Yes my case has been approved ....
RD 01/10/2002
ND 01/23/2002
FP1 03/14/2002
FP2 07/15/2003
AP 08/07/2003
EB2/IND/EAC-02095*****
Last Thursday (08/07) I was in Deep crap due to some work related problem and was working late. Around 6 PM I had checked ONline status and as usual it said FP recvd blah..blah.. but the Next time I saw was around 8.30 PM and guess what ... Bingo ! it changed to "This case has been ........."
But being the sceptical person I am .. and what with the well documented and horrer stories of INS gooffups and my own paranoi and what not I said let me just get drunk right now (alone !) and wait for the approval letter before I publish it to the entire world ... So here I am (and forgive me for the delay
... well I will blame it on the postal dept)
I just called my wife and she says the letter is indeed there and we are TRULY approved in black&White !
And as is the normal tradition to share our stories ... here's my story ...
Came to USA in Middle of 1997 using the standard route -- Find Body shopper,Get selected,get H1 stamped , land here , sit on bench for a while and get a Client (a large Fortune-500 company)
I did that and as and when my Naievity turned into practicality... I found out that there is no point in being a "Bakra" to the middleman and my employers ...I decided to jump ship and joined the Client directly on H1 mainly because of GC and Peace of mind that comes with a permanent job...and also I had just got
married.. But Unlike many of us who loath our desi Bodyshoppers i did not burn any bridges while quitting my company and everything was done in a "Amicable way"
So for about 5-6 months there were no problems . Then slowly the non-flexibility of a Big company w.r.t to any HR issues ( Not just GC related ) started to bother me (Cant do EB2 cannot file from HQ to avoid processing delays,cant do this ,cant do that
etc etc...) I tried to deal with them patiently for a long time but eventually realised that it was pointless and in the process learnt a lesson that it was hightime I make ammends and look after my own a** (literally) without ruffling many feathers .... So finally I said I had enough and put my foot down and proposed that they either do the GC the way my Lawyer suggests (to avoid notorious INS delays) or just let me go as a Permanent employee and comeback as a consultant. (Or just let
me go what the Heck ... the market was very hot ) ... So anyway to cut a long story short they agreed to keep me as a consultant and also to work thru my previous consulting company ... only this time there would be no middle man (ohh that perfect situation ...) Now since I was considerably wiser(and meaner) by this time it was not difficult for me to literally dictate the terms(Moneywise) to my consulting company Using some of the same medicine that was dished out to me once-upon a time(Gawd that was so sweeeet). So I wasted no time in filing for a GC and enjoy the really fat paycheck Compared to the peanuts I got when on fulltime or earlier.
At that point of time I was flying high ! Although the market conditions have since deteriorated considerably and my job is not at all stable - but the sense of satisfaction of being able to sort of "giving back in kind" to my employers and going from a - absolutely hopeless situation to a situation were I was able to hold my own AND get a GC in the bargain - was very satisfying and the biggest IRONY is that this was all done in the name of well known INS delays ! Also for a change -unlike the stock market or real estate booms ...I did not missout on the IT-BOOM (Ahhh those where the days --- if we could just bottle them and be able to re-use)
So I shouldnt have been really complaining about INS Delays while waiting for the 485 but then again I am only human ...
Take care and wish you the very best ..
Will hang around till stamping and the darn "CARD" actually happens in my mailbox.
I Apologize if you think i was blowing my own horn... but just thought i had to share my experience.
Special thanks to Rajiv for all the help provided ..
and everybody who takes trouble to answer queries..
RD 01/10/2002
ND 01/23/2002
FP1 03/14/2002
FP2 07/15/2003
AP 08/07/2003
EB2/IND/EAC-02095*****
Last Thursday (08/07) I was in Deep crap due to some work related problem and was working late. Around 6 PM I had checked ONline status and as usual it said FP recvd blah..blah.. but the Next time I saw was around 8.30 PM and guess what ... Bingo ! it changed to "This case has been ........."
But being the sceptical person I am .. and what with the well documented and horrer stories of INS gooffups and my own paranoi and what not I said let me just get drunk right now (alone !) and wait for the approval letter before I publish it to the entire world ... So here I am (and forgive me for the delay
... well I will blame it on the postal dept)
I just called my wife and she says the letter is indeed there and we are TRULY approved in black&White !
And as is the normal tradition to share our stories ... here's my story ...
Came to USA in Middle of 1997 using the standard route -- Find Body shopper,Get selected,get H1 stamped , land here , sit on bench for a while and get a Client (a large Fortune-500 company)
I did that and as and when my Naievity turned into practicality... I found out that there is no point in being a "Bakra" to the middleman and my employers ...I decided to jump ship and joined the Client directly on H1 mainly because of GC and Peace of mind that comes with a permanent job...and also I had just got
married.. But Unlike many of us who loath our desi Bodyshoppers i did not burn any bridges while quitting my company and everything was done in a "Amicable way"
So for about 5-6 months there were no problems . Then slowly the non-flexibility of a Big company w.r.t to any HR issues ( Not just GC related ) started to bother me (Cant do EB2 cannot file from HQ to avoid processing delays,cant do this ,cant do that
etc etc...) I tried to deal with them patiently for a long time but eventually realised that it was pointless and in the process learnt a lesson that it was hightime I make ammends and look after my own a** (literally) without ruffling many feathers .... So finally I said I had enough and put my foot down and proposed that they either do the GC the way my Lawyer suggests (to avoid notorious INS delays) or just let me go as a Permanent employee and comeback as a consultant. (Or just let
me go what the Heck ... the market was very hot ) ... So anyway to cut a long story short they agreed to keep me as a consultant and also to work thru my previous consulting company ... only this time there would be no middle man (ohh that perfect situation ...) Now since I was considerably wiser(and meaner) by this time it was not difficult for me to literally dictate the terms(Moneywise) to my consulting company Using some of the same medicine that was dished out to me once-upon a time(Gawd that was so sweeeet). So I wasted no time in filing for a GC and enjoy the really fat paycheck Compared to the peanuts I got when on fulltime or earlier.
At that point of time I was flying high ! Although the market conditions have since deteriorated considerably and my job is not at all stable - but the sense of satisfaction of being able to sort of "giving back in kind" to my employers and going from a - absolutely hopeless situation to a situation were I was able to hold my own AND get a GC in the bargain - was very satisfying and the biggest IRONY is that this was all done in the name of well known INS delays
! Also for a change -unlike the stock market or real estate booms ...I did not missout on the IT-BOOM (Ahhh those where the days --- if we could just bottle them and be able to re-use) So I shouldnt have been really complaining about INS Delays while waiting for the 485 but then again I am only human ...
Take care and wish you the very best ..
Will hang around till stamping and the darn "CARD" actually happens in my mailbox.
I Apologize if you think i was blowing my own horn... but just thought i had to share my experience.
Special thanks to Rajiv for all the help provided ..
and everybody who takes trouble to answer queries..
