Follow To Join....

[bhooshan]

you got all

Same with me ,first I received Welcome notice and after that GC.
There is some confusion with terminology because your welcome
notice says your 485 has been approved. There is no separate
approval notice,actually welcome notice is nothing but approval
notice.

The date on I-797 Notice of Action of I-485 (Approved) -your welcome notice- which is 27th Aug 2007 and the permanent resident since date which in your case 2nd July 07 should be the same.ie your Permananent resident since date should be 27th Aug 2007.Nothing to worry unless your marriage date clashes with date on GC.

You got all the required documents ,there is no approval notice other than the docs you received ,you got everything.

Bhooshan.

Bhooshan,
Did you get an approval notice? I have received my Welcome Notice and GC but no approval notice.

GC says - Resident since 7/2/2007
Card valid till 8/27/2017

Welcome Notice has Date 8/27/2007

Lawyer copy of Welcome Notice has date 8/30/2007

 

[bhooshan]

Apply for I-90

Then why Adj date and notice date are same for other millions of GC holders ?
In olden days people used to wait for GC for months after getting their 485 approval,in those days too ,date on GC and notice date used to be one and the same.Apply for I-90 without much delay,when I talked with customer care no ,some of them discouraged me the same way,but when I asked them to tranfer it to senior superwiser ,she told me -" it is clear typo and no doubt about it because for Emp category visa ,485 Approval date and date on GC should be the one and same ;For REFUGEE category date on GC can be different !!Since you are not REFUGEE ,I advice you to send the card back."
That's what I did. For other friends date on GC is goes back to 2002 by that time they did not even apply for their labor.Not to get discouraged by stray opinions. I have already received my I-90 Receipt.While sending docs to Chennai Consulate where ever physical copy of GC is reqd I have used I-90 receipt instead,it is valid proof that you have your card but undergoing correction.And the 551-stamp on Passport is another proof of the same .

Regards
Bhooshan.

Bhooshan... Good to hear your story. I also went for I-551 stamp in Los Angeles but could not get it. The guy asked me for the receipt of I-90 which I don't have. So I could not get the stamp.... Also he mentioned that the date 4th june is for I-485 adj date and it is different from I-485 notice date. He was discouraging me and asking why I applied for I-90. I tried telling him my case but he would not listen.

 

[aaifor]

The date on I-797 Notice of Action of I-485 (Approved) -your welcome notice- which is 27th Aug 2007 and the permanent resident since date which in your case 2nd July 07 should be the same.ie your Permananent resident since date should be 27th Aug 2007.Nothing to worry unless your marriage date clashes with date on GC.
Bhooshan.

Thanks Bhooshan.

In my case wife was in US on H-4 ( we were married in 2006) and we filed her 485 on July 2, 2007. (We got receipt for 485 filing and have biometrics due.)

So we don't know if her filing is AFTER my GC approval or before because GC has no time, only date.

Most people on forums say that she is OK because she is covered by 245[k] (not to be confused with 245)

I just want to solidly cover our bases because if my Approval date is after July 2 we don't even need to argue for 245[k] (which should be applied automatically as statue) IF USCIS denies her case in error since in that case hers would have been filed before my approval.

I am thinking if i can find the approval date AND if it is later than July 2, it would be awesome.

On the other hand, if 245[k] is automatically applied to spouse (who is already here), i don't want to go and unnecessarily create problems by surrendering GC, filing I-90 etc...

What do you think?

Do you know of 245[k] ?

BTW, how do u determine approval date? (WHY is notice date approval date, because the 485 approval notice that my lawyer received says notice date is Aug 30? Also note that they DID approve my GC AFTER i had done fingerprinting on Aug 17 after filing an EAD form...so at least theory is FP was holding them from approving 485 and once FP was done albeit for EAD, they approved 485 around Aug 27)

 

[smali]

My I-751 approval date online is 11/5/2004

Where as I have only applied under waiver category on June 29, 2007. I received the finger print notice. Is this usual with USCIS. Shall I consider this as legal approval, although date is wrong?

