gc2012

You might wanna post this in the main forum inorder to get more response

WHich main forum? I thought i did

anyone?

So i had my first GC interview on August 15th and here's the post about it

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/383376-had-my-gc-interview-today/page__p__5675430__fromsearch__1#entry5675430

Well i didn't have the Birth Certificate with me so Immigration officer had asked me to bring it back and gave me today's date of Sept 14th. We went today mrng and I saw that officer outside the elevator going down. I wished her and went to the window to checkin. The lady behind the counter checked my name and said that officer is in training all day today so she wants you to leave the documents with me and go. She will call u or inform u if anything else is needed or whatever is next.

I was kinda surprised, I told her she wanted to see my Birth Certificate and i have my original Birth Cert with me. I could leave it if she wants but its original and i was hoping if i could get it back. She said I can let her know that you want it. So i left my original Birth Cert with her. I waited outside the elevator for 40 mins hoping ill bump into the officer when she comes back but then finally left.

It's very strange to me but is this normal? Does this happen often? I was hoping i'll get a decision today but now it seems like I would have to wait for the website to update. Which I dont know could take any amount of time.

Input needed ppl, I'm kinda nervous

anyone?

I believe the stuff you bring in become part of your file which is why she kept it. You should always make copies of things for them just in case you don't get it back (always take your original with you to the interview as well). Before you go back in, make a copy of your Birth Certificate to bring with you as well as the original. Best of luck! I wouldn't fret too much.

I just received my Birth Certificate and it does not have my name. Just the name of my parents and "Male Baby" mentioned for me, as in India ur not required to pick a name while getting certificate of birth. Can this be a problem?

I believe the stuff you bring in become part of your file which is why she kept it. You should always make copies of things for them just in case you don't get it back (always take your original with you to the interview as well). Before you go back in, make a copy of your Birth Certificate to bring with you as well as the original. Best of luck! I wouldn't fret too much.

It is normal for the officer to keep those documents in her file. Usually, people make copies to give during interview. If you did not have copies, they will keep the originals. Nothing to worry about.But the birth certificate is a critical piece of evidence. You need to make all efforts to get it and if you are still unable to get it by your next interview date, you should at least be able to demonstrate that you made the maximum possible effort to get it. Else you will be denied. High school diplomas are not enough evidence.

I am from India too and interviewed at Newark and had the same issue as you. I have posted my experience here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/372590-aos-approved-at-newark-nj-the-devil-is-in-the-details/page__p__5442450__fromsearch__1#entry5442450

I am very relieved now. I was concerned if they want to verify information because of lack of proof. I even went ahead and immediately called my landlord to tell him that if they get a call from unknown number then he better pick it up lol... Anyway, i do have original birth certificate and i will take it on sept 14th. I will go ahead and join her on my bank account meanwhile.

We had our interview today mrng in Newark. Went on for 15 mins. Officer asked qns to her and me about each other. Which was fine. She asked for joint account docs or tax returns documents or nething together. The only thing we had was home lease as we r just married 4 months and we did taxes separate and banks and phones r separate too.

I did have last 12 months of her bank stmts which has our common address and my last 12 months of paystubs with same address.

We showed her our pictures. Wedding pictures which was in court as religious wedding will be done in India in feb. Other pictures of us spending time together, me with her parents and her spending time with mine when they were visiting.

I had attached a colored print out of my birth certificate with initial application which she asked for but i didnt have because back in those days the birth certificates used to be handwritten and didn't look professional. In india high school diploma is considered to be replacement for it. I did show that to her but she wasnt convinced with her.

So finally she kept my lease, few pictures, and all my paystubs and gave us another date (Sept 14) to bring my original birth certificate. I have already requested my family to send it here. But what i am curious to know is why did she keep these documents? Does she want to do investigation meanwhile, not that i care but i am curious.

WOW! she is just stupid to send u an email like that. In a long term she doesn't deserve to be ur wife neway. I doubt if she ever loved u considering she asked for money 3 weeks after u getting ur GC. Save the evidence. If u share ur email passwords, bank pins etc etc, then pls change it now. U dont want her to login to ur account and delete all evidences.

Well sometimes it is just a fluke that you get the greencard before EAD (not that it would be useful afterwards). Luckily your process was fast!

I guess i shudn't complain then coz i had RFE too and still it went pretty fast. I applied May 17th and Aug 15th is the interview

Are you sure this is an interview date and not for Biometics. If you have not done your fingerprints yet then the interview is probably actually biometrics. You don't get EAD or AP until Biometrics is done.

