Green Card Newbie

[vkarumbaiah]

Hi
I am a citizen of India and have been working on an H1-B visa at a company in Connecticut for the past 6 years. The company has applied for my Green Card in August 2003. (non RIR) and it has not cleared the Labor clearance stage yet, it is currently, from what I understand in a backlog center somewhere and the lawyer is waiting for the 45 Day letter.

I met my fiance who is a US citizen 3 years ago and we are hoping to get married in October 2006. My questions are as follows.

1. Do I need to do anything about my GC (Green Card) application? i.e. change it from Employment based to Family based? How do I go about doing this?

2. What is the average time to receive the Employment Authorization from the time I have applied for the Green Card?

3. At what point in the porcess will I be able to change Jobs or travel out of the US?

4. Does any one know where I can find detailed information on the process and the steps that my application will go through and lists what documentation will be required?

I really appreaciate any help, also please expand your Acronymns as Im not sure what the following mean ND, RD, AOS, DORA, RFE, FP, iEAD, AP ??

Thanks in Advance

Vikram

 

[AOS_GUY]

I was in similar situation. Since the your case hasn't cleared the labor department yet the immigration has no record of it. Since you are getting married anyway I would just go to city hall ASAP marry your wife and file for Adjusment of status. You will probably get an interview within a year and you will probably have enough evidence of a real marriage to pass the interview. You can have a green card in as little as a year.
Good luck,

 

[ari4u]

Hi
I am a citizen of India and have been working on an H1-B visa at a company in Connecticut for the past 6 years. The company has applied for my Green Card in August 2003. (non RIR) and it has not cleared the Labor clearance stage yet, it is currently, from what I understand in a backlog center somewhere and the lawyer is waiting for the 45 Day letter.

I met my fiance who is a US citizen 3 years ago and we are hoping to get married in October 2006. My questions are as follows.

1. Do I need to do anything about my GC (Green Card) application? i.e. change it from Employment based to Family based? How do I go about doing this?
No. You file a separate application for your family based GC. You can have employment based GC and Family based GC applications in parallel. Whichever gets approved first cancels the other out.

2. What is the average time to receive the Employment Authorization from the time I have applied for the Green Card?
Approx 30-90 days from your RD. Check the EAD timeline table to get an idea.

3. At what point in the porcess will I be able to change Jobs or travel out of the US?
You can choose to stick with your H1 or use EAD. If you stick with your H1, you need to worry about H1 transfers and the 6 year limit. If you decide to use EAD, you can change your job as soon as your EAD is approved.
As for travel, you can use your H1 if it is still valid and you havent used your EAD. If you have used your EAD for work, you need to apply for AP in order to enter US after an international travel.

4. Does any one know where I can find detailed information on the process and the steps that my application will go through and lists what documentation will be required?
www.uscis.gov

I really appreaciate any help, also please expand your Acronymns as Im not sure what the following mean ND, RD, AOS, DORA, RFE, FP, iEAD, AP ??

ND - Notice Date
RD - Received Date
AOS - Adjustment of Status
RFE - Request for Evidence
FP - Fingerprints
iEAD - Interim EAD
AP - Advance Parole.

You should already know all these acronyms since you have applied for an employment based GC.

Thanks in Advance

Vikram