LostInGCProcess
11-10 11:40 PM
Thanks again for the reply and wishes!!
Also sorry for another question as I forgot to mention this earlier.
My new H1B has more than 6 months of validity period.
One thing which I forgot to mention earlier is that when new Employer "B" did the H1B transfer (June 2007) from Employer "A" - the I-797 receipt # of Employer "B" came out of to be different from I-797 receipt # of Employer "A"?
Shouldn't the I-797 receipt #'s for Employer "A" and Employer "B" should be SAME as it's just an H1B transfer???
Employer "A" I-797 receipt #:
EAC - XXX-XXXX
I-797 valid : 0ct' 2009
Employer "B" I-797 receipt #:
WAC - XXX-XXXX
I-797 valid: June' 2010
As I-797 receipt # gets printed on the H1B visa in the Passport, does having a different I-797 receipt # (of Employer "B") affects anything at port of entry?
Appreciate your help!
Of course the receipt number would be different, because each H1 application is treated as a new application, regardless of whether its a transfer or new. So, they are identified uniquely.
As I-797 receipt # gets printed on the H1B visa in the Passport, does having a different I-797 receipt # (of Employer "B") affects anything at port of entry?
No, at port of entry, you show the new H1 and you get the new I-94 with an expiry date that's on the H1...which would be June 2010. Remember, The I-94 (Arrival-Departure Record) shows the date you arrived in the United States and the “Admitted Until” date—that is the day your authorized period of stay expires, usually its the expiry date what's on your H1.
So, even though your visa may expire after some time, you are legal to stay till the date mentioned on the I-94. I hope its clear to you.
Good Luck!!!
Also sorry for another question as I forgot to mention this earlier.
My new H1B has more than 6 months of validity period.
One thing which I forgot to mention earlier is that when new Employer "B" did the H1B transfer (June 2007) from Employer "A" - the I-797 receipt # of Employer "B" came out of to be different from I-797 receipt # of Employer "A"?
Shouldn't the I-797 receipt #'s for Employer "A" and Employer "B" should be SAME as it's just an H1B transfer???
Employer "A" I-797 receipt #:
EAC - XXX-XXXX
I-797 valid : 0ct' 2009
Employer "B" I-797 receipt #:
WAC - XXX-XXXX
I-797 valid: June' 2010
As I-797 receipt # gets printed on the H1B visa in the Passport, does having a different I-797 receipt # (of Employer "B") affects anything at port of entry?
Appreciate your help!
Of course the receipt number would be different, because each H1 application is treated as a new application, regardless of whether its a transfer or new. So, they are identified uniquely.
As I-797 receipt # gets printed on the H1B visa in the Passport, does having a different I-797 receipt # (of Employer "B") affects anything at port of entry?
No, at port of entry, you show the new H1 and you get the new I-94 with an expiry date that's on the H1...which would be June 2010. Remember, The I-94 (Arrival-Departure Record) shows the date you arrived in the United States and the “Admitted Until” date—that is the day your authorized period of stay expires, usually its the expiry date what's on your H1.
So, even though your visa may expire after some time, you are legal to stay till the date mentioned on the I-94. I hope its clear to you.
Good Luck!!!
wallpaper Pokémon Black Version/White
wellwisher02
03-27 03:22 PM
Has anyone gone to Vancouver for H1B stamping? Please share your experience and any pointers. It will be a great help.
Also, I found this on Vancouver consolate website:
"Passports and visas will be returned to the applicants with Canadian addresses by Canada Post, generally within three to five business days after the visa is approved. In person pick up will be available only in a legitimate emergency (as determined by the Consulate). "
This is disconcerting. I do not have luxary to wait 3-5 days to get my stamped passport via mail. Is this a standard process? Will they allow in-person pick up the same day?
Thank you.