 

[rammyrammy]

My wife received the GC. It got forwarded from my old address to the new address. There was nothing on the Envolope except to and from addresses.
So it got forwarded. that basically ends the whole Cycle...

I Posted about it already.
The immigrant Visa Along with Port of Entry Stamp will work as I551 Stamp for 1 year from the Date of POE Stamp.
You can call Customer Service and ask them about the GC. They can tell you if the GC is mailed or not. but you wife should be there with you when you call them. They also need the registration number on the Immigrant Visa in the Passport.
Now I just have to wait for the Post office to return the mail to INS and after that they will send the GC to the new address. If it gets lost in between I have to apply for I90 again.

 

[bhooshan]

Dates explained

HI ,

I am not an expert in 245 (k) issue but definitely could shed some light on date issues. Let us start

30th Aug 07 Date on Lawyer's records
27th Aug 07 Date on 485 Approval
2nd July 07 Date on GC

Permanent Resident Since Date on GC is the Approval date as per USCIS norms;Generally the first email notification you or your lawyer receive when the case is approved bears the correct date of Approval;That date should appear on the GC unfortunately that is not the case with many of us causing much distress. What kind of notice did your lawyer receive?? I guess you are talking about automatic email notification ,Generally it comes 2-3 after your approval date on 485 Notice,but that email gives correct date of approval.Ask your lawyer to forward that email notificaton for more clarity.

Date on your 485 Approval is 27th Aug,though your lawyer received email notification about 485 Approval on 30th Aug ,that email should contain date
on which your 485 got approved.

Permanent Resident Since date that appears on GC is final in the case of any contest with other dates.That's the reason why I was hellbent on changing that in accordance with 485 Approval date . For more clarity I am giving you my dates.

Date on my 485 Approval notice is June 23rd 07
My lawyer received email notice on 25th June 811 PM
saying that my 485 got approved on June 23rd 07
(Our lawyer too thought my I-485 Aproval is 25th June
Since he received mile on that date,which is not.)
Finally when I got my GC ,date on it was 4th June
way behind my I-485 approval date.

Hope this helps
Bhooshan.
-----------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
BTW, how do u determine approval date? (WHY is notice date approval date, because the 485 approval notice that my lawyer received says notice date is Aug 30? Also note that they DID approve my GC AFTER i had done fingerprinting on Aug 17 after filing an EAD form...so at least theory is FP was holding them from approving 485 and once FP was done albeit for EAD, they approved 485 around Aug 27)[/QUOTE]

 

[aaifor]

Permanent Resident Since date that appears on GC is final in the case of any contest with other dates.That's the reason why I was hellbent on changing that in accordance with 485 Approval date . For more clarity I am giving you my dates.

Date on my 485 Approval notice is June 23rd 07
My lawyer received email notice on 25th June 811 PM
saying that my 485 got approved on June 23rd 07
(Our lawyer too thought my I-485 Aproval is 25th June
Since he received mile on that date,which is not.)
Finally when I got my GC ,date on it was 4th June
way behind my I-485 approval date.

Hope this helps
Bhooshan.

Bhooshan,
Did you select 2 (d) on Form I-90: My card was issued with incorrect information because of a USCIS administrative error. I have attached the incorrect card and evidence of the correct information.

So you attach the incorrect card, fine.

• How do you obtain evidence of correct information (I know u spoke to IO supervisor..but not clear what evidence you attached) What is it that you attach?
  
• And what would be the expected wait for your wife in Follow to Join?

 

[crazygal]

Dharma Rao or anyone,

I have H1 validity till August 2009. My spouse has h4 validity till August 2009 and went to India in June 2007. And now I got my GC. My marriage(2003) took place before my I-485 got approved. I think my wife may be able to use the "follow to join" route to get her GC via a consulate in India. Right now she is in India. What should I do now? How can I apply for her in order to come united states. When I checked the attorneys here they said that she should come either on her own merit(H1 or F1) or I need apply for her GC and wait for five years or wait until I get my citizenship and apply for her and might get within one yr which might take 6 yrs. I am so devastated, worried and what not??

