Questions Closed For Conference Call on Monday, Feb 12, 07

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J1 waiver for NIH employee

Hi Rajeev,
Thanks a lot for hosting this conference.
I am currently on F1, towards the end of my Phd.I've been offered a position at the National Institute of health (NIH) and since its a post doctoral position (trainee) they will only do a J1 for me. After the post doc period, I intend to work as Asst. professor in some university. So at some point I will need to move from J1 to H1 or GC. My questions are about the HRR waiver process -

1) I understand that I can get a No objection waiver from my home country,India if -
(i) I do not receive funding from home govt. or US govt.
(ii) My skills are not in the 'skills list' of the home country
(iii) I do not receive medical training in the US.
Of these I clearly satisfy 2nd and 3rd criteria.We are confused about (i). I will not receive any money from India, but I'll definitely be paid by US govt. since my salary will come from NIH which is a govt. agency . Does that constitute a violation of the first criteria ? I am not at all clear about this because most people working in academia always get funded by some govt. grant or the other. So is this different in my case because I will be on the direct payroll of a govt. agency and not paid by a department of some university ?

2) I am aware of another form of waiver called Interested Govt. agency (IGA) waiver. Is NIH an IGA or is there a special list of govt. agencies that are designated IGAs ? How does one get an IGA motivated to sponsor a waiver like that?

3) If (2) is possible, how early can I apply for a waiver after I start working for NIH ?

Any help on understanding will be very useful so that I can make my next career plan accordingly. Please advise.


Thanks a lot,
~sej
 
AC21 Options

Hello Rajiv,

Thanks for the great forum, it is a best service for the community.

I would like to know your advice on a AC21 option.

I am currently working for an employeer A with 7th year extension on my Labor pending in Backlog center.

I applied a labor substitution from an another employer B and have never worked for the company B and I plan to work in future.

Based on this can I make AC21 and join another employeer C on my 485 adjustment of status? I still plan to work for the sponsored employeer B in the future.

Please suggest.

Thanks
 
Dear Rajiv,

I have a situation and few questions and would really appreciate your answers and comments.

Situation
--------------
I am an Indian citizen working in United States on H1B visa and my wife is here on H4. Our child born here in USA is eligible to get Indian Passport from the Indian Embassy here. We want to get Indian passport for our child since our visa is expiring by end of this year and we are planning to move back to India. We do not plan to come back for work/living in USA in the near future.

If we get American Passport now, India will not allow us to get Indian passport (India
considers it as an act of "renuncitation") and we will have to get an Indian Visa or PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card. Even though this sounds like a good option, there are issues with education and other rights for a PIO card holder in India (not being treated equivalent to Indian citizen). Other than this, getting Indian passport will register
the kid as Indian citizen and getting "dual citizenship" later will be easier. [I have
collected this information from Indian Embassy]

Questions:
--------------
1) Is the act of getting Indian passport considered as "renunciation" of US citizenship?
2) Will it be possible for the kid (say after 10-15 years) to get US passport, if the kid
wishes to do so?
3) What is the time limit (age of the kid) before which the kid has to apply for and get
US passport to preserve US citizenship?
4) What is the documentation/proof required (other than US Birth Certificate) for applying for US passport later from India?
5) I heard some news that there is a new rule/bill going to be enacted soon that dis-allows "citizenship by birth" (if the parents are not citizens). Is this in anyway true?
6) Are there any issues with this scenario? Specifcally, is there any problem using Indian passport to travel back to India.

Appreciate your time to answer these queries,

Thanks Again
 
Accruing stocks from Company A, while on H1 from Company B

Hi Rajeev,

Thanks for hosting this conference call.

On June 1, 2006, I started working for a start-up company (Company A), who were paying a part of my salary in stocks. The accruing of stocks is scheduled end on June 1, 2007. I was working for this company on my OPT.

However, starting April 1, 2007, I am switching jobs to Company B on a H1-B visa. But Company A has been nice to let my stocks accrue till June 1, although I am leaving them prematurely.

My question is, "While I am working in Company B on a H1-B visa, can I still accrue stocks from Company A? I know that, under H1-B rule, you cannot get paid in cash, but what about stocks?"
 