Hey,
Lemme share my H1B Visa stamping in Vancouver, BC in July 2006:
1. First of all, you need to fix a Visa Stamping appointment via www.nvars.com.
2. Get a Canadian visa to make your trip to Canada. (I didn't have to do this since I hold Canadian Green Card.)
3. On the appointment date, be atleast 1 hour ahead of your appointment time.
4. Do not carry any electronic items (car remote, camera, etc) and food/liquid.
5. Carry all the relevant paperwork along with cash in US dollars, just in case you wanna pay fees by cash.
6. Present the documents asked for, and answer questions posed by the Visa officer confidently.
7. The attending Visa officer will tell you to go to a particular counter to pay a reciprocity fee.
7. Once the fee is paid, you need to collect your passport with new H1B visa stamped the next day at 3 PM.
You will not be able to collect your passport with H1 Visa stamped the same day. If your paperwork is organized (meaning you have all the relevant documents for H1B visa stamping), you'll get your passport the next day. Normally, it is stated in their printed document that it would take 2 - 3 business days. In reality, you can collect it the next day unless your case requires more investigation (due to any missing documentation, etc) by the US consulate. You should stay there for atleast 2 business days to get your H1B visa stamping done. Getting your visa stamped in contiguous neighbouring country like Canada and Mexico is convenient as opposed to going to your home country which would otherwise cost your more time and money.
Hope this helps.
Also, I found this on Vancouver consolate website:
"Passports and visas will be returned to the applicants with Canadian addresses by Canada Post, generally within three to five business days after the visa is approved. In person pick up will be available only in a legitimate emergency (as determined by the Consulate). "
This is disconcerting. I do not have luxary to wait 3-5 days to get my stamped passport via mail. Is this a standard process? Will they allow in-person pick up the same day?
Thank you.
Hey,
Lemme share my H1B Visa stamping in Vancouver, BC in July 2006:
1. First of all, you need to fix a Visa Stamping appointment via www.nvars.com.
2. Get a Canadian visa to make your trip to Canada. (I didn't have to do this since I hold Canadian Green Card.)
3. On the appointment date, be atleast 1 hour ahead of your appointment time.
4. Do not carry any electronic items (car remote, camera, etc) and food/liquid.
5. Carry all the relevant paperwork along with cash in US dollars, just in case you wanna pay fees by cash.
6. Present the documents asked for, and answer questions posed by the Visa officer confidently.
7. The attending Visa officer will tell you to go to a particular counter to pay a reciprocity fee.
7. Once the fee is paid, you need to collect your passport with new H1B visa stamped the next day at 3 PM.
You will not be able to collect your passport with H1 Visa stamped the same day. If your paperwork is organized (meaning you have all the relevant documents for H1B visa stamping), you'll get your passport the next day. Normally, it is stated in their printed document that it would take 2 - 3 business days. In reality, you can collect it the next day unless your case requires more investigation (due to any missing documentation, etc) by the US consulate. You should stay there for atleast 2 business days to get your H1B visa stamping done. Getting your visa stamped in contiguous neighbouring country like Canada and Mexico is convenient as opposed to going to your home country which would otherwise cost your more time and money.
Hope this helps.
arc
03-11 03:03 PM
Mr "A" Check with a good tax consultant about implications of being paid in check, on EAD you can do multiple jobs and businesses, as long as you report your earnings and pay tax you should be fine. I am not an expert, check with a tax consultant and an attorney!
Person "A" on H1B with 4 yrs of experience, Green Card filed, EAD received (both husband and wife), I-140 pending, Wife Dependant (has her own H1B), Wife opens a training institute.
1. Can "A" work for his wife and also get paid in check?
2. Can "A" have a second job in his wife's company and retain his original job?
3. Can "A" have a different occupation anywhere else on EAD not related to his original job role? and then can "A" get paid in check?
4. Can "A" work for his wife's company and instead wife gets the check or paid? Is that legal?
5. Can "A"'s wife open a company on EAD and also keep working on her H1B?
6. Can "A" and his wife after EAD work for 2 different jobs if the job description/roles are different?
7. Can "A" work as volunteer in his wife's company?
8. Can a software analyst working with a software company work as a trainer in a training institute on EAD with I-140 either pending or approved?
