Hello Folks,
My clock is ticking...Its now time to remove conditions. My earliest eligible time was March 25, 2007. Yes, I am aware I have already allowed 3 weeks to past. I am sending the package on Monday or as soon as we receive some expected letter of affidavits on the mail.
My predicament is that I already got a reminder e-mail from my employer's HR warning me about my green card expiring on June 24, 2007. They caught this expiration date because recently I had to undergo my annual renewal of my security and background clearance in order to continue working for my company's client which is a Federal Agency. I was lucky enough to work for the top IT contractor for USA's Federal Agencies like SSA, NSA, etc. I work for the federal agency contract that allows green card holders to be part of the team. And the only reason I am still with the contractor company and not with the Federal agency is due to my green card status. The Federal agency client is expecting me to become their employee as soon as I become a US citizen which is fine by me and I felt lucky to be considered. But first things first.
My questions are: Do you think it is okay to include this e-mail letter in the package that I will be sending for the Removal of Condition and have a letter requesting for a year extension of my GC? How long will it really take to get the 10 year GC? Btw, my husband and I will be filing in Vermont.

fyi - it is not hard to get a job for my skills as I have observed lately but I did not want to lose this particular job. I am intending to work for a long time with this company or Federal agency client. It is not easy at all to get a job in both these places. Before I got in, I had to undergo a lot of hurdles. I felt lucky to work for these places.

The e-mail is worded like this:

'RE: FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
PERMANENT RESIDENT CARD EXPIRES: 6/24/2007

Our records indicates that your Permanent Resident Card expires June 24, 2007. I’m notifying you now because the renewal process can take two weeks to three months and sometimes longer. When you receive your updated documentation, bring the original document to the Security Department office. It is very important that the Security office copy the original document. We track all information pertinent to the XXXXX contract and our office is the one who submits the updated documentation to our client at the XXXX’s office.
It is also very important for you to understand the XXX Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will not accept an I-797 Notice of Action. The OPM wants the renewed or new document with the current expiration date. It is in your best interest to begin filing now to receive your new INS documentation on time. You should also know that you are at risk of being removed from the XXXXX contract if your obligation is not fulfilled on time.

FYI: I will be sending you reminders.

Directions to the Security Office:

blah blah blah and so on....

I went through vermont and it took just over 2 months to get the NOA1 which gives you the 1 yr extension. From first mailing the 751 to receipt of the 10 yr green card was just over 6 months. Personally if I had other evidence (pics, bank acct info, house papers, etc) I wouldn't even bother with the affidavits, they are not a MUST have. I did enclose letters, but they were not notarized, just signed by the friends!! We actually wrote the letters for them, they approved of them and signed! Best of luck

you don't need to request an extension letter....

after you mail in your package they will send you a NOA that extends your Green card status for 1 year... this takes about a month or so.... So I would mail off your package as soon as possible....

I filed at VSC and got my NOA in three weeks. So, if you mail the package in soon, you will be able to get the letter before your card expires. My HR wasn't even aware of the expiration date when I brought them a copy of the extension letter. I think I read that it may be problematic to get a new job while you are in the I-751 process since you do not have a current-dated green card. But I think that your old green card and extension letter should be enough for you to keep the job that you already have. So, I am curious about what this part of the HR notice you received means because it stipilates that an I-797 NOA letter is not enough. Perhaps your job is renewed every year and they need new verification of your status?

It is also very important for you to understand the XXX Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will not accept an I-797 Notice of Action. The OPM wants the renewed or new document with the current expiration date.

Good luck!
blackdog_harry

Missed that, wonder why they wont accept the NOA!!! Hope u get somethign worked out, and hope for a speedy greencard. Hopefully faster than the 6 months it took to get mine.

Wow, I like how they think that the process can take as little time as two weeks. Now that would be a record renewal, I wonder what the record time IS. I also like how they think the average longest time is three months. It's usually 4-6 months or more these days.

And they won't accept the NOA???!?!?!? Is that legal? I know someone on this board went through this whole fiasco recently.

But yeah you don't have to ask for the year extension, you will get that, hopefully within 1-4 weeks after applying. But apparently the one year extension (the I-797 Notice of Action) is not good enough for them.

mine took less then 2 months but I was going through CSC, which seems to be processing I-751's pretty fast these days... hopefully the other service centers will catch up soon...

Yes but Vermont is working on applications from Sept. 06 (as of March 15th). I don't think there will be any catching up anytime soon. My service center (NE) is on August.

It has been posted here that employers are barred from requesting to see the renewed Green Card, but this is a security issue, so I assume that they have the right to do that in your case.

I don't think that sending the email together with your I-751 will speed up things: Your new Green Card will be too late. I think you need to get a I-551 stamp at your USCIS office, and you should plan for this now. Speak in advance with HR about your plan of action. If you or they are doubtful, contact an immigration lawyer.

I would do the following: Send your I-751 soon. Do it with or without email - it doesn't seem evidence to me of the legitimy of your marriage, so I would let it out altogether. When you have received the NOA or when there are only a few days left before your Green Card expires, whatever comes first, get the text of the email in writing from your HR on official paper and signed, with contact information. A letter from the Federal Agency would be even better. Go to the USCIS office with your NOA or other evidence of filing, old Green Card, passport, and the letter and ask for the stamp.

Good Luck,

Peter (allowed to get ITAR restricted stuff because of Green Card)

Hi---Stop right there!