Please help me regarding I 9

My name is Parind Patel, currently working as a
Mechanical Engineer in forge systems Inc.
currently I am on my OPT card and its expires in Dec
'07, now the the problem is with my previous owner
I have worked for 2-3 days for my previous employer
and left the job. During this time as I didn't have
all the documents so I didn't submit I-9 form to
previous employer and I left the job. The only thing I
had is his Time Card.
Then I send an email of leaving a job.

He replied with following responce :

Dear Mr. Patel
sub: Termination
We are in receipt of your e-mail dated Feb
06, 2007 and agree to terminate your services
with RJ Engineering Systems. We however must
bring the following facts to your attention:

1. You accepted our letter of employment in
writing but in spite of several reminders did
not fill and submit Form I-9. This is against
employment regulations.

2. If you were contemplating leaving our
employment, you should have chosen to do in
person by submitting a letter of resignation.
This is a proper code of conduct in business.

3. You should have handed over all company
property back to us, like Time Log Card
etc.. before leaving.

Under the circumstances, we have decided to
refer this matter to our business and
immigration attorneys and wait for their further
advice.

So I need help for this matter, does his
responce create problem for me in doing H1 visa?

I am in tense, Please help me anybody.

Thank You,

Parind Patel
 
H1B Questions

Hi Rajiv,

I'll really appreciate if you can answer some of my questions regarding H-1B.

My husband was on H-1B since March 2003 and after the first 3-year period he got H-1B extension for another 3 year which was valid until March 2009. However, in December 2006, he quit his job to go back to a school in France to get an MBA. He'll be there for one year till December 2007. I'm currently on H-1B here in US. My questions are:

1. Does his previous company need to revoke his H-1B petition? How will INS know that he was outside US for one year if we don't inform INS.


2. If after December 2007, he gets a job in US in a new company, can he get a new H-1B for the priod that's left from his first 6 year quota (2.5 years). There will be a difference in his job profile, in his previous company he was a software engineer and after finishing an MBA his job profile will be more management type or finance related.

3. If he wants to have a full 6-year period again, then I assume that he'll be able to join a job here after October 2008, in that case will he counted towards the H-1B quota although he had H-1B before?

4. If he wants to come here to US for internship for 2 months, what visa will he come under?

5. If he comes to US as exchange student for 2 months, what visa will he come under? any implications of J visa.

6. Can a person on H-1B take a leave of absence without affecting H-1B and green card?

7. When does a person has to apply for H-1B yo count towards the 20,000 H-1B visa for people with higher education? Does the job profile have to related to the education you received in US? (My husband has a Masters of Science from a US University but after MBA his job profile would be different than before as mentioend earlier)

8. What's the quota for H-1B for this period and what is the latest date by which you can apply?


All my questions are geared towards the direction as to whether it's possible at all for my husband to come back to U.S. in January 2008 right after graduating from France or not. I'll really appreciate your response to my questions.

Thanks
Smriti
 
EB3 to EB2

Here is my situtaion.
I have some bad exprience with INS from the begining now I have a another situation.

My LC EB3 was filed in Oct 2001 and it get rejectd and finaly went Dallas Baclock centre with remand status. it was lying there alomost 5 Years.

last year My self hire a attorney and he file a PERM case ( RIR_PREM CONVERSION) for me ask to retain the old EB3 PD. its almost year.

Mean time, My comp give a old approved labor PD NOv 05 and filed my I-140 in EB2 . and my I-140 get approved in EB2 with NOv 05 PD.

Now PERM EB3 ( Which RIR converson to PERM ) has been approved with PD OCT 01.


Now , I have I-140 EB2 approved PD Nov 05
and LC EB3 approved PD OCt 01.

NOw i am filing the I-140 for Eb3 and wait for approval.

Can i file my 485 with Eb3 PD in EB2 catogory ?

I am not sure how should i explin the question.
Please help me what can be done in this regads.
Your all comment will be very helpfull for me deciding the next step.





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Labor certification amendment question

Hello Rajiv.

At the outset thanks for hosting this call. I have a question regarding my Labor cetrification application.

I have a Labor certification (Traditional) application pending at the DBEC with an Oct 2002 Priority Date and we are just going through the RIR conversion process. I took a look at the Application for Alien Employment Certification and saw that the experience listed there requires a Masters Degree and One Year of experience.

