New York SESA Tracker

[Captain Sparrow]

as per murthy.com

If and when PERM is implemented, the Atlanta and Chicago Centers will directly process cases. These PERM Centers, also referred to as the National Processing Centers (NPCs), are building an infrastructure for web-based filing. The Chicago Center is already in the midst of being established. Each Center is in the process of hiring approximately 50 primarily federal employees. DOL also has a curriculum prepared to train its new staff. Temporary processing (H2As and H2Bs) will be migrated to the two NPCs. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of the year. DOL still expects the PERM regulation to be published by the end of 2004, but, as regular MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are aware, there is no guarantee that PERM will now be published.
©MurthyDotCom
Until PERM is published, the Atlanta and Chicago Centers will function as additional BECs. If PERM is not published, an alternate regulation will be required to eliminate the SWAs' intake of labor certification cases. The Atlanta and Chicago Centers will function as national processing centers.
©MurthyDotCom
New York and San Francisco Regional Offices
©MurthyDotCom
The New York and San Francisco Regional Offices will not close until at least January 2006. These two offices will continue to process permanent labor certifications until that time. The DOL is working to integrate the computer systems of all offices into a uniform national software network.

It seems NYDOL continue to work until end of 2005 on labor cases..

The two paragraphs you quoted are exactly the ones that caught my eye on this memo.

First of all, if "Until PERM is published, the Atlanta and Chicago Centers will function as additional BECs", that would be great for us. We should cross our fingers that PERM won't be published anytime soon, and so FIFO order will somehow be maintained.

Second is the note anout the NY and SF Regionals active until Dec 06. Does anyone understand what their role should be during 2005 ? Give your insights please.

 

[JustWatching]

I wouldn't jump to this conclusion. In states that have very short waiting time, only applications that are send to BECs will be negatively impacted. But in these states the SWAs may have time to continue processing until March, so they may try to finish up their queue by then and send nothing to the BECs. Remember that they won't be processing any new applications.

SWAs maybe, but they still would need to be transferred to Regional offices - since there will no longer be Regional offices, where do you think they will end up? (and that's a rhetorical question)

 

[nomorewait]

The questions for thousands of SWA cases are when and where they will be transfered to and be processed. It's funny that they slashed down the NY SWA employee first but took no actions so far on those oldest, biggest NY state backalog cases while talking about the FIFO rule. They transfered the regional backlog cases (California) first to BEC, but look at the published preocessing time, the SWA of those states is processing the cases with a much later PD than those in NY SWA. Why NY state is forgotten and beaten like this? So far the PERM does not seem to do any good for us NY SWA backlog cases.

 

[LoveNY]

My guess is that they must have been filed in SanFrancisco SWA in 2001, I mean cases must have been older than existing NY oldest cases.

The questions for thousands of SWA cases are when and where they will be transfered to and be processed. It's funny that they slashed down the NY SWA employee first but took no actions so far on those oldest, biggest NY state backalog cases while talking about the FIFO rule. They transfered the regional backlog cases (California) first to BEC, but look at the published preocessing time, the SWA of those states is processing the cases with a much later PD than those in NY SWA. Why NY state is forgotten and beaten like this? So far the PERM does not seem to do any good for us NY SWA backlog cases.

 

[JustWatching]

The questions for thousands of SWA cases are when and where they will be transfered to and be processed. It's funny that they slashed down the NY SWA employee first but took no actions so far on those oldest, biggest NY state backalog cases while talking about the FIFO rule. They transfered the regional backlog cases (California) first to BEC, but look at the published preocessing time, the SWA of those states is processing the cases with a much later PD than those in NY SWA. Why NY state is forgotten and beaten like this? So far the PERM does not seem to do any good for us NY SWA backlog cases.

Things are not as random as they seem

1) Staff for most SWAs has been cut. Remember Fiscal Year starts in October when new budget took place. This is not only NY.

2) San Fracnsico Regional was transferred first because of all Regionals they have the oldest cases and remember Regional staff is getting transferred to NPCs.

3) People keep forgetting that transferring a case to the BECs first does NOT mean that they will be processed first. And by the way the oldest cases in San Francisco have PD of early 2002 so they are not that far off from where NY cases are.

 

[sr_jinka]

Hello,

My case has a dot of xxx.xxx-030 and was recieved by ny regional office on july 2003. My lawyer recieved notification from the dol that further advertisment and some salary adjustments were required.. that was done and the new ads and salary adjustments were sent back to the dol in july of this year (2004).

However, my case status still says that the case has been issued a notice of findings and a reponse is due on oct 13th (which was 2 weeks ago now, almost)... can anyone tell me what that means? My lawyer and employer have not recieved anything back that I am aware of....

I was told by my lawyer that the whole process should not take more than 90 days after we had resubmitted the updated salary requirements, but it is now obviously past that... would anyone here be able to give me a realistic time guesstimate as to how much longer this may be?

