Is AC21 safer than leaving company just after GC Approval

I

indian25

Registered Users (C)
I want to leave my company ASAP. Could anyone tell me which is the best and safest way? I'm about to get my GC, my 140 got approved in Jul 2004 and got FP done for 485 in Oct 2004. Shall I leave now on the basis of AC21 or shall I wait for 485 approval? I have seen different postings in which it is mentioned that leaving after GC approval also is not safe and u have to stick to the same employer for 6 more months.

Thanks,
 
Sorry...a diff question ..

A related question....

can you please tell me how you know that you are about to get GC ?

Any answer would be greatly appreciated...I will then apply the trick to
myself too and see if I can draw a conclusion :)
 
Eventually ?

Eventually :) :) :)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you think I am out of my mind then its because I sure am !!!
 
indian25 said:
I want to leave my company ASAP. Could anyone tell me which is the best and safest way? I'm about to get my GC, my 140 got approved in Jul 2004 and got FP done for 485 in Oct 2004. Shall I leave now on the basis of AC21 or shall I wait for 485 approval? I have seen different postings in which it is mentioned that leaving after GC approval also is not safe and u have to stick to the same employer for 6 more months.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Once your GC is approved, the rule of thumb is that you should stay with the sponsoring employer for 6 - 12 months. Otherwise, this could interpreted as fraud either at the citizenship stage (if applicable) or sooner if the employer reports you.

Under AC-21 you can change to a different sponsoring employer once the I-140 is approved but before the I-485 is approved (provided the new/old jobs are similar enough).

As long as the jobs are similar (and there are no major salary changes), AC-21 is probably quite safe. It's also up to you whether you notify the USCIS that you are using AC-21 -- if you don't you may need to prove that you were elligible to use it 6-7 years from now at the citizenship stage but if you do let them know, you might increase the risk of an RFE or a transfer to your local office (which could slow the case down).

ETA
 
Do we know anyone whose citizenship has been denied and green card has been revoked after 5 years based on this condition ( and he / she has no choice but to go back to origin country ) or this is just other "info / legal" stuff ? Senior members .. plz help us on this.
 
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MD_Rockville said:
Do we know anyone whose citizenship has been denied and green card has been revoked after 5 years based on this condition or this is just other "info" stuff ?
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I'm not aware of a single case and didn't see any specific examples in the citizenship forum after scanning this quickly. Of course, if this actually does happen to someone, they might not have much time to post about it before getting deported (although I would have thought that lawyers and others might know of such cases)...

The concern about problems at the citizenship stage is also raised on the murthy site (http://www.murthy.com/485faq.html#13).

It's potentially far more likely that this could happen due to complaints from the sponsoring employer.

ETA
 
No offense but as per my lawyer [ I would rate my lawyer ( NYC based ) very successful as I have seen 30 folks approved w/o any RFE at any stage ] - this is a fear tactics put by some hot shot lawyers ( esp. m** ) to make money. both retrogress and GC denial theory falls under this category ( these are words of law firm ) ..
to me information we share at this forum makes more sense..and people like dsatish and ginne halp a lot..

On retrogress my lawyer says -- historically in a normal case GC process take 2 to 3 years for 80% people.. unless you are unlucky or greedy.. even if they retrogress people waiting for GC for 2+ years are likely to get GC in < 3 years..and then USCIS will again change the law to adjust the pace ..Concurrent filing..I140 approval..AC21..dates from feb 2002 to june 2003.. and there are many more steps taken by USCIS time to time to process green card in resonable time frame.."retrogress" panic is just an attemp to draw more and more people for advice or filing and changre them helfty legal fee..period..
remeber law suit by rajiv is to reduce the time frame to < 1 year and has nothing to do with what i just said..i just discussed what USCIS have been doing.. ( and that is a painful experience for immigrants )
 
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As far as I know there are definite guidelines which have been put out by the USCIS on this, e.g. the 30 / 60 / 90 day guidelines which were mentioned recently. There's also the following INA entry which was quoted at http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=147693.

INA: ACT 246 - RESCISSION OF ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS

Sec. 246. [8 U.S.C. 1256]

(a) If, at any time within five years after the status of a person has been otherwise adjusted under the provisions of section 245 or section 249 of this Act or any other provision of law to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Attorney General that the person was not in fact eligible for such adjustment of status, the Attorney General shall rescind the action taken granting an adjustment of status to such person and canceling removal in the case of such person if that occurred and the person shall thereupon be subject to all provisions of this Act to the same extent as if the adjustment of status had not been made. Nothing in this subsection shall require the Attorney General to rescind the alien's status prior to commencement of procedures to remove the alien under section 240, and an order of removal issued by an immigration judge shall be sufficient to rescind the alien's status.1/


(b) Any person who has become a naturalized citizen of the United States upon the basis of a record of a lawful admission for permanent residence, created as a result of an adjustment of status for which such person was not in fact eligible, and which is subsequently rescinded under subsection (a) of this section, shall be subject to the provisions of section 340 of this Act as a person whose naturalization was procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.


That said, it's unclear how often these rules are enforced and, again, I've yet to hear of a single case where this has happened.

ETA
 
ETA-- I never suspect a guideline. I am looking for a concrete victim. who can say " guys here is what happened to me " ...if there are n guidelines then there are n+1 lawyers to save you..
 
MD_Rockville said:
No offense but as per my lawyer [ I would rate my lawyer ( NYC based ) very successful as I have seen 30 folks approved w/o any RFE at any stage ] - this is a fear tactics put by some hot shot lawyers ( esp. m** ) to make money. both retrogress and GC denial theory falls under this category ( these are words of law firm ) ..
to me information we share at this forum makes more sense..and people like dsatish and ginne halp a lot..
Click to expand...

