I-485 denial (potential fraud reason)

Between (2) and (3) you were probably working illegally (not sure for how long). However, when you were filing for AOS, you did not have any signle day of illegal work since the latest entry. So, I do not see a reason to deny I-485 because of illegal employment.
Now, let's analyze what lying on the I-485 form gave you.
Whether you had status L-1 or H-1 or no status at all between (2) and (3), was irrelevant, because your visa did not become invalid because of your illegal work or illegal stay. You just had some period of illegal work, that did not harm you at all.
It made no sense for you to hide that fact therefore. It also made no sense for you to hide anything else. So, even if you misrepresented a material fact, that could not be for the purpose of getting an immigration benefit for which you were not eligible. You were still eligible even if you were illegally in the US and worked illegally between (2) and (3).

Start with motion to reconsider. It should do the job.
 
Thank you so much for your kind words and guidance. I really appreciate it.

In fact, I did not lie on the I-485 (G-325A) -- I did not mention that I worked for Company B as I never worked on that H-1B. My previous attorney or I also did not lie on submitting related artifacts while filing for H-1B back to company A.

Regards,
RT.
 
RajThomas77 said:
Thank you so much for your kind words and guidance. I really appreciate it.

In fact, I did not lie on the I-485 (G-325A) -- I did not mention that I worked for Company B as I never worked on that H-1B. My previous attorney or I also did not lie on submitting related artifacts while filing for H-1B back to company A.

Regards,
RT.
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You were never be in out-of status or Illegal emplyment. You were continously working for A in L1, when H1 was approved for B. You never took employment with B. There is no legal obligation or time limit to take the emploument with B. As there is no time limt to join B on H1, you can continously working for A till the expiry of L1. The only hitch I see is that you applied again H1B for A (by thinking you commited a mistake; actually it was not a mistake in continuing l1 with A) in Dec 2003. You should have stayed in L1 till its expiry; 2005. Any way all your working status was authorized by USCIS. So dont worry; find a right/litigation lawyer to reconsider/rebut the decision.

The simple reason for this is confusions based on your multiple h1bs and L1.
 
Efren Hernandez exception to last action rule is not applicable in your case. Look more details here - http://www.hooyou.com/news/news051207lastactionrule.html

You violated status H-1 in February 2003 by not starting working for the company B. You also continued working for the company A illegally. Also, your status change to H-1 with company C was a USCIS mistake - your status could not be changed because you were out of status. However, your petition was valid. You were eligible for a visa.

Only
(5) Left US in Dec 2005 and returned in Jan 2006; Got a new H-1B visa stamped at the US consulate
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brough you into status again. So, you were out-of-status between Feb 2003 (when you did not start working for company B within 10 days after status change) and Dec 2005. Which is 2.5 years. Working illegally all the time. However, your I-94 was valid
I-94 valid till Feb 2006
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So, when you left the country in December 2005, you have not overstayed expiration date of your status, from which you got into illegal status.
That means you were not unlawfully present, and you were eligible for visa, which you got at the consulate lawfully without consular mistakes.
 
Now, since last entry you illegal work and being out-of-status did not matter. Because since your last entry you were clean. And you had nothing to afraid of. Even if you lied, that was not to get an illegal immigration benefit you were not eligible for. That could not be fraud.

I got the response that it was mentioned in I-129 form, Part 3, that my "current non-immigrant status" as L-1
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On which I-129? You did COS several times. On which one?
 
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Actually, I see what he meant. He meant you submitted I-129 in order to get into status, in which you were at that point not and nor could you get into one without going abroad. That was illegal immigration benefit he was thinking about - getting right into status.

In that case you have to prove your misrepresentation was not willfull. So, you did not know you were out-of-status. An easy way to do that would be to say you could easily get H-1 visa at a consulate, if you really did want to get into status.

I did not realise misrepresentation was back on I-129, not on I-485
 
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Thanks Raevsky. So, finally, do you think I have knowingly or unknowingly "defrauded" the system or mirepresented myself?

This is scary and continues to be a nightmare, while I try to gather energy in requesting an MTR.
 
So, finally, do you think I have knowingly or unknowingly "defrauded" the system or mirepresented myself?
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I think the evidence CIS has is against you. And the burden of proof is yours. And what I think myself and what I believe, does not actually matter.
As I said, you had a really easy way to get a clean status - by getting visa H-1 at a consulate. You were eligible for that. So, you did not actually have to lie on I-129 form inorder to get into status again. However, COS procedure could be cheaper than flying to your native country to the consulate. And you could have considered more beneficial for you to defraud CIS in order to save some money. It would be nice if you have a proof the ticket was very cheap and it was cheaper for you to get a visa than to do COS. You need to have some idea why getting visa was more convenient for you in some sense, but you did COS because it was more convenient in some other sense. That would help you prove you did not know you were eligible to visa but was not eligible for COS.
 