I have a masters degree and have worked as a teaching assistant during the duration of my Masters program I also worked as an intern over the Summer of 1999. Here are the exact dates of my employment.

Teaching assistant: Aug 31, 1998 through May 29 2000
Summer Intern: June 23, 1999 through Sept 13, 1999

My question is whether this would qualify for the 1 year of experience that's listed in the requirement for DOL? I really do not want to lose this PD, so do you suggest that I stick with this application or go ahead and file an amendment to change the experience required to Masters + 0 years.

Thanks in advance,
SJShark.
 
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Hello Rajiv,

Thank you very much for the conference call. Appreciated.

Question 1 - My company initiated my GC in November 2001, with the salary at that time. Now it is been about 6 years i did receive yearly pay raise and what i am getting currently is different from what was mentioned in the Labor. Is that going to be a problem when my I-485 get processed.

Question 2 - My Labor was filed with one title, can i accept a promotion, i.e. by the time my I - 1485 is processed i may be with different tittle and different pay structure. Is that going to be a problem?

My PD is May 13 2002.

Thanks
 
Visitor Visa Question

Dear Mr. Khanna,

Thanks a lot for organizing this conference call.

I would like to invite my widowed mother to come visit me in the U.S. She applied for visitor visa but was denied all four times at the Chennai consulate quoting 214b (I was a permanent resident on all four occasions). I am now a U.S citizen. Some of my friends recommended I sponsor a greencard for her which I don't intend to because my mom wants to visit me only once. Among five of her children, I am the only one here in the U.S. My other siblings and their families live in India.

Any guidelines you provide in this regard is greatly appreciated. Thanks again for your time and help.
 
H4 -> H1, 221(g) while H1 stamping, going for H4 Stamping now, any issues?

Rajiv,

Thanks for hosting this call and providing valuable service to the immigration community.

Here is a situation that I need your input on:

My wife has been in US since Jan 2005 on H4, before that she worked in India in IT. After coming to US, her H4 extension of stay along with my H1 7th Year has been extended till end of April 2007, this got approved in May 2006. This H4 extension has not been stamped on the passport.

In June 2006 a consulting shop applied H1 for her which got approved in Nov 2006. Within a week of the approval (through online status we came to know the status) she has to travel to India for family emergency. Her employer suggested that she can travel, and they would send the H1 documents to her, which she in turn can get stamped. Since the approval came almost around the same that she has to travel, she has not started working for the company yet, and has not even applied for SSN. While leaving the US she had returned her H4 I-94 with airport staff.

During her H1 Visa interview in Chennai, they issued a 221(g) asking the following the additional documents from the employer:
1. A notarized list of all the petitioner's employees of the job site listed. The list should show all employees names, their job descriptions, individual salaries, and immigration status.
2. State employement wage reports showing all wages paid to each employee in the state for the past two quarters.

We have been trying to get these documents from the company that sponsored her H1. Every time we talk to her company folks they would say these documents will be sent in a week, and it has been couple of months and we are still waiting. After repeated phone calls and emails we lost hope that they would be sending these documents anytime.

Now we are planning to go for H4 stamping, so she can get here and be with the family. When we called up the VFS in Chennai explaining the situation, they said it is the Visa Issuing Officer who decides on this.

Given these facts,
1. What are the risks that we should consider before going for H4 visa interview?
2. Are there any guidelines published by Visa office addressing this type of situation?
3. Is there something that won't allow us to go for H4 visa while the previous application is still pending?

Your analysis and suggestions on this will be of great help to us.

Thanks in advance!
 
Hi Rajeev,

Thanks for providing this great service. I had couple of questions regarding issues that might affect when i apply for my I-485.

1) I was laid-off from my company A in Feb 2002 and i was in the US till
June 2002 without any pay. The employer had not cancelled by H1-B. Will this
affect me during I-485 processing?

2) From June 2002 till October 2002, I worked for a Company in Canada. Then
i came back to the US in 2003 April and started working here. When i filed
for my taxes in the US, I did not include the income that i had earned in
Canada in my tax returns for year 2002 as i had filed a Return in Canada for
the Canadian income. Now, i heard that being a resident alien as far as tax
consequences are concerned, i was supposed to have included my Worldwide
income, including the income earned in canada. Will this affect my 485
processing?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Raj
 
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