***FAQ***- Please check this thread before posting a question.

pingpong02

Registered Users (C)
Everyday people have been posting very useful information like

--> Various BCIS Forms like AR 11
--> VSC and other Phone Numbers
--> FBI Check Phone #
--> Important Immigration Websites
--> Senators/congresspersons Contact Info etc

But in couple of days these threads are being pushed down.

People who need such information in furture will have to search the forum or post the request again.

Instead should we not maintain a dedicated link where we can add all such useful information which will not only be useful for us but also for the future members.

Let's keep this thread dedicated for all such important information.

Thanks


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FBI PHONE # to check FP Status
Call FBI at

304-625-5590

or

304-625-2406

Courtesy :

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93231

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92029

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Excel to Scan VSC 485 Case Status
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87455

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Contacting Senator Dianne Feistein
For case work services involving federal agency fill the casework authorization form and mail to the senator

http://feinstein.senate.gov/privacy_form.html

Courtesy :

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92566

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Amend I140
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86546

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93283

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Contacting Senators/Congressperson

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/

Courtesy : dengdeng

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92434

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91810

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Name format on the GC
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92251

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Applying AP
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92070

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91372

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Applying Visitor Visa
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92311

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SSN vs ITIN
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92345

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Authorized Doctors for Medical Test
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92179
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How to find Labor Certification Details
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92139

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change of employment/ do you need to change service Center
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91739

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91732

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Changing maiden name
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91591

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Changing Job Before vs After GC
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91546

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How to get copy of I-140 approval and the underlying labor certification?

Use FOIA form G-639, Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Request

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/g-639.htm


Experience of this forum member:
http://boards.immigration.com/showt...&highlight=foia

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Civil Surgeon locator (BCIS authorized)

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/exec/cs/index.asp

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Change of address form

BCIS requires reporting of any address change within 10 days of the change using form AR-11(Change of Address)

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/ar-11.htm

Who Must Comply?
All aliens in the United States who are required to be registered under the law (INA § 262 and 261) must keep BCIS informed of their changes of address. The only aliens exempt from this requirement are diplomats (visa status A), official government representatives to an international organization (visa status G), and certain nonimmigrants who do not possess a visa and who are in the U.S. for fewer than 30 days (INA § 263).

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Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Representative

Use from G-28

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/g-28.htm

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BCIS status inquiry

Use G-731(Inquiry About Status of I-551, Alien Registration Card) to inquire the status of any application at BCIS

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/g-731.htm

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Consular processing

Detailed information about consular processing
http://www.immihelp.com/gc/consular/

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LIFE Act - 245(i) - Out of status grandfathering

http://www.immihelp.com/gc/life245.html

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Affidavit of Birth

Sample Affidavit of Birth:
http://www.immihelp.com/gc/aos/birth_affidavit.html

Sample Non-availability Certificate:
http://www.immihelp.com/docs/NoBirthRecord.html

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Sample Employment letter for Green Card

http://www.immihelp.com/docs/SampleEmploymentLetter.html

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Legal Information

Expert law:
Free expert witness directory, legal information, and more for experts, lawyers and the public. Connecting expert witnesses with attorneys, for free
http://www.expertlaw.com/

Find Law:
FindLaw is the highest-trafficked legal Web site, providing the most comprehensive set of legal resources on the Internet for legal professionals, businesses, students and individuals.
http://www.findlaw.com/

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EXPEDITE REQUEST
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92970

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92292

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93240

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US Department of State
http://travel.state.gov/

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Visa Revalidation in US
http://travel.state.gov/revals.html

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Unofficial 485 Statistics
http://www.rupnet.com/immigration/index.asp
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Last edited by a moderator:
Consolidated all posts in to one post. Thanks pingpong02 and Edison for your efforts.
 
AC21 related stuff found in this board

G28 form for substitution of counsel
 
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AC21 related stuff found in this board

Employement based RFE while using AC21
 
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AC21 related stuff found in this board

The AC21 Law - one can include this along with cover letter for AC21.
 