I heard just last night about "follow to join" route might work within a yr which gave me so much strength. How should I proceed this? I really appreciate all your opinions. I don't know whom to consult. when I approach lawyers here they are not helpful. Please drop some inputs and I will be blessed.

 

[crazygal]

Dharma Rao or anyone,

I have H1 validity till August 2009. My spouse has h4 validity till August 2009 and went to India in June 2007. And now I got my GC. My marriage(2003) took place before my I-485 got approved. I think my wife may be able to use the "follow to join" route to get her GC via a consulate in India. Right now she is in India. What should I do now? How can I apply for her in order to come united states. When I checked the attorneys here they said that she should come either on her own merit(H1 or F1) or I need apply for her GC and wait for five years or wait until I get my citizenship and apply for her and might get within one yr which might take 6 yrs. I am so devastated, worried and what not??

I heard just last night about "follow to join" route might work within a yr which gave me so much strength. How should I proceed this? I really appreciate all your opinions. I don't know whom to consult. when I approach lawyers here they are not helpful. Please drop some inputs and I will be blessed.

 

[bhooshan]

clarification

HI ,

That's correct ,I have selected that option.
Evidence is your I-485 Approval Notice ,clearly write them date on GC was different from the date that appears on I-485 Approval Notice.One more thing
pl take color photocopy of GC (both sides) before you send it to Service center.In my office ,it happened to couple of other folks ,so they too did the same.It will take two weeks to get the Notice of Receipt for I-90

My priority date is current ,so if you go by normal math it will take 2-3 months
for chennai consulate to create the case and schedule an appointment. Some other folks in this forum got it even in less time.

Bhooshan.

Bhooshan,
Did you select 2 (d) on Form I-90: My card was issued with incorrect information because of a USCIS administrative error. I have attached the incorrect card and evidence of the correct information.

So you attach the incorrect card, fine.

• How do you obtain evidence of correct information (I know u spoke to IO supervisor..but not clear what evidence you attached) What is it that you attach?
  
• And what would be the expected wait for your wife in Follow to Join?

 

[kamrans]

You can file FTJ for your spouse. The steps are below. If you read this thread you will know all details about it. The brief steps are below:

1) File I-824 for your spouse. You can download it from USCIS website.
2) As soon as you get a receipt notice you can open up a case with consulate. Since your GC is already approved your spouse might get the visa before I-824 approval. It all depends on the consulate.

For more details check this whole thread. You will get all the details. Dont panic. Your wife will get it.

Good Luck

Dharma Rao or anyone,

I have H1 validity till August 2009. My spouse has h4 validity till August 2009 and went to India in June 2007. And now I got my GC. My marriage(2003) took place before my I-485 got approved. I think my wife may be able to use the "follow to join" route to get her GC via a consulate in India. Right now she is in India. What should I do now? How can I apply for her in order to come united states. When I checked the attorneys here they said that she should come either on her own merit(H1 or F1) or I need apply for her GC and wait for five years or wait until I get my citizenship and apply for her and might get within one yr which might take 6 yrs. I am so devastated, worried and what not??

I heard just last night about "follow to join" route might work within a yr which gave me so much strength. How should I proceed this? I really appreciate all your opinions. I don't know whom to consult. when I approach lawyers here they are not helpful. Please drop some inputs and I will be blessed.

 

[crazygal]

Thanq Kamrans for the info.

Does anyone have sample 824 form? I was looking the form and Part 1 should be my info or my wife's info? Part 2, which one should I check, is it B?

And in Part 3 and point 3 shall I give my wife's info? And I should sign part 4 right?

What documents I should attach to this form?

