nerdcouple

Hey there,

any updates in the Texas group??

Stay healthy out there!

Huhu zusammen,

ich hoffe, es geht euch allen gut!

Nach 3 Monaten mehr oder weniger erfolgreicher Jobsuche habe ich diese Woche angefangen, als selbstständige Unternehmensberaterin zu arbeiten. Die Firma, in der mein Mann arbeitet, brauchte spontan einen Project Manager für 4-6 Wochen, und da ich verfügbar war und mir die ganze Situation hier mit Corona, Politik usw. ziemlich auf den Keks ging, habe ich ein bisschen Abwechslung im Alltag begrüßt. Es arbeiten nur 50 Leute dort, wovon 80% an ihn berichten, d.h. wir arbeiten schon recht eng zusammen. Das war die ersten Tage etwas seltsam, aber man gewöhnt sich dran. Am 2. Tag wollten sie wissen, ob wir uns vorstellen können, dass ich als Festangestellte dort arbeite und was meine Gehaltsvorstellungen sind  Diese Diskussion werde ich noch ein paar Wochen hinauszögern, da ich mir erst anschauen will, wie sich das auf unsere Ehe auswirkt und weil ich als Freiberufler wesentlich mehr verlangen kann  Wenn ich richtig recherchiert habe, muss ich dem IRS einmal im Quartal meine Einkünfte melden (nach allen Ausgaben) und dann 15,3% Steuern zahlen. Hat jemand Erfahrung damit?

Wo wir schon beim Thema Steuererklärung sind: Am Freitag ist Deadline für das Steuerjahr 2019 (für die meisten Leute). Sitze gerade drüber und bin froh, wenn ich es von der To Do Liste streichen kann.

Habt ein schönes Wochenende und bleibt gesund!

Hey all, 

happy to see all the cases that have made some progress in the past weeks!

@Nostalgia @Meg101 @yoda one for me

I started to freelance this week  I have been on the job market for 3 months and didn't reach the final goal yet. I have been very picky though and applied for about 90 jobs "only". My husband works for a small startup that has been growing fast since the Covid outbreak. They increased their workforce from 35 to 50 people in the last 4 months and 80% of them report to him. They needed a project manager for the next 4-6 weeks and asked if I was interested. Because I was so tired of the job search, Corona, and the political situation I accepted. It is weird to work with your spouse but this week it worked really well. On day 2 they asked if I wanted to work there permanently and what my salary reqs were  I want to push this conversation into the future because I make way more money as a freelancer lol. And I also want to see how the new dynamics in our marriage go. Paperwork-wise: I track my hours and send them an invoice once a month to bill for my services. As far as I have researched I need to report my income to IRS once a quarter and pay 15.3% taxes after expenses.

18 hours ago, Unoriginal said:

My wife has her interview scheduled for Aug 13th.  Fortunately our local office doesn't seem the have the volume/lead times that others do.

Is your local office in TX or NV?

Hi zusammen,

in der Hoffnung, dass ich einer lieben Freundin helfen kann: Fliegt jemand zeitnah von DE in die USA und würde gegen angemessene Entlohnung ihren Hund mitnehmen? Vorzugsweise Hamburg-Houston, aber alles von DE Richtung USA wäre super hilfreich.

Sie und ihr Mann sind beide Deutsche mit E-Visum. Er ist in den USA, sie ist seit 2,5 Monaten in DE und darf nicht zurück in die USA. Sie wird jetzt in den nächsten Tagen in die Türkei fliegen, dort 2 Wochen bleiben und dann von der Türkei in die USA fliegen. Allerdings kann der Hund nicht mit in die Türkei und deshalb sucht sie jemanden, der ihn mitnehmen kann. 5kg Hund, in der Kabine.

Also, falls jemand jemanden kennt, bitte meldet euch bei mir!

DANKE!!!

8 hours ago, Fenja said:

Wir haben uns jetzt entschieden für 2 Wochen nach Serbien zu gehen und dann von dort aus via Direktflug nach New York in die USA einzureisen.