Person "A" on H1B with 4 yrs of experience, Green Card filed, EAD received (both husband and wife), I-140 pending, Wife Dependant (has her own H1B), Wife opens a training institute.
1. Can "A" work for his wife and also get paid in check?
2. Can "A" have a second job in his wife's company and retain his original job?
3. Can "A" have a different occupation anywhere else on EAD not related to his original job role? and then can "A" get paid in check?
4. Can "A" work for his wife's company and instead wife gets the check or paid? Is that legal?
5. Can "A"'s wife open a company on EAD and also keep working on her H1B?
6. Can "A" and his wife after EAD work for 2 different jobs if the job description/roles are different?
7. Can "A" work as volunteer in his wife's company?
8. Can a software analyst working with a software company work as a trainer in a training institute on EAD with I-140 either pending or approved?
2011 Pokemon Black Version and
pappu
04-24 11:14 AM
OK why dont we have that link that shows about bills anymore?? I mean on the home page...was that intentionally removed?
We removed the link and the thread. Announcing the bills in advance did not have its desired effect and motivation in members to help themselves by supporting it.
We saw members discussing the issue to its death and shooting themselves in the foot by criticizing it rather than trying to work together to get more support for it.
IV has successfully done lobby day this week. Many members from Trstate and Texas were in DC and lobbied for admin fixes as well. Some state chapter members even contributed to pay for the expenses of members that traveled to DC.
Our Lobbyists are also working on pushing the bills forward. We are privy to the details on all bills and will announce on the forum at a later date. It is time for members to help themselves by supporting the initiatives by IV and strengthen the organization.
We removed the link and the thread. Announcing the bills in advance did not have its desired effect and motivation in members to help themselves by supporting it.
We saw members discussing the issue to its death and shooting themselves in the foot by criticizing it rather than trying to work together to get more support for it.
IV has successfully done lobby day this week. Many members from Trstate and Texas were in DC and lobbied for admin fixes as well. Some state chapter members even contributed to pay for the expenses of members that traveled to DC.
Our Lobbyists are also working on pushing the bills forward. We are privy to the details on all bills and will announce on the forum at a later date. It is time for members to help themselves by supporting the initiatives by IV and strengthen the organization.
more...
mariner5555
02-08 09:05 AM
my first EAD expires on aug 16 2008. should I file for new one 180 days before or is it 120 before expiry.
is it better to efile for the above extension or by mail. I guess a lawyer is not needed for the above - am I right ? Thanks in advance !
is it better to efile for the above extension or by mail. I guess a lawyer is not needed for the above - am I right ? Thanks in advance !
coolpal
04-28 03:37 PM
My wife came from india this sunday (4/26) @ JFK... she is working on EAD and had an expired H1b stamp in her PP.... She was asked about the purpose of the Visit by the IO and also at the AP fingerprinting, and the first IO asked about the expired H1, but she said she is working on EAD and had a valid AP.. he asked her something about how she could prove that she started working on EAD or something like that, but he didn't wait for answer... sent her to AP finger printing.... it all took less than 50 mins. I should say this is waaaaay smoother than the experience we had at EWR in 2006.
pal :)
pal :)
more...
a_yaja
09-13 03:14 PM
Hi pd052009,
Thank you for your help. I am just confused about one issue. I thought by porting my PD from and old EB2+ perm case to a new EB2+perm will save me time in waiting for the PD. Now you mentioned that if I port my PD from an old EB2 to a new EB2 (same category), I will not save any time. Please clarify.
Thanks.
To give you an example, consider the following:
1. From employer A, your EB2 Priority Date is July 7th, 2006 and your country of chargeability is India. Per the Oct. 2010 visa bulletin, your date is not current.
