GC approved; should be of interest to the 180-day rule hopefuls...

S

Shridhar Rangarajan

Registered Users (C)
Hello all,

Here\'re my details:
PD: July 1998
RD: Sep 14, 1999
ND: Sep 29, 1999
FP: Sep 2000
RFE received: Jan 2001
RFE responded: March 2001
485 approved: July 3, 2001
PP stamped: July 10, 2001

I used to work for a company X that originally did my LC and filed my I-140. I was laid off in Dec 1999; right after my I-485 was filed. I joined my present company in May 2000 - 180+ days after the layoff. Company X shutdown in Dec 2000. I got an RFE in Jan this year asking for an employment letter from company X. Of course, i could not obtain such a letter. So, i sent an employment letter from my present company (stating my date of hire, salary and title), the layoff letter (original), and a couple of online news articles that proved that my previous company had indeed shutdown. My attorney also sent a brief description of my current job to the INS.

I called the INS a few weeks ago and they told me then that my case was on hold as they were awaiting instructions from the HQ as to how to process my kind of cases. Anyway, the AC21 guidelines were issued recently and my case was approved right after.

Hope this information is of help to the interested visitors of this board! Thanks everyone for contributing to this board! It certainly was of great help to me!!

Cheers!
 
No Title

Thanks for your info. I have a couple of questions:

1. How closely did your new job match the old one regarding, salary, title and job description?

2. Pls. provide contact info on the lawyer who handled your RFE. Did you have to change lawyers?
 
No Title

How did you manage to stay here between Dec. 99 to May 2000 while you were not employed? What was your status? My question is, if somebody gets laid off 3 months after filing I-485 is the person authorized to stay in the U.S. for as long as a decision is made on I-485 petition?
please throw some light on it.

Thanks.
 
No Title

I think so. You can stay legally as long as ur I-485 is pending even if you don\'t have any job. If INS approves ur case without any RFE then u r fine. But if INS asks for employment letter then u should send the current employment letter (ur new job shoulkd be in the same/similar classfication as old one).
 
No Title

The new job has a slightly different title. I\'m working for a consulting company now unlike earlier which was a product-based company. The salary and description are again almost the same as the old ones. A few minor differences, that\'s all.
 
No Title

I was on a severance package between Dec 99 and April 2000. Furthermore, i was retained as an inactive employee on the company\'s payrolls until April 2000. All this time, i had my EAD which was used to obtain my present job.

As long as you have an EAD, you can stay legally in the US while your I-485 is being processed even if you are laid off a short while after the I-485 is filed. And if your EAD is about to expire, you are entitled to renew it if a decision has not been made on your case at that time.
 
No Title

If you don\'t mind, could you please provide the contact info of the lawyer who handled your change of Job case. I am looking to consult a good lawyer.
 
No Title

Congrats Shridhar,
Your case is very inspiring. It is possible I may also
end up similar to your situation. My 485 was filed four
months ago and there is a possibility that my compnay may shutdown.
I have been worried and your case is a light at the end of the tunnel.
 
No Title

Congartulations Shridhar! Added a new entry to VSC Tracker.

I guess this proves that the law may work for people who switched job even before the law came into effect. We certainly could appreciate the broad interpretation from VSC.
 
No Title

Hi Sridhar and Others,
   What information does the new employer have to provide to INS? Does the new company have to do any paperwork?

GreenHopeful
 
No Title

All that the current employer had to do was give me an employment letter with information as stated in my original message. My attorney then forwarded the letter to the INS. There was absolutely nothing else that the employer had to do or provide to the INS - no paperwork, etc.
 
company shutdown

my case similar, but my company shutdown, 1 month into filing 140/485 concurrent. i received receipt date and in a month time my company shut down.

they will not cancel my h1 or 140 or anything. but, i found a job in the same geog. location and i have requested the new employer to give the job designationa and job duties as similar to my gc job, so i can try ac21 in future if i get 140 approval and if 140 gets cleared.

please let me know, of your thoughts. any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. i hvent even got my ead yet.

do u think 140 will be denied and some how ins will know taht company shutdown? well our company is still there as an entity, i guess.

ks
 
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