made a good choice to join your forum and it has been very helpful and productive since I m really new in this environment. Thank you again for all your help. God Bless you!

 

[AdamaCoulibaly]

You can hold off on notifying KCC or changing to CP for now. If one of your pending petitions gets approved before your current status expires in August, you simply continue with your previously selected AOS processing.

Thank you, that s a good idea though.

 

[AdamaCoulibaly]

Being the owner of the company back in your home country is not enough to qualify for a L1B AFAIK. You’ll need to be able to convince USCIS that you as an owner and employer, are also both an employee of the company in a managerial position in order to qualify for intra-company transfer which is what L1B filing involves.

For H1B, those who filed and were picked in the H1B lottery back in April have already been notified - did you receive a selection notification and are now waiting for USCIS to complete the processing?

I dont know, an attorney worked on that case and we haven't got any feedback yet.

 

[AdamaCoulibaly]

Plus the company has to keep operating back in the home country - that is what the crux of my question was. They don't want situations where small business owners use a company as a backdoor to immigration into the US, hence why the L visas are fairly short term in length and extension is contingent on proving the original company still exists as a going concern.

That s correct, that why it has been a year my team and an attorney all together are working on that case (all evidences etc..). Our goal is to build a strong international IT and Software company in next 5 or 10 years though.
Thank you again for your help.

 

[Sm1smom]

2. Again - did you file for cap exempt H1? The 2020 results are out afaik (someone correct me if I’m wrong) so I am assuming you were not picked in the lottery if you are still waiting for a decision. That s not an issue, I will ask the attorney tomorrow

Hmmn! Actually it IS an issue - you can't have a pending H1B if your submission wasn't selected in the lottery back in April and from what you've described your organization does not seem to be under the CAP Exempt.

I dont know, an attorney worked on that case and we haven't got any feedback yet.

I think you attorney would have informed you by now if your H1B was picked in the lottery.

Anyway, all these conversations are outside the realm of the DV based AOS process.

 

[damo1089]

Would you please explain how a lawyer can damage a DV-related adjustment of status application?

I think if someone found this forum and had a totally normal and legal existence in the world, then hiring a lawyer to process aos would be absolutely bonkers.

 

[Farad]

I think if someone found this forum and had a totally normal and legal existence in the world, then hiring a lawyer to process aos would be absolutely bonkers.

I know that AOS filing is not challenging. I consider hiring a lawyer for other reasons like accompanying me on my interview.
That being said, I don't think I can afford to hire one because flat fee for filing AOS is $2500. One of them even gave me a quote of $3500. This is really crazy!

 

[Aidyn]

I know that AOS filing is not challenging. I consider hiring a lawyer for other reasons like accompanying me on my interview.
That being said, I don't think I can afford to hire one because flat fee for filing AOS is $2500. One of them even gave me a quote of $3500. This is really crazy!

What is it about the interview that you think a lawyer can help you with? If you are well prepared and honest with your answers, there is nothing a lawyer can do to make your interview better

 

[kushajj]

Hello everyone. Thanks for all the information that’s being shared by admins and everyone else. This forum is super helpful.

I’m new here and one of the selectees of dv2020. My case number eu32xxx and I have been working in the US on h2b visa. I’m not sure if my number will be called but I would like to learn if I should do the AOS process or go back to my home country and start a CP? Either way I will be fine. I can go home or extend my visa with no problem. but I’m not sure -in case the number is called- there will be enough time to do the AOS. Thanks a again and good luck to everyone through process.

 

[Farad]

What is it about the interview that you think a lawyer can help you with? If you are well prepared and honest with your answers, there is nothing a lawyer can do to make your interview better

I'm not worried about the interview per se. I'm only worried about the behavior of IO because of my country of origin. A few weeks ago one of my fellow countryman had a horrible interview only because he is from a country which is in constant conflict with the US. I know that the odds of such a experience happening to me is very rare but I need to be cautious. If he had been accompanied with a lawyer, IO wouldn't dare to behave like that.

 

[Sm1smom]

Hello everyone. Thanks for all the information that’s being shared by admins and everyone else. This forum is super helpful.

I’m new here and one of the selectees of dv2020. My case number eu32xxx and I have been working in the US on h2b visa. I’m not sure if my number will be called but I would like to learn if I should do the AOS process or go back to my home country and start a CP? Either way I will be fine. I can go home or extend my visa with no problem. but I’m not sure -in case the number is called- there will be enough time to do the AOS. Thanks a again and good luck to everyone through process.

Take a look at the AOS process spreadsheet - it has the pros and cons of AOS vs CP - it should hopefully help you come to an informed decision as to which process is best for you.

Post follow up questions after reviewing the spreadsheet.

 

[Tobi1]

Hi Mom,

I have a AOS related question but not referring to the DV lottery.. I went through the DV lottery here with you and trust your answer and therefore am asking you. I understand though if you do not want to answer since it is not DV related.

Following happened. A friend is going through I-485 and received a RFE. On it, it only states "The beneficiary on Form I-130 must submit a completed and signed I-130A, supplemental Spouse Beneficiary" - nothing else. It does not state what was wrong with it in the first place. They did 100% send this form however, filled out and signed. Reviewing the form and trying to figure out what is wrong we found that the form has now expired.

1) Could that be the reason they sent the RFE?
2) Should they be sending all evidence that is required for forms I-130 and I-130A (even though they sent all already previously in the AOS package)?
3) Looking further, they found that 2 more forms expired (12/31/2018 - I-693 and 2/28/2019 - I-131). They sent the application in the very beginning of January of this year. Should they also send new completed forms of the ones that are expired now?

Again, I am well aware that this is not the correct forum, however, I trust you a lot and would kindly like your input. You can delete my post if you don't want it in this forum - I understand.

Thank you

 

[Sm1smom]

Hi Mom,

I have a AOS related question but not referring to the DV lottery.. I went through the DV lottery here with you and trust your answer and therefore am asking you. I understand though if you do not want to answer since it is not DV related.

Following happened. A friend is going through I-485 and received a RFE. On it, it only states "The beneficiary on Form I-130 must submit a completed and signed I-130A, supplemental Spouse Beneficiary" - nothing else. It does not state what was wrong with it in the first place. They did 100% send this form however, filled out and signed. Reviewing the form and trying to figure out what is wrong we found that the form has now expired.

1) Could that be the reason they sent the RFE?
2) Should they be sending all evidence that is required for forms I-130 and I-130A (even though they sent all already previously in the AOS package)?
3) Looking further, they found that 2 more forms expired (12/31/2018 - I-693 and 2/28/2019 - I-131). They sent the application in the very beginning of January of this year. Should they also send new completed forms of the ones that are expired now?

Again, I am well aware that this is not the correct forum, however, I trust you a lot and would kindly like your input. You can delete my post if you don't want it in this forum - I understand.

Thank you

I’m sorry my guidance here is limited to DV based AOS process only.