2. You change employer to employer B who files your PERM on July 17th, 2010 and you get it approved followed by I-140 approval as well (premium processing)
3. PD from second employer's EB2 GC process is July 17th, 2010 - but due to earlier approved I-140 you are able to port your PD and hence the PD on your second I-140 approval is July 7th, 2006 (assuming that the attorney asked for porting of PD).
4. From both your approved I-140 - your priority date is still July 7th, 2006. However, from Oct. 2010 visa bulletin, cut off date is May 8th, 2006. So your date is still not current. For your date to be current, the cut-off date has to be July 8th, 2010 or later.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your help. I am just confused about one issue. I thought by porting my PD from and old EB2+ perm case to a new EB2+perm will save me time in waiting for the PD. Now you mentioned that if I port my PD from an old EB2 to a new EB2 (same category), I will not save any time. Please clarify.
Thanks.
To give you an example, consider the following:
1. From employer A, your EB2 Priority Date is July 7th, 2006 and your country of chargeability is India. Per the Oct. 2010 visa bulletin, your date is not current.
2. You change employer to employer B who files your PERM on July 17th, 2010 and you get it approved followed by I-140 approval as well (premium processing)
3. PD from second employer's EB2 GC process is July 17th, 2010 - but due to earlier approved I-140 you are able to port your PD and hence the PD on your second I-140 approval is July 7th, 2006 (assuming that the attorney asked for porting of PD).
4. From both your approved I-140 - your priority date is still July 7th, 2006. However, from Oct. 2010 visa bulletin, cut off date is May 8th, 2006. So your date is still not current. For your date to be current, the cut-off date has to be July 8th, 2010 or later.
Hope this helps.
2010 With the success of Pokemon
learning01
05-10 11:48 AM
immi2006
That's what we need to do in these forums.
You see, I tried to follow the second link; it didn't work. I tried the first link. It took me to a web site that is totally disorganized and poorly built; I dont have time to navigate and see what you posted about.
After this second corrected post, I follow the link. It is NOT about the CIR and the logjam; it is an attempt to arrive at an agreement to have a working methodology to verify and check illegal immigrants.
Hence, my title: please read and post your opinion, instead of just posting thie links or the story.
That's what we need to do in these forums.
You see, I tried to follow the second link; it didn't work. I tried the first link. It took me to a web site that is totally disorganized and poorly built; I dont have time to navigate and see what you posted about.
After this second corrected post, I follow the link. It is NOT about the CIR and the logjam; it is an attempt to arrive at an agreement to have a working methodology to verify and check illegal immigrants.
Hence, my title: please read and post your opinion, instead of just posting thie links or the story.
more...
prom2
10-25 05:26 PM
I got the same response about AP (same RD), approved Oct 17, not received yet.
Please let us know if you receive it. Good luck.
Please let us know if you receive it. Good luck.
hair New Legendary Pokémon
jthomas
12-04 08:41 PM
If my wife is a US Green card holder and i am in H1B and if we both file for candian green card and move to canada for a week for stamping. Would it create a problem on US citizenship for my wife.
the third rule on the first thread.
the third rule on the first thread.
more...
pranju
05-29 09:04 PM
Donot forget to send the webfax :)
hot Pokémon Black and White
raydhan
01-31 11:17 AM
Dear "colleagues in faith" :-), there is only one way to change the things with this immigration trap - we have to win the public opinion!
Currently 350,000 highly qualified professionals working for this country are in a legal limbo which continues for years. Our current legal status is that of slaves. Yes, slaves! Nowadays it takes anywhere between 5 - 10 years from applying to receiving of a GC. We cannot change our employers within this period, the members of our families cannot work (at least legally) and our spouses lose their professional carrier; if our kids get in college they are treated as "aliens" (full tuition, no student loans, no scholarship); the loans we get are with higher interest rate (for "protection"); at the borders we are treated as "intruders" etc.