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AC21 FAQs

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AC21 Job Codes, Descriptions and Salary related

http://online.onetcenter.org/

use the DOT code from lower right hand corner of the LC and convert to O-NET code (http://online.onetcenter.org/crosswalk_search)
Then check the state specific salary and variances involved

DOL online wages library :

http://www.flcdatacenter.com/

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Sample AC21 Letters

http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87534

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87458

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111258

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AC21 FAQs

http://www.murthy.com/UDac21qa.html

http://imminfo.com/Knowledgebase/Immigrants/I140portability.html

http://www.jgsolutions.com/material/articles/636480.pdf

http://immigration.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://shusterman.com/toc-chat.html

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AC21 and I-140 revocation

http://murthy.com/ukac21.html

http://murthy.com/UDrevapp.html

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AC21 memo 19-JUN-2001
http://www.immigrationlinks.com/news/INS Guidance on AC21.pdf

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AC21 memo 11-AUG-2003

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=93790

for official copy refer to

http://www.bcis.gov/graphics/lawsregs/handbook/I140_AC21_8403.pdf
http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/lawsregs/handbook/I140_AC21_8403.pdf

Analysis :http://www.murthy.com/UDportme.html
Analysis :http://immigration.about.com/library/weekly/aa090903b.htm
Analysis :http://www.visalaw.com/03sep1/newsletter.pdf
Analysis :http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/colum_article/articles/2003,0905-mehta.shtm

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180 day rule and change of jobs

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=95614

courtesy Hopes2003

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AC21 cases : I-485 denials

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=94547

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The best part - AC21 success stories

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=83453

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=86464

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=76185

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=83531

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=81848 ** good discussions on AC21 salary **

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=83248

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=84307

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=79502

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=76856

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=76539

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=64431

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=62071

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=60827

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=57031

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=54971

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=14021

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97739

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98519

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99185

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99320

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99765

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99795

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=99871

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=94530

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76185

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84307

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=101156

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=105828

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=108105

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113368

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=702308#post702308

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=119027

http://immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=120033

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=120779

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=120976

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=121235

http://immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=124745
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Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by waytoolong
ar888 - looks like the URLs are not getting parsed after you merged them, can you take a look please ? Thanks


They should work now. Thanks.
 
Recipt enquiries phone number

When there is a question about a receipt notice, the avenue available is to call the BCIS customer service phone number at (800) 375-5283.
 
Travel Agents

http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?threadid=99347

List compiled by Vijayrc :

1. www.makemytrip.com 1 800-INDIA-10 very good.
2. AirK Travel - 1 877 359 2475 very good - ask for Anjali
3. Discover Travels - 1800-550-0123 very good - Ask for Jane

1. Anjali Travels - 914.636.3333
2. Discover Travels - 1800-52-FLYUS- very goood-
3.Travels - 1800-550-0123
4. Alisha - 914.576.1800
5. Thomason - 718.468.4200
6.Cont Tra- 908.525.2400
7. Avan - 301.431.4990
8. pk travels - 732.752.2378 - goood
9. Sudhu- 718.816.7400
10.Radha- 212.719.3244
11.Sharada- 908.236.8996
12.Linda ChiongInnovative Travel Services, 408-737-8822

State Travel Agent Phone #
California 3S International Travels(408) 243-5495
A2Z Tours & Travels (949) 766 6543
Adore Travels (310) 859-8740 Airline Booking Center (916) 558-0453
Answer Travels (626) 797-7017 Deepak Travels (408) 735-7849
Himalayan Travels 1-800-223-1813
Ila Kothari (408) 723-7255 Infinity Travels (408)-245-8444
Mascot Travels (310) 839-9422 Netto Travels (714) 633-3686 Princy Travels (650) 917-1937
Prominent Travel Inc (714) 632-9151 Punjab Travels (408) 441-7570
Roy Travels (408) 578-3598

Illinois
Air Tours (312) 764-4544
Air K Travel (773)-274-3960 Amber Travels (847) 301-7700 Andhra Travels (773) 508-5626
Centur Travel (630) 887-8515 City Express Travel (630) 279-1650
Devon Travels (312) 973-0600 Future Travels (630) 424-1060
Intra World Travels 1-800-626-6963
Kwality Travels 1-800-473-8785 Puja Travel (708) 241-4700 Royal Travels (312) 509-9600
Sunshine Travel (847) 776-1988 Travel Masters (708) 598-2959

Iowa
Globe Travels (319) 366-1411 Universal Travels (319) 377-6975

New Jersey
High Fly Travel (732) 985-5855 Chinpa Travels (908) 754-6227
Can-Am Travels (732) 271-8200 Marco Polo Travels (973)509-0865 Ms. Madhuri Kamat (609) 443-9472
Rupa Travel 1-888-438-7872 T.K. Travel (732) 752-2378
Travel Pro, Inc. (732) 727-4447

New York
A.P. Travels (212) 599-425
Alison Travels (914) 576-1800 Century Travels (212) 967-7066
Help-U-Travel (212) 967-7171 MPR Travel (212)-684-2510 Nepal Travel (212) 398-0398
On-time Travel (201) 295 8119 Penta WorldwideTravel (212) 867-7711
Pubali Travel (718) 436-3600 Help-U-Travel (212) 967-7171
 
Best ways to transfer money abroad - esp. India

Personal checks - best exchange rates and very minimal commission, but takes 2-3 weeks

ICICI e-transfer www.money2india.com - good exchange rates (a commission of around 23 paise) and no transfer fees, takes 3-4 days if the account is setup (this is an e-transfer account and not a checking or savings account - so minimums)

Wire-transfer - faster way to transfer money and best exchange rates, but a fee of 30-50 dollars

Citibank www.citibankindia.com - poor exchange rates and you need to have a checking account setup with them with a minimum balance

Western Union www.westernunion.com - fastest way to transfer money but poor exchange rates and big transfer fees around 100 dollars for 1500 dollars.