Wow, wie mutig von euch! Halte uns auf dem Laufenden. Drücke euch die Daumen, dass alles gut geht. Holt dein Verlobter dich dort quasi ab?

6 minutes ago, maferraric said:

I’m starting July 6th, working remotely because of Covid.

Congrats, these are excellent news, I am very happy for you!!!

2 hours ago, HRQX said:

No. Getting that license cost them that much. There was no cost for surrendering it. It's just the feeling of surrendering something that valuable.

Yes, that is what I was trying to say

I have an appointment with the TX DPS tomorrow. My first DL expired on the same day like my I-94 (March 23 2020) which I was more than upset about. I surrendered my German DL which costs $2500 and didn't have an expiration date.

They said they are going to issue a new one which will expire on the same day like my EAD which is in April 2021. My EAD is my proof of lawful presence, they say. 

Any other TX DPS experiences during AOS? 

1 hour ago, Cinder4luv said:

New card being produced 06/02/20

Congrats! Is this for the EAD or AOS? I can't read this from your profile...

1 minute ago, Bars&Saqi said:

Hey guys so unfortunately our expedie request was denied

i knew we ran that risk because we didn’t have a pending job over, just some credit card bills and a heartfelt cover letter.

hopefully we will try again with a pending job offer! 

Oh no, I am sorry  try to get an job offer and then request expedite again. Do not give up!

10 hours ago, Pizza_Guy_123 said:

How is everyone applying/sending the request for and expedite? Is there a form or anything we need to complete? Are there any specific requirements for the type of work with the job offer? 

Good morning, this has just been asked a couple days ago...

I called USCIS to request an expedite and they will read out some answers for you to select from. Picked financial hardship and didn't explain myself any further. I sent them the job offer and a nice cover letter saying that my spouse's job is in danger because of Covid-19 and that I can't wait to become a tax payer. That was enough.

Follow this thread, lots of information in there. Will answer all of your questions. Good luck!

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/663316-ead-expedite-timeline-after-fax-request/

I have an interview with Amazon coming up and they ask me to answer the following question in an email (I was referred):

*Are you a US citizen or national; permanent resident; applicant for legalization or amnesty, asylee (i.e. a person granted asylum) or a refugee? 

To make life easy, I tend to select that I am a permanent resident (which I am not yet). I assume that they are trying to figure out if I am legally authorized to work, and I hate to explain to EAD/K1 concept and confuse people...

1 hour ago, BiAdam said:

Those who requested an expedition, did you guys prove some kind of financial difficulty?

No, not needed. I called USCIS to request an expedite and they will read out some answers for you to select from. Picked financial hardship and didn't explain myself any further. I sent them the job offer and a nice cover letter saying that my spouse's job is in danger because of Covid-19 and that I can't wait to become a tax payer. That was enough.

Follow this thread, lots of information in there. Will answer all of your questions. Good luck!

1 minute ago, Versatile. said:

Congratulations on your job offer. Can you be gracious enough to share some tips on how to get an offer.  I have submitted over 50 applications with just 1 interview. (the recruitment ended up being called off due to covid). I think I might be doing something wrong cos I seem not to be getting any feedback from recruiters. 

Yes. Here is my approach: 

Just now, Zsazsa said:

I don’t understand. Why would you not accept the offer. I mean, hopefully not because of the EAD thing. What is to be concerned about? I mean, all they care about is that you’re authorized to work and won’t require sponsorship in the future. 

I am not accepting their first offer; I am starting the negotiations  I am super excited about the opportunity but they mentioned a salary first and I would get in trouble with my husband if I had accepted the first offer haha. I will ask for more.

I got my first job offer today!! Hooraayy!! While I am not going to accept their first offer I was wondering what could still happen that they would not be able to hire me because of some USCIS bs. I am still concerned about all the background checks and because we don't have a greencard but just an EAD which seems to have a lower value to some employers. I don't have anything to hide and no entries in my police records, and the offer is from a large global company with more than 60K employees.

10 minutes ago, JaQueen said:

I'm wonder if we should try expedite, but also will they consider the fact that due to me having a baby soon will be a financial hardship? 

