GC after 1 year J-1/NIW waiver??!!

L

luckymaybe

Registered Users (C)
Great forum!!
Can anyone suggest what I should do? Started J-1 waiver in July 2004, applied for NIW and I 485 in Nov. 2004, I 140 approved March 2005, FP in April 2005, RFE-Medical Exam June 2005, I 485 approved 1st week August 2005, GC received!!! 2nd week August. Should I report this or just continue my waiver (I plan on completing 5 years)?? The whole process was done through a lawyer who told me of two other such approvals. Please advise.
 
Just another proof of the known fact that at USCIS the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

There was another poster here who reported a similar erroneous approval (it might have been family based). Opinions were split whether he should politely decline and get his H1b status reinstated, or whether he should just stick with the job for 3 years and take what they gave him.

The risk with going back to them and telling them about their error is that this is a guarantee spin them into total confusion and to make this very very complicated. At the end of your 5 years they will tell you that you withdrew your I140 and other nonsense.

The risk with not going back is that they have some supervisors audit, find out about their error and revoke your GC. That would leave you in a real pickle because now you don't even have your H1b status to fall back on.
 
luckymaybe said:
Great forum!!
Can anyone suggest what I should do? Started J-1 waiver in July 2004, applied for NIW and I 485 in Nov. 2004, I 140 approved March 2005, FP in April 2005, RFE-Medical Exam June 2005, I 485 approved 1st week August 2005, GC received!!! 2nd week August. Should I report this or just continue my waiver (I plan on completing 5 years)?? The whole process was done through a lawyer who told me of two other such approvals. Please advise.
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Without a question, this is an error on the part of USCIS. I personally feel that you need not go back and cancel your GC. What I would strongly advise is that you complete your 5 years of NIW, no matter what. If you do not do that, when you apply for your citizenship, your GC will likely be revoked and you will be denied citizenship because you did not complete your commitment which in the first place formed the premise for your GC.

You should know that until 1997, one could get the GC shortly starting the waiver, even before finishing it. It is only after people started leaving before finishing their commitment, that the USCIS came up with the rule that you cannot get your GC until you finish your commitment.

In short, celebrate your GC but finish your commitment, for your own sake.
 
Thanks for all comments and suggestions! I plan on finishing 5 years waiver and having the documentation ready just in case when I apply for citizenship.
 
luckymaybe said:
Thanks for all comments and suggestions! I plan on finishing 5 years waiver and having the documentation ready just in case when I apply for citizenship.
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Another advantage of this would be that you can apply for citizenship within one year of finishing your waiver: something very few people have the luxury of.
 
Don't base your immigration future on anonymous advice from an internet forum. The service made an error here, go to an experienced attorney and have him look at the situation and do some research as to how CIS has handled it in the past when they found out that they messed up. I know of I140s that got erroneously approved where the service went back later and nullified peoples greencards. Only recently there has been a decision to the effect that they can't do that if someone is already in the US, but that got saved only on the basis of a technicality.

Be careful here.
 
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