Well my biometrics is done already on June 29th

We filed for I130, I485, I765 on May 17th after marriage, my wife is USC. I received an interview date on July 12th for Aug 15th but still no EAD. No update on I765 Application either. Is this normal?

Anyway, it all ended fine. Here's a brief transcript.

Judge: Why no lawyer?

Friend: I contacted a lawyer from the free legal service (non profit) list u offered me last time. She is helping me but she cudnt come today as she wasnt available.

Judge: what's the status of ur case?

Friend: I have contacted the USCIS to find out the status. They have asked me to wait for another 30 days. Here are printed email conversations. Meanwhile, i have applied for OPT and here is my degree certificate from my other university where i finished my graduation. (passes the document set)

Judge to USCIS lawyer: Are you carrying anything with you?

Lawyer: No

Judge to friend: Did they tell u why a reinstatement is taking such a long time?

Friend: Mam they are doing background check and security check, it's in the email conversation

Judge: I am giving u another date of May 2013. That will give u enough time. If you get a decision for your case anytime before that then just come to court and we will cancel ur NTA or come with a lawyer next may.

Friend: Thank You Mam, I am hopeful i will get a decision by this month end.

Judge: Next!

When you start making comments about how USCIS is ridiculous when your friend is ignoring US laws, then you get responses from Americans who don't like guests who ignore our laws and then have a friend label our system as ridiculous. You started this. How do you think Americans feel when we let foreigners in to take advantage of our educational system with their promise to leave afterwards only to have them violate our laws? That's ridiculous, and not our response to a person who is essentially an unwelcome guest. It is ridiculous that your friend is remaining in the US illegally after he promised to leave when he was finish with school in order to obtain a student visa. Now, we have to spend US taxpayer's money to deport him. He is wasting our money. He is making it harder for other students to get visas. Now, who is ridiculous?????

If you hadn't started disparaging our system, then you might not have gotten the negative responses above.

Furthermore, a foreign citizen who is a guest of the US does not have the same right as a US citizen. Do I have the same rights as you if I was a guest in your home?????? Would my rights be equal to yours????? It is ridiculous that you think a foreigner has the same rights as a US citizen in the US. Would you expect the Indian government to treat a foreigner with the same rights as an Indian citizen???? I suspect you would be offended if someone told you your government was ridiculous for enforcing its laws and enforcing the promise the foreigner made to leave.

TBH i didn't come here for a discussion but as long as he lives in US there r certain benefits an individual gets. There is a reason why US is attractive for millions of ppl coz of equal treatment u get. But i dont wanna get into a discussion on that.

Regarding taxpayer money, well in immigration cases a person doesn't get free state appointed representation, he is supposed to pay for it as govt doesnt wanna spend tax payers money, which absolutely makes sense.

And how did u pass the judgement that he ignored the US law? Do u know the specific case? How can u say he is living illegally just coz he fell out of status? It's called passing judgements and its not ur but the judges job.

Regarding F1 visa, lemme put it straight, over 90% kids come here to study and to get to work here. Whether it's right or wrong is not the question, u can argue as much as u want but that's the fact.

What made u think ppl promise to leave US after finishing school? I never said anything like that when i went for visa interview in 2005. If it wasn't right don't u think there wud've been NO provision to apply for H1B after finishing F1. Govt wud've put measures for it? If its allowed then its legal.

A student visa to a school in the US is not a right to residence, the US government is looking to the parents of these students to support them thru their years of education on a student visa.

Its not a right to residence but as long as a person stays in the country he has equal rights. Most kids come here to study and to get opportunity to work. I was same and most like me are same. I came on F1 and then received H1B and work, nothing wrong in it. Parents and kids r prepared for educational expense but every once in a while case like this happens and its distressing. No one can be prepared for their kids to go on Out of status and keep a reserve to support for several years. Of course he can just go back, but he chooses to fight to get legal, which is not wrong and he is managing it.

These are the cases that hurt those who comes behind them who wish to be granted the same opportunity to student in the US, but they are denied.

What accredited University/College shuts down without notice?

Again we are swaying away from real topic.

Nothing is stoping him frm going home, so why is USCIS just ridiculous?

USCIS is ridiculous in processing. A reinstatement case for over 16 months is ridiculous. U can't really say take it or leave it. A rightful resident has a right to question. He is just out of status, not a criminal or terrorist. Anyone can make a mistake. In his case his school shutdown. Please don't pass judgements.