The average Americans are honest hardworking people. If they are aware of the immigration problems faced by 350,000 hardworking professionals in this country, they will raise their voice and will help for resolving of this issue. They just need to know that. I believe that in addition to talking to senators etc., we have to find ways our issues to reach the media - newspapers, magazines and so on. An article in Times may lead to a lot of positive changes in the immigration system.
bkam,
Please note that Immigration is not a right. It is a privilege that we are given by this great land of immigrants. Nobody put a gun to our heads and forced us to come here. If you feel bonded by your current employer, you can leave and go back to your home country where you will not be a "legal slave".
If we have the skills and the right knowledge....WE ARE NOT SLAVES AND WE WILL NEVER BE.
Regarding your statement that the members of our family cannot work legally and our spouses lose their professional career........that is B.S.
Ever thought of asking your spouse to get higher education and get H1-B like some of our spouses do? In that way they will not "lose their professional careers" as you claim. Au contraire...they will only enhance their professional lives.
Think for about 5 minutes before you state certain things and type them here.
Good luck.
Currently 350,000 highly qualified professionals working for this country are in a legal limbo which continues for years. Our current legal status is that of slaves. Yes, slaves! Nowadays it takes anywhere between 5 - 10 years from applying to receiving of a GC. We cannot change our employers within this period, the members of our families cannot work (at least legally) and our spouses lose their professional carrier; if our kids get in college they are treated as "aliens" (full tuition, no student loans, no scholarship); the loans we get are with higher interest rate (for "protection"); at the borders we are treated as "intruders" etc.
The average Americans are honest hardworking people. If they are aware of the immigration problems faced by 350,000 hardworking professionals in this country, they will raise their voice and will help for resolving of this issue. They just need to know that. I believe that in addition to talking to senators etc., we have to find ways our issues to reach the media - newspapers, magazines and so on. An article in Times may lead to a lot of positive changes in the immigration system.
bkam,
Please note that Immigration is not a right. It is a privilege that we are given by this great land of immigrants. Nobody put a gun to our heads and forced us to come here. If you feel bonded by your current employer, you can leave and go back to your home country where you will not be a "legal slave".
If we have the skills and the right knowledge....WE ARE NOT SLAVES AND WE WILL NEVER BE.
Regarding your statement that the members of our family cannot work legally and our spouses lose their professional career........that is B.S.
Ever thought of asking your spouse to get higher education and get H1-B like some of our spouses do? In that way they will not "lose their professional careers" as you claim. Au contraire...they will only enhance their professional lives.
Think for about 5 minutes before you state certain things and type them here.
Good luck.
more...
house Pokémon Black and White
kshitijnt
05-14 07:44 PM
Dont worry they would not retaliate. I had written highly critical emails back in 2004. Not a problem.
tattoo Pokémon Black and White have
vandanaverdia
09-10 02:59 PM
Thanks drona for your support!
Fellow Washingtonians & Oregonians, please join in & support the cause....
Fellow Washingtonians & Oregonians, please join in & support the cause....
more...
pictures New Pokemon for Black and
vinabath
03-24 01:56 PM
Now everything is queued..... no more cutting lines.
dresses New DS Pokemon White Version
coolmanasip
07-19 10:35 AM
tnite.... thanks for the detailed reply........I forwarded this exchange to him........should make him happy and relaxed!!!
Thanks much!
Thanks much!
more...
makeup Pokemon Black And White
purgan
11-11 10:32 AM
Randell,
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
Congratulations on getting the attention of the Times, and your tireless efforts in spreading word of the broken legal immigration system.
===
New York Times
Immigration, a Love Story
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/fashion/12green.html
WHEN Kenneth Harrell Jr., an Assemblies of God minister in South Carolina, invited Gricelda Molina to join his Spanish ministry in 2000, it didn’t take him long to realize he had found the woman he had been waiting for. On the telephone and during romantic strolls they talked about their goals, their commitment to God and how many children each would like to have. Six months flew by, and he asked her to marry him.
