H1B Transfer Denied and Getting Married

[mantou 1]

Hi guys, 

 

My situation here:

-Entered US with F1, after graduation H1B for 3 years for my former employer (a big consulting firm), H1B extension was approved until 2021 before I transferred to my current firm

-Left my former company on 8/10/2018 and started a new job in another consulting firm on 8/13/2018 (started working only after the receipt from USCIS was received)

-H1B transfer received RFE and then  was DENIED on 11/6 and the lawyer received the mail denial notice on 11/16, former company has submitted revoke

-My gf (USC) and I decided to get married on 11/24, I plan to wait until 

 

My current firm told me they would make sure to do right by me (refile, appeal, may have me work in another office outside of US). But I don't really trust their contracted law firm as they were not very professional and very unresponsive during the H1B transfer process. 

 

I have hired my own lawyer and planning to file the GC application on 11/26 right after we get the marriage license. I have read a lot online and people submit a lot of evidence for a bona fide marriage. However, my lawyer told me that when we submit the adjustment of status package we do not need to provide joint documents. We will provide those for our interview in the future. We only need to establish that I qualify for submission and adjudication of your application.  As such, we only need to include documents to establish I 1) entered the U.S. lawfully; 2) my gf is a U.S. Citizen; 3) the 2 of us are now legally married; 4) that I will not be a financial burden to the U.S. Govt. My lawyer said there's no need to include pictures and trips we took together for the filing.

 

My questions:

-Does anyone have the same experience with me? USCIS is still reviewing the revoke application online so I guess i will have a 60 day grace period? 

-Should I still have my current firm refile my H1B? Can I stay in the country while they refile? Not sure which way is faster compared to getting an EAD thru GC

-Should I file whatever bona fide evidence I have for GC? (e.g., utility bills under same address, joint checking account (opened yesterday), joint car insurance and etc)

 

Thanks so much!

Edited November 15, 2018 by mantou
update

[LinG2018 65]

 

15 minutes ago, mantou said:

-Should I file whatever bona fide evidence I have for GC? (e.g., utility bills under same address, joint checking account (opened yesterday), joint car insurance and etc)

 

I don't think you should file any bona fide evidence when you submit the application. But you should bring them to your interview. 

 

[Boiler 43,393]

Why it was denied may or may not be relevant.

[mantou 1]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Why it was denied may or may not be relevant.

Hi Boiler, could you please elaborate a bit? I was denied because of specialty occupation. 

[Boiler 43,393]

If you were denied because your occupation did not meet the requirements then this would not be an issue for a family based petition.

[Ryan H 3,790]

~~~Duplicate thread removed; do not start multiple threads with identical content.~~~

[mantou 1]

3 minutes ago, Ryan H said:

~~~Duplicate thread removed; do not start multiple threads with identical content.~~~

Thanks Ryan...I just thought I posted in the wrong section so I posted it again. How can I move this post to Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas?

[Ryan H 3,790]

12 minutes ago, mantou said:

How can I move this post to Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas?

 

**You can't, but I can and just did so.**

[geowrian 22,335]

10 hours ago, mantou said:

I have hired my own lawyer and planning to file the GC application on 11/26 right after we get the marriage license. I have read a lot online and people submit a lot of evidence for a bona fide marriage. However, my lawyer told me that when we submit the adjustment of status package we do not need to provide joint documents. We will provide those for our interview in the future. We only need to establish that I qualify for submission and adjudication of your application.  As such, we only need to include documents to establish I 1) entered the U.S. lawfully; 2) my gf is a U.S. Citizen; 3) the 2 of us are now legally married; 4) that I will not be a financial burden to the U.S. Govt. My lawyer said there's no need to include pictures and trips we took together for the filing.

I'd disagree. Why not submit evidence with the petition? I've seen lawyers suggest this a number of times and have yet to hear a good reason why.

Put the best foot forward IMO.

 

10 hours ago, mantou said:

-Should I still have my current firm refile my H1B? Can I stay in the country while they refile? Not sure which way is faster compared to getting an EAD thru GC

The EAD will likely take the same amount of time either way.

Filing the I-485 will grant authorized stay while the case is pending.

[AtlToBlr 64]

20 hours ago, mantou said:

However, my lawyer told me that when we submit the adjustment of status package we do not need to provide joint documents.

We had my wife'sinterview about a month ago. We submitted a good amount of evidence with our application and took updated to those to our interview. 

The officer had already reviewed our file with the evidence and asked us if we had any updated on what we submitted. We gave her a few updated and the interview went really smoothly. 

In the end of the interview she commented on how we made it really easy for her to make the approval decision because of all the evidence ( and organisation) we submitted with our application. 

I really don't see the point of NOT sending the evidence if you have it. Just my 2 cents. 

[jakejon 1,196]

We just put our AOS package together and it’s to be sent today. We put loads of bonafides, pictures in there. Our lawyer said it looked so impressive to have all that in there as he said many don’t join as much in 90 days. We will start building more for our interview. I feel in this immigration era there’s more to prove. 

[geowrian 22,335]

57 minutes ago, AtlToBlr said:

We had my wife'sinterview about a month ago. We submitted a good amount of evidence with our application and took updated to those to our interview. 

The officer had already reviewed our file with the evidence and asked us if we had any updated on what we submitted. We gave her a few updated and the interview went really smoothly. 

In the end of the interview she commented on how we made it really easy for her to make the approval decision because of all the evidence ( and organisation) we submitted with our application. 

I really don't see the point of NOT sending the evidence if you have it. Just my 2 cents. 

We did the same and our IO said she reviewed the case beforehand. In and out with an approval in 5 min, of which 2 min was me asking questions. We had more more evidence to present but she didn't want to even bother with it as she already recommended approval.

[AtlToBlr 64]

57 minutes ago, geowrian said:

We did the same and our IO said she reviewed the case beforehand. In and out with an approval in 5 min, of which 2 min was me asking questions. We had more more evidence to present but she didn't want to even bother with it as she already recommended approval.

Exactly, we had a feeling that she had already decided to approve us before we ever saw her. That was pretty much confirmed by her comments. 

 

And LOL, ours was the same way, we were asking away wondering how this interview is getting over so quick lol. Honestly, she asked for updates to the docs but didnt even look at anything we gave her. The whole thing took 5 minutes. 

 

OP, you should definitely submit evidence if you have it. If you dont, then you can wait till the interview to collect. 

[AtlToBlr 64]

1 hour ago, jakejon said:

We just put our AOS package together and it’s to be sent today. We put loads of bonafides, pictures in there. Our lawyer said it looked so impressive to have all that in there as he said many don’t join as much in 90 days. We will start building more for our interview. I feel in this immigration era there’s more to prove. 

Best of luck! 

[mtempelaar 190]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

We did the same and our IO said she reviewed the case beforehand. In and out with an approval in 5 min, of which 2 min was me asking questions. We had more more evidence to present but she didn't want to even bother with it as she already recommended approval.

Agree - We front loaded every time we had to submit paperwork, with a 2 inch binder filled with evidence (bank statements, mortgage stuff, insurance, and tons of photos and travel proof).  When my husband went for his CR-1 interview at the embassy, it was 10 minutes talking about football teams and the weather.  No questions about us.   When we submitted my husband's ROC, we expected an interview but we never got one.  They suddenly just approved it.   Then again, low fraud country too.  

Edited November 16, 2018 by mtempelaar