Poor and out of money, usually means it's time to go home. Who was paying for his education, he was on a student visa correct, couldn't thse same people assist with the fee for a lawyer.

Most kids on student visa have limited amount of money and expect to start making some income once they graduate. But if for any reason it doesn't go based on the plan then u will go broke. Parents are supporting as much as they can but after all this hard work no one just wants to pack bags and leave. No money doesn't mean time to go home, he has been living on parents money for 16 months and he can't just leave US either coz then he will be barred to come back. It's a court procedure and needs to be followed.

Also he had to be out of status for a while inorder to land on I.C.E pick-up list, so how was he surviving while he was out of status.

His school shutdown and he went out of status, he transferred to a different school and eventually finished his program successfully and applied for OPT.

That's what friends are for...

I see ur dog winking at me while i read ur comment lol... but immigration process is extremely expensive and free representation list provided by court is a waste. I was looking if someone has experience in this but i guess we just need to wait til 10th

Please keep us posted on this case. Arriving to the immigration hearing without a lawyer is a bad idea, how could he not have found a lawyer? Did he try 1 and then stop?

Good luck

When he saw the judge last time she was very understanding. I hope she is the same again. Out of status, no money and in removal proceedings, it's just too hard to be able to find free representation.

Yes, he can get in a lot of trouble because not knowing the law he may end up volunteering information which may br best kept to himself. That is the reason courts suggest and ask that you have your lawyer present; to avoid the countless appeals that clog our system, filed by those who did not know what they were saying was actually more damaging than helpful.

Agreed! He wont represent himself but asking for more time is what he is looking for. Although his case is really simple and he has applied for OPT last month too while his reinstatement is under process. He also has the I797 for that. USCIS is just ridiculous in its process and reinstatement is taking more than year and half.

Although USCIS process and court process are totally different, i am hoping he can convince the judge that he is not trying to play with the law. The lawyer he contacted told him he can't represent him on that day. Lawyer is from free legal service list provided to him by the court. She suggested him to just ask the judge for some more time and update her.

I am writing on behalf of my friend. In Feb 2011 he fell out of status and in April he applied for reinstatement. He received NTA from ICE and got a court date of Feb. On first hearing he was given more time to get a lawyer and his date is on Tuesday the 10th. He has not been able to find a lawyer yet. He contacted a lawyer who had no time and suggested my friend to just go without a lawyer and ask for more time from the judge.

is it that easy? can he get in trouble?

You can apply for it. They are telling you you don't need to. I explained in your other thread that if you quit your H1B status then you will need AP. If you keep your status then you don't. You can apply for it and not use it.

Great, thanks!

Yes C9.

Yes you can apply for I-765. If you take a job on the EAD, keep in mind your H1B will be cancelled (which is okay, but to travel abroad you will need AP).

So can i file I131 along with the application? coz i read that u can't if ur on H1B

Since i'm on H1B already and authorized to work and am currently working, can i fill I765 along with my AOS application? The reason i want to is because H1B is employer dependent and if i get EAD then i can work wherever i want, not that i intend to change my job currently.

Also while filling I765 i am confused about column 16 as under eligibility criteria there are 3 parenthesis, () () (), i found out that mine would be C9, so do i leave the first one empty and fill it like () © (9). Sounds silly qn but i just wanted to clarify guys

I am on H1B (F1 to H1) visa and after marriage i am filing for AOS through my spouse who is a USC. According to the I131 instructions i cant fill I131 as i am on H1B. Since i have never got my H1B stamped, would i need to go for visa interview if i travel outside of USA? We were planning to go for our honeymoon as we have just got married but if i have to go for stamping interview then i would just wait for GC process to complete.

If you don't want to wait on filing than that may be your best bet. Make sure all your forms have the corrected information and go ahead and send it out. You will likely get the RFE but if you are ready to reply to it immediately it shouldn't slow your case too much. They have to process the reply and that can take long, but I have seen a few people on her getting the RFE and still staying somewhat on track time wise.

Bestaluck!

Or ill get lucky and it will slip through the cracks and i will get no RFE lol

Yesss, I vote for fixing the marriage certificate also!

That's what we did and no problems from thereon out!

Good luck.

So town clerk told me today morning that they have to send the correction form to Registrar of vital statistics in Trenton NJ and the entire process could take a couple months. So i dont think i have so much time on my hand, im gonna just send the docs if anything ill just deal with a RFE later.

Does anyone have any other suggestion?