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raevsky said:
I think the evidence CIS has is against you.
As I said, you had a really easy way to get a clean status - by getting visa H-1 at a consulate. You were eligible for that. So, you did not actually have to lie on I-129 form inorder to get into status again. However, COS procedure could be cheaper than flying to your native country to the consulate. And you could have considered more beneficial for you to defraud CIS in order to save some money. It would be nice if you have a proof the ticket was very cheap and it was cheaper for you to get a visa than to do COS.
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Actually, I did not even think or know about travel abroad or anything else. Company A consulted a prestigious law firm at that time and provided every piece of evidence. All these documents have been submitted (it was a big package sent to CIS at that time, so it is not just I-129 form (kindly see alternatative evidences that I mentioned above). So, CIS had all these with them. Why did they approve it at that time and why is it that I am getting questionned now, god knows.

Considering my native country, I am sure it would have been a lot cheaper than filing COS.
 
Actually, you situation is even worse if the CIS's mistake to succed in doing CIS from L-1 to H-1 was BECAUSE of your misrepresentation. So, you not only could defraud CIS, but CIS made a mistake and allowed COS done because of incorrect information on the I-129 form. Had you put "out-of-status" instead, they would most likely deny COS.

You see what I am saying? So, their logic is you defrauded them not only you hoped to get into status, but actually you got an approval of COS. That logic makes sense. And you will have to try really hard to prove had you realized all that, you would definitely do to your native country to the consulate to get H-1 visa there.
 
Why did they approve it at that time and why is it that I am getting questionned now, god knows
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They approved it because your current status was marked as "L-1" instead of "out-of-status". They would not approve it if they knew. And that is why you were questioned now - because they suspected fraud done at that point.

Considering my native country, I am sure it would have been a lot cheaper than filing COS.
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What is your native country? Do you include airflight tickets to the price?
 
raevsky said:
They approved it because your current status was marked as "L-1" instead of "out-of-status". They would not approve it if they knew. And that is why you were questioned now - because they suspected fraud done at that point.
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What about alternative documents such as I-129 H supplement, covering letter, addendum, etc., that were submitted, where it was CLEARLY mentioned that "status changed to H-1B, but he never worked for the petitioner".
 
What about alternative documents such as I-129 H supplement, covering letter, addendum, etc., that were submitted, where it was CLEARLY mentioned that "status changed to H-1B, but he never worked for the petitioner".
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Technically, that statement was not fraud. But the statement about your current status was a fraud.

They could think you are not clever enough to cover fraud in one statement by fraud in another statement. Or they might think you preferred to commit only one count of fraud versus two counts of fraud. I think either of those two ideas might make sense, at least from their point of view.
 
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Okay, thanks. One more thing, while filing MTR, I wanted to ask the attorney if we can mention in the response letter that I-129 was something that was prepared by company A, reviewed and submitted by the law firm. It was not me (since I am only a beneficiary) who submitted it. Would that be any helpful input to add?
 
Yes, if you can prove that was not you who provided the petitioning company with the fraudulent information, that would be a good defense.
 
I am planning to submit following documents as evidence/attachments while requesting MTR. Can someone please review and let me know if anything else would be beneficial.

-- I-129 (filed by company A during Nov 2003)
-- I-129 addenum (filed by company A during Nov 2003); it was mentioned that "Status was changed from L-1 to H-1B, but he did not work for the petitioner"
-- I-129 H supplement (filed by company A during Nov 2003); it was mentioned that "Status was changed from L-1 to H-1B, but he did not work for the petitioner"
-- Covering letter (filed by company A during Nov 2003); it was mentioned that "Status was changed from L-1 to H-1B, but he did not work for the petitioner"
-- Pay slips from company A filed with the petition in 2003
-- W-2 from company A filed with the petition in 2003
-- I-797 from company B filed with the petition in 2003
-- G-28 prepared and filed by attorney during Nov 2003
-- all pay slips from 2002 onwards (I have each and every pay slip)
-- all W-2s from 2002 onwards
-- I do not have any history of denials or withdrawls or revocations
 
How did the potential employer figure out info about you?
Did you fill any papers for the employer?
Do you have a copy of those papers?
 
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