N400 Question: Information about employment

M

madhuri_dhar

Registered Users (C)
I am in the process of filling out my N400 application (based on 5 year GC thru employment).

Here's my situation with regards to my employment history.. and will greatly appreciate if someone can shed some light as to how should i present this information in part 6. section B.

"Company A" started my GC process back in 1999. In the year 2000, Company A got split into several small divisions and the division that I became a part of later got merged with another company called "Company B". And company A changed its name too to "Company Z". And then in the year 2001, Company B got bought by yet another company called "Company C".

So when I finally got my GC in mid 2001, I was an employee of company C. (Company C laid me off within a few days of getting my GC approval.. that's another story..)

During all these splits/mergers/acquisitions, the same law firm employed by the original company A continued to work on my GC application ( I am not sure if they notified the INS about change in my employer that time). My paychecks also came from Company A , B and C accordingly as this transition was happening ( I never received a paycheck in Company Z name though)

Sorry for the long story but in nutshell this is what happened --

Feb 1999 - Company A started the GC process
March 2000 - Company A got split and changed the name to Comapny Z
April-May, 2000 - My division of company Z got merged with Company B
April 2001 - Company B got bought by Company C
July 2001 - Got my GC approved.
July 2001 end - Company C laid me off

Should I mention it the same way in my application too ? (except the lay off part) Or just keep it simple as Company A from Feb 1999 - July 2001?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Madhuri
 
I would personally recommend jotting it down as you have elaborately (Feb 1999 to july 2001 - though they need only past 5 years) listed it in your post. Its more important to keep it accurate, as you allready have all the details, than it is to keep it simple.
 
Thanks Suriyan for your response.

I guess my only concern is that INS will not frown looking at the employment history when they see I have jumped around with so many companies during my GC process. Although this is for no fault of mine (as it was because of splits/mergers/acquisitons etc.) but I don't think we get to write all those details behind these jumps in the N400 form or do we? If so, should i explain it by attaching a separate sheet of paper with the application form?

thanks again
Madhuri
 
On reading posts from many users, I did come across some posts which recommended a cover letter along with your N400. The cover letter mainly emphasised the criteria for which you qualified in applying for naturalisation (Employment based in your case). Writing about the frenzy of company name changes could be tagged along too.
I am not an expert, just my personal take on the matter. I essentially feel, if one states things as they happen truthfully, the truth sets you free and you dont have to remember to lie consistently.
 
I worked for company A which got acquired by company B. So on N400 I wrote I worked for Company B and within parenthesis (Company A) in the same cell in the table - because this is really one place where I worked. In the interview this was not questioned but just for the peace of mind I took a few printout of press release stories describing the acquisition to the interview.

Regards,
 
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N400 info

Doesn't the N400 form only ask for your employment history over the last 5 years? Then I don't see the need to explain what happened before that. As long as you got your GC legally (which I believe you did) then you don't need to explain the history behind it since USCIS should know it already. Since they approved your GC they apparently didn't have issues with the company acquisitions/name changes then, and it's not relevant now.

I am also puzzled with suriyan's suggestion about writing "employment based" as the criteria for applying for naturalization. The criteria for applying in fact covers things like continuous presence, length of stay, good moral behavior, and other things enumerated in the instructions. There is no such thing as "employment based naturalization".

Sam
 
cover letter for N400

suriyan said:
Yes there is no such thing as "employment based" naturalisation. What I meant was the GC was based on employment. As for the cover letter, please check http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.ph?t=191541
Click to expand...

Sure, you can write a cover letter (although personally I just see it as a "nice thing to do" but don't see it adding any value - USCIS is going to go through the N400 and process based on that, not on what you wrote in the cover letter). But my point was that since they only ask for employment history over the last 5 years anything before that is not relevant as far as the N400 application goes.

Sam
 
sam_c

actually you're right.. there's probably isn't a need to go back more than 5 years on the employment history. But see the problem in my case is is that if i don't do that, then only company 'C' shows up on my employment history and it's not this company that sponsored my GC. It's company 'A'. So I wanted to put that information down (even though it goes beyond 5 years of history) so I can always explain that all this is due to mergers/acquisitions/splits etc.

It's really a tricky situation. I want to put down all the facts on my application but at the same time not sure if writing all this down will confuse them.
 
madhuri_dhar said:
Feb 1999 - Company A started the GC process
March 2000 - Company A got split and changed the name to Comapny Z
April-May, 2000 - My division of company Z got merged with Company B
April 2001 - Company B got bought by Company C
July 2001 - Got my GC approved.
July 2001 end - Company C laid me off

Should I mention it the same way in my application too ? (except the lay off part) Or just keep it simple as Company A from Feb 1999 - July 2001?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Madhuri
Click to expand...

In my situation, Company started my H1 and GC process then got acquired by Company B. Company A became a division of company B and Company A headoffice became Company B one of the local offices. On my initial H1 and GC paperwork the attorney used Company A and their headoffice as location at the end when I got my GC they used Company B and their headoffice location.

On my N-400 I just put one line as Company B 1/94 - 9/01. Did not have any problems during CZ interview and no questions were asked about the employment.

In your case I'd keep it simple and say Company C 2/99 - 7/01
 
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