Originally I filed to VSC and then they transferred to TSC and got approved GC. So in theory where should I apply VSC or TSC or local INS office?

I really appreciate your help...

 

[abk123]

rammy

Well what follow to Join Says is that the FTJ Candidate should apply at the Consulate where she lives permanently. FTJ cases are not processed within US thats for sure. Also, there is a Huge list of Documentation need for the F2J interview. One of which is Police Clearance letters from all places where your wife lived after attaining the age of 16. So if she lived in China you have to get them from China. In my case my wife was in canada and i ended up travelling back home for the interview and documentation.
FTJ's are similar to consular processing, not sure if you have the adjustment of status option. Even if you give some address and they send the interview letter , you can go there and get a Duplicate interview letter from the Consulate.

in this above quote u have mentioned rammy that ur wife was in canada and u had to travel back home for the interview and documentation, was ur wife a canadian PR then, did u applied in the montreal consulate for ur FTJ process, pls let me know the details
thanks in advance

 

[abk123]

rammyrammy

My wife received the GC. It got forwarded from my old address to the new address. There was nothing on the Envolope except to and from addresses.
So it got forwarded. that basically ends the whole Cycle...

its not the end u have to help others who r newcomers like me, pls
pls try to give ur valuable advice every now and then as time permits,

for me i got a notice from the montreal consulate to provide a proof of canadian citizenship or the present immigration status in canada, the good thing is that the letter has a case no., i-824 also got approved, i am replying the letter with my wife's PR card and passport copy of all paper along with the cover letter,
i am also planning to send DS 230 part 1 and 2 along with all the documents in a seperate envelop, with a cover letter and the case no. they provided, lets hope for the best, ur suggestions is required thanks

i am bit confused on the priority dates, as the october bulletin shows 22nd april 2001, where was mine priority date is jan 2003, and i already got the GC on july 17th 2007. will this create a problem for my wife to get an interview date as the priority date is not current. pls suggest ur advice, guru's thanks in advance

 

[rammyrammy]

Abk please be patient. Its not that I am jumping the Ship once I am through.

Coming to my wifes situation she was not in Canada as PR. She was there on Visitor Visa. I applied for 824 in 2005 and I mentioned Chennai as the Consulate. I was OK with interview in Chennai and thats why she traveled back to india for the interview.

Usually one should pick the consulate where they reside permanently. If your wife is a Canadian PR you can apply for F2J in Canada(its my assumption).

whatever docs you are mentioning are Packet 3 and packet 4 and are required anyways.

Again your wife will not get interview if the Pds are not current. But send all the documents to the consulate and wait for the dates to become current. Thats what happened to me also. I got gc in june 2005, and had to wait two years because the dates were not current.
I can understand your frustration but thats the way it has been for almost everyone in this group.
So do what you have to do ie, sending all the required documents so that they will create a case number so that when dates become current they can setup an appointment for you without delay.


Rammy.

its not the end u have to help others who r newcomers like me, pls
pls try to give ur valuable advice every now and then as time permits,

for me i got a notice from the montreal consulate to provide a proof of canadian citizenship or the present immigration status in canada, the good thing is that the letter has a case no., i-824 also got approved, i am replying the letter with my wife's PR card and passport copy of all paper along with the cover letter,
i am also planning to send DS 230 part 1 and 2 along with all the documents in a seperate envelop, with a cover letter and the case no. they provided, lets hope for the best, ur suggestions is required thanks

i am bit confused on the priority dates, as the october bulletin shows 22nd april 2001, where was mine priority date is jan 2003, and i already got the GC on july 17th 2007. will this create a problem for my wife to get an interview date as the priority date is not current. pls suggest ur advice, guru's thanks in advance

 

[crazygal]

Can anyone please send me the sample I-824 form. I am not clear about part 2 and part-3. I think part 2 should be checked C and notify TSC as my GC is approved from that SC.
And in part-3
1)Type of petition: I- 485
Filing date of petition: I -485 received date?
2) Current/Most recent Immigration status: I -485 approved
Naturalization/citizenship number ???
3) Information of my spouse.