“She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful spirit, very gentle, very sincere,” Mr. Harrell said. But Ms. Molina, a factory worker, was also an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who had crossed into the United States twice, having once been deported. Mr. Harrell, the pastor of Airport Assembly of God church in West Columbia, said he was not too concerned. “Whatever came, we would walk through this path together,” he said.
Mr. Harrell and Ms. Molina, both 35, married in 2001, in a large wedding attended by family from both sides and blessed by pastors in English and Spanish. But the Harrells no longer live together, not because of divorce, but because Mrs. Harrell, now the mother of two sons and four months pregnant with their third child, has been deported. She had applied for legal residency, or a green card, with her new husband as her sponsor, Mr. Harrell said, but she was sent back to Honduras 20 months ago because of her illegal entries and told she would have to wait 10 years to try again.
“Illegals are pouring over the border,” said Mr. Harrell, who has visited his family five times. “We meet them, we fall in love with them, we marry them. And then the government tears your family apart, and they take no responsibility for letting them in, in the first place.”
Falling in love and marching toward marriage is not always easy, but a particular brand of heartache and hardship can await when one of the partners is in this country illegally. The uncertainty of such a union has only been heightened by the national debate over illegal immigration. Whether the new Democratic leadership in Congress will help people like the Harrells remains to be seen.
It is hard to quantify how many people find themselves in Mr. Harrell’s situation, but with stepped-up enforcement in recent years, deportations have increased, and so have fears of losing a loved one in that way. (There were 168,310 removals in 2005, compared with 108,000 in 2000, immigration officials said.)
And that is only one byproduct of love between two people with such uneven places in society, immigration lawyers say. Many relationships strain under the financial burden of hiring lawyers for what can turn into years of visiting government offices, producing pictures, tax records and other evidence of a legitimate marriage in the quest for legalization. And while instances of immigrants faking love for a green card are in the minority, according to immigration officials, some couples feel pressure to marry before they are ready, hoping that marriage will prevent a loved one’s deportation.
Raul Godinez, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles, said: “I ask people, ‘How much do you love this person? Because immigration is going to test your marriage.’ If you don’t feel it’s going to be a strong marriage, I wouldn’t do it.”
Many people may still believe that obtaining legal status through marriage is easy, because of periodic reports of marriage scams. In a three-year investigation called Operation Newlywed Game, immigration and customs enforcement agents caught more than 40 suspects in California for allegedly orchestrating sham marriages between hundreds of Chinese or Vietnamese nationals and United States citizens. But such fraud occurs in only a minority of cases, federal officials said.
In reality, immigration lawyers said, marrying a citizen does not automatically entitle the spouse to a green card and is only the first step in a long bureaucratic journey. The lawyers noted that changes in the law in the last five years have made this legalization path increasingly difficult, one worth choosing only if true love is at stake. (Other routes include sponsorship by immediate family members or an employer.)
The Harrells said they had no idea how difficult it could be and were shocked when Mrs. Harrell’s application for permanent residence was turned down, leaving them only 12 days to prepare for her departure. In that time, Mr. Harrell said, they decided that the children, now 4 and 3, would go with her. So Mr. Harrell obtained passports for them, and the church held a farewell service.
“It was very traumatic,” he said. “Our whole world was crashing around us.”
In Yoro, in north central Honduras, where Mrs. Harrell and the children live with her parents, she said the older boy constantly asks for his father, begging, “Let’s go to my papa’s house.” She has coped with her own dejection, too. “I know how much work he has over there,” she said by telephone. “He needs his wife.”
But even in the best of circumstances, when an immigrant enters the country legally, couples may have to rearrange their lives and defer their dreams.
Paola Emery, a jewelry designer, and her husband, Randall Emery, a computer consultant in Philadelphia, said they delayed having children and buying a house for the nearly four years it took the government to complete a background check for Mrs. Emery, who had entered the country from Colombia with a tourist visa and applied for permanent residency after they married in 2002.
