This is my first post on the site. I hope I have not made any goofs. I just received an e-mail from USCIS letting me know that my I-140 and I-485 are approved.
Here is the entire story of my GC application. I hope this helps someone in their quest. I am assuming that I have given all the necessary relevant details. Let me know if I missed out some.
Take 1:
1) Primary application of my LCA was filed on 16/Aug/2001
2) Category: EB2 category
3) State: CA.
4) State raised a red flag that my salary was too low. My lawyers responded with a letter saying that the salary will be raised by the time GC is approved. State finally approved the case on: Oct 4, 2002
5) On June 6, 2003 I received the following mail:
"Your request to RIR cannot be approved because the recruitment was done prior to the raising of the wage to prevailing and requires experience, contrary to box 14." I have no idea what this meant. The box 14 clearly said that no experience was needed for my post.
6) My lawyers responded with something for which the INS agreed for am one-day ad.
7) One day ad was placed sometime in Jan 2004.
8) INS sent another "intent to deny", this time because the officer thought that some of the applicants do qualify for the job. The applicants had only BS while my post clearly asked for an MS degree. My lawyers responded pointing out this fact.
9) INS promptly denied my LCA sometime in May 2004.
Take 2:
1) My company applied for a new GC using a labour substitution.
2) Application sent date: Sep 29, 2004
3) Category: EB2, concurrent filing (for both self and wife)
4) INS sent an receipt notice with the receipt date as: Oct 5, 2004
5) I got a FP notice on 27.Oct.2004
6) The FP date was for 10.Nov.2004. I did not know that you could take it earlier. We took the FP as scheduled.
7) My I-140 was touched on 22.Nov.2004
8) On 24.Nov.2004 I received an RFE on I-140. According to the lawyer it was for my company name change. My company was sold a few months ago and hence, changed the name.
9) Lawyers responded on 22.Dec.2004
10) I received an e-mail saying that my case was approved on Dec 29th. INS does work over the holidays!
Note:
1) I also applied for an AP for my wife on 11th Oct 2004 (on-line application). She is on F1 and would need an AP to re-enter US. We had planned an overseas trip during X-mas. AP was touched on 26th Oct. Nothing happened after that. We had to cancel our trip. I would like to know if there is a way to withdraw this application so that I can get my app fee back. I dont think my wife needs an AP anymore.
2) I never received a second FP notice that so many of you seemed to have gotten. Someone told me that the FP2 is actually a "biometric" notice. i.e. they want to take a photo of you and not retake the FP. INS seemed to have changed the photo requirements in Sep 04. They no longer need the 3/4 view. They now need the frontal view. I had submitted the frontal view photos only. That might be the reason why they did not send me an FP2. FP2 might be needed for the older 3/4 view photo applications. This is only a "theory". I am not sure how true this is.
Here is the entire story of my GC application. I hope this helps someone in their quest. I am assuming that I have given all the necessary relevant details. Let me know if I missed out some.
Take 1:
1) Primary application of my LCA was filed on 16/Aug/2001
2) Category: EB2 category
3) State: CA.
4) State raised a red flag that my salary was too low. My lawyers responded with a letter saying that the salary will be raised by the time GC is approved. State finally approved the case on: Oct 4, 2002
5) On June 6, 2003 I received the following mail:
"Your request to RIR cannot be approved because the recruitment was done prior to the raising of the wage to prevailing and requires experience, contrary to box 14." I have no idea what this meant. The box 14 clearly said that no experience was needed for my post.
6) My lawyers responded with something for which the INS agreed for am one-day ad.
7) One day ad was placed sometime in Jan 2004.
8) INS sent another "intent to deny", this time because the officer thought that some of the applicants do qualify for the job. The applicants had only BS while my post clearly asked for an MS degree. My lawyers responded pointing out this fact.
9) INS promptly denied my LCA sometime in May 2004.
Take 2:
1) My company applied for a new GC using a labour substitution.
2) Application sent date: Sep 29, 2004
3) Category: EB2, concurrent filing (for both self and wife)
4) INS sent an receipt notice with the receipt date as: Oct 5, 2004
5) I got a FP notice on 27.Oct.2004
6) The FP date was for 10.Nov.2004. I did not know that you could take it earlier. We took the FP as scheduled.
7) My I-140 was touched on 22.Nov.2004
8) On 24.Nov.2004 I received an RFE on I-140. According to the lawyer it was for my company name change. My company was sold a few months ago and hence, changed the name.
9) Lawyers responded on 22.Dec.2004
10) I received an e-mail saying that my case was approved on Dec 29th. INS does work over the holidays!
Note:
1) I also applied for an AP for my wife on 11th Oct 2004 (on-line application). She is on F1 and would need an AP to re-enter US. We had planned an overseas trip during X-mas. AP was touched on 26th Oct. Nothing happened after that. We had to cancel our trip. I would like to know if there is a way to withdraw this application so that I can get my app fee back. I dont think my wife needs an AP anymore.
2) I never received a second FP notice that so many of you seemed to have gotten. Someone told me that the FP2 is actually a "biometric" notice. i.e. they want to take a photo of you and not retake the FP. INS seemed to have changed the photo requirements in Sep 04. They no longer need the 3/4 view. They now need the frontal view. I had submitted the frontal view photos only. That might be the reason why they did not send me an FP2. FP2 might be needed for the older 3/4 view photo applications. This is only a "theory". I am not sure how true this is.