Do it, today! Don't wait until they let go more people. Call USCIS, tell them you want to expedite because of financial hardship and don't explain anything further, not needed. Start applying and get a job offer so you can reply to their fax/letter right away. Do it even if it is just for the sake of getting EAD. Mention the baby in the cover letter when you send your job offer as proof of financial hardship. You have nothing to lose here. All the best! 

34 minutes ago, tomandkatew24 said:

Just found someone on Twitter who was tweeting about working at the NBC and losing her job this coming Friday. Her response to me asking if this will lead to significantly increased processing times-

 

It definitely will. Prepare to wait months for a response of even for it to go through proper channels.

 

Just when I was thinking soon this long wait will be over as processing times have picked up significantly. 

Oh no  that doesn't sound good... 75 days ago our status switched to 'case is ready to be scheduled for an interview'. This means it is at the local office already, right? Just trying to figure out how this might affect our case. We have EAD/AP combo card already thanks to expedite. 

1 hour ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Received it the next morning but I heard from others that they received a letter instead of an email. So that took about a week

Yes, I was one of the unlucky ones with the letter... check my timeline for more info!

35 minutes ago, Karosuko said:

Did you have a job offer in the health care sector?

Not really, but I wrote it in a way that it sounds like I do. I had an offer from a chemical company and I made up a nice story that they switched their production lines to disinfectant only due to Covid 19, and because of the sudden increase in production volume they need immediate help with [your field of expertise] that you have years of experience in while you were still in [your home country]. Be creative, guys

10 hours ago, rocoblue said:

My wife passed her NCLEX and has a lot of job offers because of the Covid thing but still can’t start to work because she still doesn’t have the EAD.

This is insane! As Zsazsa said, call again and tell them 'Financial Hardship' as your reason for expedite. Don't give any additional details. From my experience the agents are reading from a script and let you pick an answer. Answer and be silent, wait for them to continue the conversation. We didn't have to prove financial hardship but I wrote something like 'I dont't want to feel my husband to have the burden of providing single income'. There are enough some sample cover letters on VJ.

I am a rather rigorous person and would even go as far and let one of the potential employers write you an offer. Tell them you have a greencard already (DO NOT bother explaining them what an EAD is!) so they will actually write it. I know it sounds harsh, but I have talked to many recruiters in the past weeks. They ask if I had a greencard and I replied yes, even though I have EAD only. In 99% of the cases they are not trying to figure out whether you actually have a greencard, they want to know if you are legally authorized to work without sponsorship. You will need the written offer for the expedite request, and if she can chose from several employers I would 'utilize' one of them to get the offer letter and ultimately the EAD. Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

41 minutes ago, maferraric said:

For those already looking for jobs, how is it going? I have a decent track of IT jobs (Data Analyst) in my country, but getting very little response regarding the job openings I’ve applied to.

I have used the time in isolation to leverage my LinkedIn skills. 6 weeks ago I created it from scratch (almost) and am now starting to get a ROI  recruiters are reaching out and I try to network my way into companies so I have contacts who can forward my resume to recruiters and hiring managers. This has worked twice last week, with Fortune 100, and I had interviews/phone screens scheduled within hours. 

I attended a lot of webinars in the past 6 weeks and here are two of my favorite free resources:

1) General job search: https://www.js101.org/classes

2) LinkedIn: https://www.mellermarketing.com/events-presentations

I follow Professor Heather Austin, Linda Raynier and Madeline Mann (Self Made Millenial) on YouTube and find their content very helpful.

Are you using tools lile Jobscan.co to verify that the right keywords are mentioned on your resume? This has helped me to mirror the language of the company and to make sure that I don't miss anything. Good luck!

1 hour ago, Letspaintcookies said:

Hello self- help supporting group 🤗 my name is Diana and I'm going through a emotional rollercoaster. Anybody else experiencing this? One day everything is awesome and the next day it's just blah. We all knew this time is gonna be hard somedays but nobody expected this year to be so... let's say interesting. 

Hi Diana, same here... my mood is very much depending on my job search progress. This week was pretty good as I had 4 interviews with 3 companies and spent a day at the beach doing nothing. As others have said: let's focus on the positive aspects!