I've been waiting for almost four year nows.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[nomorewait]

The analyses from JustWatching and LoveNY may be correct. Thank you for that. But at least the current process for NY SWA cases is slow down to a new historic record and almost stopped, I guess, at least for another 3-5 months (until March 2005). If you look at the process speed of I-140and I-485, it is a gold season right now. But Who knows the speed of that after being stuck at NY SWA for at least another 1 year from now!

 

[longwait95]

Trouble some situation please advice

Hey Gurus can someone give me some advice here.

Our company which is a subsidiary of a major bank is shutting operations down due to some massive layoffs. This is really unfortunate to me as I am on my 7th year extn of H1B. The LC was filed in NY on Apr 2002. I am considered to be on active employment till Dec 31st. The H1B extn went into effect on Oct 1st. My wife is on H1B (4yrs on H4 and 3 months on H1).

Here are my questions:
1) Can the H1 be transferred to a diff company (remainder of the 7th yr extn)
2) If not can I transfer to H4
3) INS gave my wife a 3 yr H1 (If H1 + H4 = 6yrs does she have only 2 years as she was already on H4 for 4 years)

Any input is higly appreciated.

Thanks
longwait

 

[JustWatching]

Hey Gurus can someone give me some advice here.

Our company which is a subsidiary of a major bank is shutting operations down due to some massive layoffs. This is really unfortunate to me as I am on my 7th year extn of H1B. The LC was filed in NY on Apr 2002. I am considered to be on active employment till Dec 31st. The H1B extn went into effect on Oct 1st. My wife is on H1B (4yrs on H4 and 3 months on H1).

Here are my questions:
1) Can the H1 be transferred to a diff company (remainder of the 7th yr extn)
2) If not can I transfer to H4
3) INS gave my wife a 3 yr H1 (If H1 + H4 = 6yrs does she have only 2 years as she was already on H4 for 4 years)

Any input is higly appreciated.

Thanks
longwait

1) I don't know
2) yes you can.
3) that's right...and that is true for you too.

 

[longwait95]

1) I don't know
2) yes you can.
3) that's right...and that is true for you too.

Thanks JustWatching. Any chance for me to convert to F1(or any other visa) or is it mandatory to get out of the country.
Thx

 

[meg_z]

1) Yes. You can. You can get 8th yr extension only if your old LC is not withdrawn by your old employer and it is not approved by the time INS adjusts your extension application.

Hey Gurus can someone give me some advice here.

Our company which is a subsidiary of a major bank is shutting operations down due to some massive layoffs. This is really unfortunate to me as I am on my 7th year extn of H1B. The LC was filed in NY on Apr 2002. I am considered to be on active employment till Dec 31st. The H1B extn went into effect on Oct 1st. My wife is on H1B (4yrs on H4 and 3 months on H1).

Here are my questions:
1) Can the H1 be transferred to a diff company (remainder of the 7th yr extn)
2) If not can I transfer to H4
3) INS gave my wife a 3 yr H1 (If H1 + H4 = 6yrs does she have only 2 years as she was already on H4 for 4 years)

Any input is higly appreciated.

Thanks
longwait

 

[hkond]

LoveNY,

It's fairly easy to get the labor pending proof from NY SESA but with latest changes in Labor process I am not sure if NY SESA still have the applications.
My attorney applied for one in August and he got it in October (but my friend got it in much less time, in fact that letter looked like a screen shot from computer system). NY SESA letter has the file number and the date they received the application.

guys, any idea how to request a proof of labor pending for more than a year to apply for the 7th year extension, should we go by NY SESA or BEC ?

-LoveNY

 

[JustWatching]

Thanks JustWatching. Any chance for me to convert to F1(or any other visa) or is it mandatory to get out of the country.
Thx

see meg_Z response, absent of that option you do need to leave for 1 year, you can't transfer to another visa type.

 

[eastwest]

Hey Gurus can someone give me some advice here.

Our company which is a subsidiary of a major bank is shutting operations down due to some massive layoffs. This is really unfortunate to me as I am on my 7th year extn of H1B. The LC was filed in NY on Apr 2002. I am considered to be on active employment till Dec 31st. The H1B extn went into effect on Oct 1st. My wife is on H1B (4yrs on H4 and 3 months on H1).

Here are my questions:
1) Can the H1 be transferred to a diff company (remainder of the 7th yr extn)
2) If not can I transfer to H4
3) INS gave my wife a 3 yr H1 (If H1 + H4 = 6yrs does she have only 2 years as she was already on H4 for 4 years)

Any input is higly appreciated.

Thanks
longwait

Here is the same case as yours, username was "Zamq" look on page 188 i guess

"good news to share

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi NY folks
its long time i came and posted some info
i just want to give some information

my case has been filed from NY city on sept 1st week of 2001, i was layoffed from my company in august 2004 after 4 years of service there, i am in 7th year at that time.

i dont know where i have to go becoz my company is big financial firm ,they already informed INS about my case that i got layoffed,
they just give me some time so that i can look for another place

after wasting valuable time in ny, i got employer from NJ, he applied my labor from Maine, my laobor got Approved in 5 months without any queries

after i got layoffed from previous company, new employer applied 140/485/ead/ap for me in sept 2004
i got my EAD/AP approved in just 9 days, THANK GOD FOR THAT
and i got I 140 appoved email yesterday
i am so happy now ,THANKs to GOD
my wife got rfe's on EAD/AP but yesterday she got EAD approval email
hope she'll get AP approval also

thanks everyone who helped this NY forum to this level
ahalem,justwatching and other people

ALL THE BEST, MAY GOD BLESS YOU GUYS
really GOD helped us in this critical juncture"

Hope this will help you.