Cash2India www.cash2india.com - can pay by credit card or paypal but the transfer fees are more, if you have the ACH linked with your checking account, the transfer fee is a flat 7 bucks. Very poor exchange rates though.

Overall I found e-transfer from ICICI to be the best service if you take everything into account.

And one more thing, I forgot to mention hawala, this is the best method at anytime.
 
Finding a Senator or Congress Person

Here are the links:

http://www.house.gov/

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/

The following is courtesy : laborpain

Steps to contact congressman/senator
1- first find out who serves your area.

2- Call their office and ask how they prefer to receive documents and requests for Federal Casework Inquiry. If they have their casework coordination offices in Washington DC then send fax to avoid delays

3- Fax/Mail them a letter explaining your situation (personal hardship, BSIC incompetence, you paying taxes for many years, law abiding contributor to your community, looking forward to become a voting citizen, blah blah blah)

4- Make sure you include all information: EAD #, Alien #, SSN, type of application, NAMES, Address with INS, when filed, RD, ND, RFE, Fingerprinting dates, etc, etc, anything and everything (politicians love documentation, so kill a few trees, it can only help)

5- ask them to "advise you on how to obtain the adjudication status of the application. You have contacted BCIS several times and the information on the website is very vague and estimates keep changing etc."

6- Do not ask them to help approve the application, because they dont do that. They are smart, they know what you are looking for, so they will use their "Political" means to pursuade the application process. Just be gentle and kind in your letter, write with a tear jerking tone, ask for advice

7- THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: You have to write a PRIVACY disclaimer in your letter stating that you authorize their office to look into all aspects of your case and in accordance with the Privacy Act, you (SIGNED below) are authorising them the use of the included information you are providing to conduct any research necessary to research the status and processing information about your application" This will avoid you from writing another letter with signed authorization.


good luck.


Following is a sample letter.
============================================

Dear Senator,

We are writing this letter to request your office's help in finding the status of our employment based adjustment of status(I-485) applications, pending with Nebraska Service Center for over two years. We had filed our I-485 applications in December 2001(RD: 12/11/2001, ND: 12/14/2001) with Nebraska Service Center, Lincoln, NE. We were finger printed the first time on 4/11/2002. After waiting for over 19 months, we received a request for further evidence on 7/11/2003 in which the following items were asked to submit. 1) Primary applicant's employment verification, 2) Clear copy of birth certificate for the dependent applicant and 3) Birth affidavits for both the applicants from parents or relatives. We promptly responded to this request and sent all the required documents that were received by INS on 7/30/2003. The status query website of INS was updated to reflect this the day received these documents. Subsequently, we received a notice for the second finger printing as our original finger prints expired by this time. We were finger printed on 9/12/2003 and I had called FBI who confirmed that the results were sent to the INS the same day.

Since then, we haven't heard anything back from INS and are desperately waiting for our cases to be approved. We have already renewed our work permits (EAD) twice and currently hold our third EADs. We have no clue why the adjudication on our cases is taking so long while the cases filed much later than ours are routinely being approved. It has been more than 5 months since we responded to the rfe and don’t understand why it is taking so long for the INS to look into our cases. We have plans to visit India in May this year and are in a dilemma whether to apply for the travel documets(advance parole) or to wait for the approvals. We never applied for our advance paroles till now in the hope of getting our cases approved by now.

We would like to request the help of your office to find out what exactly is going on with our cases and if possible push for a faster adjudication. We'd highly appreciate any help that your office can provide in this matter.

Sincerely,

XXXX

XXXX

Here are more details of our cases:

Primary applicant: XXXX(Receipt No: XXXXX)
A# XXXXX
Beneficiary: XXXX(Receipt No: XXXXX)
A# XXXXX
Receipt Date: 12/11/2001
Notice Date: 12/14/2001
1st Finger Print: 4/11/2002
RFE Issued: 7/11/2003
RFE response received by INS 7/30/2003
2nd FP: 9/12/2003

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