Turns out that many HR departments use an automated software (at CIS' recommendation) to help them remember when someone work authorization is expiring.

YOURS IS NOT EXPIRING!

HR is not only not required to reverify your work auth, they are PROHIBITED from doing so IF you presented a Green Card (of any flavor) as your I-9 document.

HR can be a bit$h about this, but every single page for employers at uscis.gov mentions this important fact.

If you presented a Green Card as a hiring document, they MAY NOT reverify your status.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/EIB102.pdf
Where Reverification is not Required
Permanent Resident Cards (also known as Alien Registration Receipt cards, Forms I-551, Resident Alien Cards, Permanent Resident Cards, or "Green Cards") are issued to lawful permanent residents and conditional residents and should not be reverified when the cards expire. Temporary evidence of permanent resident status in the form of a temporary I-551 ADIT stamp in an unexpired foreign passport is subject to reverification. This is because of the temporary nature of this document. Likewise, documents from List B need not be reverified when they expire. In fact, documents from List B are acceptable even if they have already expired at the time that they are initially shown.

There is another I-9 document that specifically says that two-year Green Cards fall under the same rule; let me know if you need help finding it.

Her problem seems different. In question is not her work authorization (the I-797 NOA would be enough for that) but her status as US person with regards to export control. My department for example, has decided not to hire any Foreign Nationals (=non-US persons) anymore, because the hassle would be enormous - for each staff meeting, you have to decide if something export controlled is coming up and, if it is so, ask the export control officer for permission to discuss it. Otherwise, the Foreign National has to leave the room. Worse, in certain buildings, Foreign Nationals have to be escorted everywhere, even to the bathroom.

She should ask HR what they WOULD accept (if not an I-797 NOA), maybe a stamp in the passport, or maybe she has to quit working there until the actual Green Card arrives, which could take six months.

Thanks v. much--it is more clear now (I'd opened the reply window early & missed your post before).

No idea of the ins/outs, but I wonder if the same argument would not apply-- her status is not expiring.

Sorry I popped off quite *so*.

Call the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices.

The #1 most frequently asked question on their employer hotline is "Am I allowed to ask to see a new form of ID when my employee's green card expires?" and the answer is NO YOU ARE NOT.

The second is "Am I allowed to demand to see the green card to confirm the A# even though the employee showed me two other valid form of ID?" and the answer to that is also NO YOU ARE NOT.


http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc/

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/osc/htm/facts.htm#quest


I very much doubt that Australia is on the list of countries from which one is not allowed to be when working for the Federal government although it is true that *some* immigrants may not work for the federal government without citizenship. (I do work for the federal government and we did have trouble because we wanted to hire someone who was in the process of the N-400 and was a citizen of Indonesia and we couldn't hire her. But we have another employee who was an Irish citizen and LPR and he *was* allowed to work for us before the N-400 was adjudicated. If I had to guess, I'd say that Australia goes with Ireland and not Indonesia.)

I'd call the OSC anyway, I mean they're lawyers, they should know if this is allowed or not.

I guess that her company wants to be sure to comply with the rules of the government contract, under which her work is done. Otherwise, they risk to be fined and/or loose the government as customer, not only that contract. If it has anything to do with National Security, like export control but also other regulations, the Feds can be quite demanding about PROOF of compliance. I was also surprised that the NOA wouldn't be enough, but the NOA can be faked much more easily than the actual card. It would help in such cases, if the DHS answers requests from companies to verify the NOA, but DHS is not well equipped to do that as a routine, even if National Security is involved.

Thanks everyone for the great information you've shared with me. It will help me prepare for this upcoming situation. I will keep you posted with what happens.

Fyi-

In my company we have a lot of H1B contractors all of whom doesn't seem to being given any problem with their immigration status by my company's Security Officer/s or HR. I am starting to be disappointed with the general or common mindset all around. It seemed ironic that my employer's Security Officer/s in the HR division is more concerned with a conditional permanent resident who had passed all the necessary process and background checking than an H1B visa worker.

I did realize that they lack knowledge regarding to immigration and sad to say even labor laws. This occurred to me when they insisted Dublin, Ireland was not my Point of Entry (POE) and made me change my PoE as the airport where my plane landed even though all my paperworks, passport stamped and documentation were done in Dublin. They insisted they consulted an immigration lawyer who confirmed Dublin, Ireland can't be a PoE and to cut the debate short, I changed my PoE to New York.

I underwent a security and background check upon joining this company as a sub-contractor then a tougher security and background check after 5 months when I was offered and converted to a fulltime permanent job and then another quicker security and background check to renew my security access to the system which occurs annually (a total of 3 security and background check in a span of less than 2 years). I hope they really do this to everyone. I have seen some co-workers actually escorted out of the door without any warning due to some very minor blemish in their records. My husband underwent the same and he and I both work in the same company doing the same work. We kind of like working for the same company even though the pay is not as much as we could have gotten if we worked for other companies. So, if I get escorted out because of my expired permanent resident card, my husband might be affected by the stigma. There is possibly not only one person who will not have a job. I have been offered high paying contracts in Australia, England and Ireland which I declined because I was worried about the impact to my eligibility for US citizenship. And also, the financial advantage of working overseas is lesser when I became a US immigrant. One side of me says 'give it up' but another side says 'don't quit especially I have already passed a lot of hurdles'.

Aussie girl

I-797s are issued as NOAs at various stages, no?