Thanks
EastWest

 

[backlogged]

what shud I expect

Its become very confusing with all these centers - can some of u gurus help me.

1) Labor for my spouse has PD may 28, 2002. When shud I expect that to be certified? When they say NY regional will still function till end of 2005, does it still mean that NY SWA will close?

2) My 5 years of H1 end in May 2005. I need to file a labor before that through my new employer, probably outside NY. - Should I file after Jan 1 so that it goes to NPC and gets processed right away? What does it mean when they say that NPC will function as additional BEC as well as receive new cases?

3) If we have to move for my new job, can my spouse still continue with her processing, without working for her employer? What does it mean by - GC is for future job - and at the same time you can work for new employer after 6 months of pending 485 and approval of I140. Does it mean that u may never work for the employer sponsoring ur GC at all?

Helllllppppp .....

 

[longwait95]

Thanks a lot guys. In this country you can hld on to your job only for so long. Looks like it is an endurance test. Hang in there. AS for me I will be calling the lawyer tomorrow and will post what they have to say.
Good luck

 

[JustWatching]

Its become very confusing with all these centers - can some of u gurus help me.

1) Labor for my spouse has PD may 28, 2002. When shud I expect that to be certified? When they say NY regional will still function till end of 2005, does it still mean that NY SWA will close?

2) My 5 years of H1 end in May 2005. I need to file a labor before that through my new employer, probably outside NY. - Should I file after Jan 1 so that it goes to NPC and gets processed right away? What does it mean when they say that NPC will function as additional BEC as well as receive new cases?

3) If we have to move for my new job, can my spouse still continue with her processing, without working for her employer? What does it mean by - GC is for future job - and at the same time you can work for new employer after 6 months of pending 485 and approval of I140. Does it mean that u may never work for the employer sponsoring ur GC at all?

Helllllppppp .....

1) Yes, SWAs will close. Your spouses case will most likely be processed at a BEC (based on what is known today)

2) At this point it wouldn't hurt - you may get lucky and actually be processed fast. Worst case scenario you'll end up at the end of the backlog - (January 2005 group) vs. November 2004 group.

3) GC - future job - means that you actually don't need to work with the employer until your I-485 is approved. I guess what you are saying is possible but keep in mind that is open to interpretation. Also remember that concurrent I-140/I-485 process the I-140 is being held up, i.e. you would never be able to use AC21 provisions to switch jobs.

 

[ahalem]

What is really annoying me is that they did not give any time lines for when the first phase of cases will be moved to the BEC, how long it will take to enter them into the FIFO system , when the employer should get the letters . Any idea when these processes will start ?

 

[richshi]

When will NY SESA transfer cases to BEC?

Per the Memo that has been circulated on the web, the first batch of transfer shall be at least started in October. But from all the evidences I gathered, this has not yet happend. It is frustrating to guess what is going on with the NY SESA, or with the entire Dept of Labor's plan.

On other front, FIFO is fair to everyone. NYSESA is one of the most backlogged place, it is still doing mid-October 2001 cases. I140/I485 is moving very fast now, but things may change. If your case was filed in November 2001, you shall go mad if you miss the I140/I485 fast train. On the other hand, with the probable retrogression in Year 2005. Those NY filers who filed in Nov, Dec 2001 will move ahead of those applicants who filed in a "labor-fast" states. Someone should play a balancing hand.

NY SESA staff has been reduced by two thirds. These people have no motivation to work harder, they never did. Well, again, these people get paid shit.

Life is a dilemma, right? One thing for damn sure, when you finally get your GC after painful waiting for 4 years, you won't be holding any gratitude to anyone. How could you have love for this country, H1-Bs? No one should blame you if you try all your best to suck this nation dry after the GC done. Why, because the GC process is so painful, nobody gives you due respect, why should you pay due respect back?

 

[LoveNY]

hkond,
thanks for the info. so seems like for you, it took almost 2 months which is defintely a longtime. Right now I am in the process of applyig for a regular H1 extension for 2 months and once approved, I will start the 7th year and by that time(say after 3 months), I dont know where my application is going to be. Hopefully we will get a letter from the BEC as they are sending out letters to each and every applicant to make sure that they are still in the queue. let's wait and see..

-LoveNY

LoveNY,

It's fairly easy to get the labor pending proof from NY SESA but with latest changes in Labor process I am not sure if NY SESA still have the applications.
My attorney applied for one in August and he got it in October (but my friend got it in much less time, in fact that letter looked like a screen shot from computer system). NY SESA letter has the file number and the date they received the application.