Mrs. Emery, 27, said lawyers advised them it was not wise for her to risk trouble by visiting her close-knit family in Colombia and then trying to re-enter this country. She said she was absent through weddings, illnesses and even the kidnapping and rescue of an uncle.
“I felt like I was in jail,” Mrs. Emery said.
Officials with the Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Homeland Security Department say that delays lasting years are rare, but some immigration lawyers say they see clients who wait three to four years for security clearance. Mrs. Emery and her husband, 34, sued Homeland Security over the delays, and she was finally cleared last May. By then Mr. Emery had helped form American Families United, a group of citizens who have sponsored immediate family members for immigration, and which advocates immigration-law change to keep families together. Immigration Services officials say they are not out to impede love or immigration. Nearly 260,000 spouses of citizens received permanent residency through marriage last year, out of 1.1 million people who became permanent residents, according to the Immigration Services office. “The goal is to give people who are eligible the benefit,” said Marie T. Sebrechts, its spokeswoman in Southern California. She said the agency does not comment on individual cases.
When a legal immigrant is sponsored by an American spouse, she said, the green card can be obtained in as little as six months. But with complications like an illegal entry, laws are not that benevolent, Ms. Sebrechts said. In those cases, the immigrant usually must return to the home country and wait 3 to 10 years to apply for residency, though waivers are sometimes granted.
Such obstacles are far from the minds of couples when they meet. And for some, so is the idea to question whether the beloved feels equally in love with them.
Sharyn T. Sooho, a divorce lawyer and a founder of divorcenet.com, a Web site for divorcing couples, said she has represented American spouses who realized too late that the person they married was more interested in a green card than in living happily ever after. “They feel conflicted, used and abused,” she said. “It’s a quick marriage, and suddenly the person who was so sweet is turning into a nightmare.”
But more often, said Carlina Tapia-Ruano, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, couples marry before they are ready because “there’s fear that if you don’t do this, somebody is going to get deported.”
Krystal Rivera, 18, a college student in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend fall into this group. Ms. Rivera is set on marrying in April 2008, even as she worries that it may put too much pressure on the relationship.
“I never wanted to follow the Hispanic ritual of getting married early,” said Ms. Rivera, a native of Los Angeles whose parents emigrated from Mexico.
She said she fell in love at 13 with a Mexican-born boy who sang in the church choir with her. “He started poking me, and I said ‘Stop it!’ ” she remembered.
Ms. Rivera is still in love with the boy, now 19, who was brought into the country illegally by his mother when he was 12. He goes to college and wants to become a teacher, while she hopes to become a doctor.
But for those plans to work, Ms. Rivera said, she needs to help him legalize his status. She said she has witnessed his frustration as he dealt with employers who didn’t pay what they owed him or struggled to find better jobs than his current one as a line cook. Because of his illegal status, he is unable to get a driver’s license or visit the brothers he left in Mexico. “We want to be normal,” Ms. Rivera said.
The Harrells, too, have decided to take charge. After months of exploring how to reunite the family and spending thousands of dollars on lawyers, Mr. Harrell has decided to leave his small congregation, sell his house and join his wife in Honduras. He will be a missionary for his church for a fraction of the $40,000 a year he makes as a minister.
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jcrajput
10-02 11:11 AM
I will need to refile I485 application for myself and my wife. It was rejeted in error from USCIS. I have question:
Should I re-file with old fees or new fees? Any one can help me here?
My application was originally filed at NSC on July 2nd.
Thank you,
Should I re-file with old fees or new fees? Any one can help me here?
My application was originally filed at NSC on July 2nd.
Thank you,
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bablata2007
11-27 04:29 PM
Is this a feasible option? Incase I lose the job, can I change to H4 status based on my wife's H1B? Then wait out the 180 days period and get back to another job?
augustus
05-12 03:13 PM
His position requires Masters Degree
seahawks
09-09 12:59 PM
^^^ bump ^^^
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