Please correct me and assist me, I really need to apply this asap.

And documents to be send with 824:
1) 485 original petition
2) 485 approval
3) Marriage certificate

Please throw some light.....

 

[crazygal]

This is what I got from my attorney:
*******************************************
As I mentioned previously a follow to join petition can be filed for your spouse. However, after reviewing your case with our main immigration attorney she indicated that your wife will be subject to the current retrogression of green cards. Due to the fact that you received your green card on the basis of an EB-3 preference category and India being the country of birth, current retrogression is listed as 22-Apr-01. That would indicate that green cards would not be available for another six years.

Based on the above it will be years before your wife can enter the U.S. based on your green card status. She may be able to enter of her own accord if she can find a U.S. employer willing to sponsor her and then wait for H-1B’s to become available in October of 2008. The only other alternative to get her in the country now might be as a student enrolled at a U.S. university.

******************************************************************

Is the above true??? I just had a hope since yesterday after reading all this thread and now, I heard about the above. Please guide me...

Kamrans or Judex and etc, I need ur help please....

 

[rammyrammy]

You can file for Follow to Join if you are married before your GC got Approved.
The main advantage of Follow to Join is your wife will get the same PD as you.

It might not take 6 years, 6 years is if you apply for I130 and not follow to join.

Again I-824 is completely about you. You specify Option 3 and name the Consulate where you wife lives not the Service center.
For follow to Join there are 3 stages

1)applying for I 824, to notify the Consulate about you GC status

2)Sending packet 3 to the Consulate along with the I824 approval or receipt, and required documents and Cover letter to initiate f2J for your wife.

3)Wait for the dates to become current and the Consulate will setup an appointment and will call for interview.

So without wasting time file for I-824 and get the ball rolling.

This is what I got from my attorney:
*******************************************
As I mentioned previously a follow to join petition can be filed for your spouse. However, after reviewing your case with our main immigration attorney she indicated that your wife will be subject to the current retrogression of green cards. Due to the fact that you received your green card on the basis of an EB-3 preference category and India being the country of birth, current retrogression is listed as 22-Apr-01. That would indicate that green cards would not be available for another six years.

Based on the above it will be years before your wife can enter the U.S. based on your green card status. She may be able to enter of her own accord if she can find a U.S. employer willing to sponsor her and then wait for H-1B’s to become available in October of 2008. The only other alternative to get her in the country now might be as a student enrolled at a U.S. university.

******************************************************************

Is the above true??? I just had a hope since yesterday after reading all this thread and now, I heard about the above. Please guide me...

Kamrans or Judex and etc, I need ur help please....

 

[rammyrammy]

See Answers in Bold.

Can anyone please send me the sample I-824 form. I am not clear about part 2 and part-3. I think part 2 should be checked C and notify TSC as my GC is approved from that SC.
And in part-3
1)Type of petition: I- 485
Filing date of petition: I -485 received date?
Correct

2) Current/Most recent Immigration status: I -485 approved
Naturalization/citizenship number ???
Permanent Resident, A# from your GC or I485 Approval notice

3) Information of my spouse.
This information about You,because you are the original beneficiary of your I485 Application

Please correct me and assist me, I really need to apply this asap.

And documents to be send with 824:
1) 485 original petition
2) 485 approval
3) Marriage certificate

Documents for I824
1)Copy of I140 Approval Notice
2)Copy of I485 Approval notice
3)Copy of GC or I551 Stamp on Passport


Please throw some light.....

 

[crazygal]

Thanq so much for the info rammy.

So I don't give any information of my wife anywhere in the I-824 form??? Is that right? And in part 2, select option C and specify chennai???(as she lives in Hyderabad).

Thanks for all ur input. U made my day so far...

so how long approx. do u think b4 she can enter USA????