No offence to your lawyer. I guess lawyers like Shusterman, Murthy or Rajiv Khanna are equally successful, if not more. In general good lawyers try to play it safe in a responsibile manner. Is that causing "fear"? Definitely yes. Is that "fear tactics"? Definitely no. Many immigration laws are in book and are never enforced. But that does not mean any cautionary notice about those laws should be considered as "fear tactics".

Very good example, is AR-11 law. This law was there in books in last 20 years and never enforced most of its life. But suddenly 9/11 changed everything and people got deported because they did not file AR-11 within 10 days after moving.

Rules are there in books. And it's totally upto USCIS to set priority and focus depending on circumstances.
 
pralay said:
No offence to your lawyer. I guess lawyers like Shusterman, Murthy or Rajiv Khanna are equally successful, if not more. In general good lawyers try to play it safe in a responsibile manner. Is that causing "fear"? Definitely yes. Is that "fear tactics"? Definitely no. Many immigration laws are in book and are never enforced. But that does not mean any cautionary notice about those laws should be considered as "fear tactics".

Very good example, is AR-11 law. This law was there in books in last 20 years and never enforced most of its life. But suddenly 9/11 changed everything and people got deported because they did not file AR-11 within 10 days after moving.

Rules are there in books. And it's totally upto USCIS to set priority and focus depending on circumstances.
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AR11 makes perfect sense to me. Would you tolerate 20 immigrants in your country w/o knowing their whereabouts ? Immigration is a privilege and not a right. In Japan you can not become citizen no matter what you do / look like or earn.
 
MD_Rockville said:
ETA-- I never suspect a guideline. I am looking for a concrete victim. who can say " guys here is what happened to me "
Click to expand...

First of all, the surge of EB GC is fairly new. In early 80s or early 90s there were not too many EB GCs. So this decade is the very first decade when substantial number of GC holders got/are getting/will get citizenship. So it will take some to get clear picture.

Secondly, frequent job switching is also very new thing which only started from last 90s. So this kind of situation probably did not exists in earlier years.

Thirdly, forum is always unreliable to track unfortunate cases - which could be one out of 1000 immigrants.


MD_Rockville said:
if there are n guidelines then there are n+1 lawyers to save you..
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Definitely, if you want to shell out $$$ for that purpose. That's another way to make money too - for some immigration lawyers.
 
MD_Rockville said:
ETA-- I never suspect a guideline. I am looking for a concrete victim. who can say " guys here is what happened to me " ...if there are n guidelines then there are n+1 lawyers to save you..
Click to expand...

I generally agree and I'm mainly just posting the information that I've come across so people can evaluate this for themselves.

Don't forget though that the USCIS can and has changed the way they interpret / enforce rules, especially post 9/11.

ETA
 
MD_Rockville said:
AR11 makes perfect sense to me. Would you tolerate 20 immigrants in your country w/o knowing their whereabouts ? Immigration is a privilege and not a right. In Japan you can not become citizen no matter what you do / look like or earn.
Click to expand...

Anything that in law books make sense to someone who wants to comply. Who is questioning that? If 10 years back someone filed AR-11 after being afraid that he would be deported if he did not do that, other people probably would laughed at him - for the very reason at that time it was not enforced.The law remains same, only situation changes.

"Tolerence" is a different issue which has nothing to do with the "law". There are many anti-immigration people in USA who would not tolerate even legal immigrants like you, me or others.
 
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AC21 is safe if you have a copy of your LC with you and ensure that the new job description is almost the same as the one mentioned in your LC. For my personal case, i have never used AC21 because i thought that getting such an ideal offer (with same job description as in LC) will be difficult. We use AC21 to move to bigger companies and i wasn't sure that they will cooperate with us for giving the document of our choice. Secondly i was foolishly over optimistic for a large part of time, always assuming that i will get approval very shortly. Only after i got my GC, i felt that i have unnecessarily waited too long without changing jobs.
Coming to changing jobs after the GC, i would say that just wait for 2 or 3 months and then change. I wouldn't care for the cautious trash thrown by some lawyers. I myself changed job 3 months after getting my GC.
To answer the main question of this thread, i would say that changing job soon after getting GC is much safer than using AC21. I thought of changing job 1 month after getting the GC, but it took time for me to get the job of my choice.
 
Thanks dsatish, but do you know someone whose citizenship has been denied and green card has been revoked after 5 years ?
 
dsatish said:
AC21 is safe if you have a copy of your LC with you and ensure that the new job description is almost the same as the one mentioned in your LC. For my personal case, i have never used AC21 because i thought that getting such an ideal offer (with same job description as in LC) will be difficult. We use AC21 to move to bigger companies and i wasn't sure that they will cooperate with us for giving the document of our choice. Secondly i was foolishly over optimistic for a large part of time, always assuming that i will get approval very shortly. Only after i got my GC, i felt that i have unnecessarily waited too long without changing jobs.
Coming to changing jobs after the GC, i would say that just wait for 2 or 3 months and then change. I wouldn't care for the cautious trash thrown by some lawyers. I myself changed job 3 months after getting my GC.
To answer the main question of this thread, i would say that changing job soon after getting GC is much safer than using AC21. I thought of changing job 1 month after getting the GC, but it took time for me to get the job of my choice.
Click to expand...

Did you inform about your job change to USCIS?
Thanks
Rajan
 
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