johnnyirl

4 minutes ago, marksut said:

Hi, I am under EB3 too, I have checked my case on CEAC was in Transit for two months and suddenly since two weeks ago it showed "Your search did not return any data". Have your problem solved?

Hey. Yes the problem was resolved. It was because my case was transferred to an embassy in a different country and the NVC had created a different case ID for me. When I called the NVC they gave me the new case number. In your case, I've heard that sometimes there is a latency between moving from one status to the next, and what you're seeing may not necessarily be a bad thing. But you could call the NVC to confirm.

Just got a second opinion from a very good immigration lawyer in NY. He said that as long as you didn't intend to commit fraud during the I-140 and visa adjudication process, and you aren't committing fraud now, that there will be no problem whatsoever during the naturalization interview.

He said that you could get denied if the intended job never existed or if the GC was paid for as a scheme, something like that.

And also, he mentioned that it's not my fault that I'm getting paid from a different company - if anything that's on the employer. I showed up for work and am working for the sponsor, just getting paid from another company. No red flags whatsoever. He said with this AC21 thing that they really don't care about switching jobs any more.

He confirmed that I was overthinking it, that he has being doing this a long time, and to go and enjoy the US and stop worrying. Another tip - that since the naturalization form only says to put down the last 5 years worth of employment history, if we waited a little longer to naturalize, the sponsor's name would not even appear on the list and so the question would be avoided entirely.

Hope this helps!

31 minutes ago, Family said:

 

There are enough red flags for scrutiny, especially given that immediately on entering the US , neither your position nor you are “ needed” by the sponsor, but farmed out to affiliate . There is certainly some maneuvering at hand . 
Is your sponsor and/ or affiliate company staffed with workers brought in through labor petitions ? 

Do you know if others found themselves switched out , same as you? 

Perhaps they routinely do this and have not run into problems…but your best recourse is to get opinion/ assessment from the immigration attorney that prepped/ filed the I-140 and Green Card…now.

What contractual obligations do you have with your sponsor co and are theirs spelled out ..cause you may not be working for them by the time it’s time to Natz…and if you are not one of the lucky ones to get through without questions,  the issue will remain 

I'm not farmed out to anyone. The affiliate is just a company on paper. There are no employees in it except for myself of course. It's the same owners, the same address (on paper). I work directly for the sponsor and the sponsor created this other company to keep the intellectual property of all software created within this company. It's the same address, the same ownership, I even have the sponsor's email domain.

The position was needed by the sponsor - like, I am part of the sponsor's employee hierarchy, I have the sponsor's email, I work on the sponsor's systems, I work at the sponsor's address. The sponsor created this other company to protect intellectual property and I get paid by this company. That's the only difference. As someone else pointed out, it's a slight restructure to protect software rights but nothing to do with moving me to different company in the general sense.

The attorney who filed my I-140 is the legal counsel for the sponsor. As my work is still directly for the sponsor, she is still my attorney and I have full access to legal counsel. She is the one who gave me the letter saying that the sponsor determined that I would be better suited to placed under the guise of the affiliate company. I am going to go back and ask for the statement to be adjusted, to say that the recipient of the work is still the sponsor, but that I get paid by this other company that was setup to protect intellectual property. It's worth mentioning that she said I'm over-thinking things and that as long as there was true intent when my I-140 was filed then it doesn't matter who you work for. And besides, in my case, it's not as if I moved to another location - I'm still in the sponsor's office working for them.

3 hours ago, Mike E said:

There is definitely a requirement that you work for the petitioner 

 

How long that employment must continue is indefinite.  But cases have been rejected including the naturalization cases of derivatives 

 

This is not a DIY case.  OP shoukd hsve received something in writing that the offer of employment was rescinded and why. 

 

 

 

 

It's worth mentioning again that I'm still working for the sponsor. I'm in the sponsor's office, the boss are my sponsor's employees. I have the sponsor's apparel. I sometimes get a check directly from them. The only thing is that a different company pays my wage most of the time (except that once or twice where I received a check directly from the sponsor). This other company was setup so that IT staff doing work for the sponsor, if they create software, that the software would remain the intellectual property of this other company. Just to be clear,  this other company is not a staffing agency.

5 minutes ago, Boiler said:

There is no requirement but yes you could be asked about it and seems you have a valid explanation 

Thanks Boiler. About there is no requirement - do you mind if I ask what that means specifically? E.g. does it mean that it doesn't matter who you work for as long as the intent was there during the I-140 process?

I recently became a permanent resident through the employment-based category. When I came to the US, the company (aka the sponsor) wanted me to work for a different company that the owners had setup. I believe it was something to do with retaining all software intellectual property in the second company. Some important details:

All the work I do is for the sponsoring company, I just get paid by company B. I'm under the same roof as the sponsoring company, and company B has the same address as the sponsor. The ownership of both companies is almost, but not entirely the same.

I'm worried that when I go for the citizenship interview that USCIS might turn around and say that fraud was committed or something like that. Has anyone been in this situation before?

I've tried to be proactive about things and managed to get the sponsoring company to issue me a check for one of the months I worked. This was to maintain a trail of a connection to the sponsoring company. Also I managed to get a letter from the sponsor stating '...even though we sponsored this person, he started work with an affiliate company under similar ownership as we deemed his work to be more suited to that company".

I've been thinking about this for months and don't want to spend the next 4.5 years worrying about it. If anyone had any guidance that would be great. Thank you!

12 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

Oh! That must feel so frustrating. You're just waiting on an interview and can't move the case. 

 

Your initial post did not give any details and referenced a post/topic we are not supposed to restart.

 

Requesting a change of consulates is easy. The instructions can be found at NVC: (The interesting piece of information you've given is telling people they should contact the embassy and not NVC once the case has been DQ'ed... )

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/national-visa-center/immigrant-visas-processing-general-faqs.html

How do I transfer my Immigrant Visa case from one embassy or consulate to another?

If you would like to transfer your Immigrant Visa (IV) case to another embassy or consulate, please follow the steps below:

• If your case is at a U.S. embassy or consulate, contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case.  Please include a justification for the request.  If you are not a resident of that country, specify that in your request.  

• If your petition is being processed at the National Visa Center (NVC), contact the NVC to request the transfer.  NVC will transfer cases to another IV processing post if parties provide a written request along with the address in the requested country and the proof of eligibility (citizenship/legal residency in the requested country or other documentation). This can be provided at https://nvc.state.gov/inquiry.  In limited circumstances, NVC may need to contact you for additional eligibility requirements.  Note that transferring your case might not result in immediate processing as cases are processed in order based on the date the case became documentarily qualified. 

• If you are requesting a transfer for a K Visa, the receiving Embassy or Consulate has the discretion to approve or deny the acceptance of a K visa application from an applicant outside the consular district.  Contact the potential gaining U.S. embassy or consulate in writing to request a transfer of your case and include the reason for the transfer request.  If you paid the MRV fee at the original post and the transfer request to a new post is subsequently approved, a new visa fee will be required.  

•  

Getting the request approved is a different matter.

We can see you and @sauldelgado have been waiting for similar amounts of time after DQ. Your case was moved, theirs wasn't. 

 

Thanks for sharing the details and your story and again congrats on your move to the US. 

 

 

It's worth mentioning that when I was waiting outside the embassy to go inside, there were two other couples with no connections to Romania who had transferred to Bucharest. One from London and I don't know where the other was from but they said they had transferred. Also, if you follow the immigration lawyers on Twitter, you would have seen last year that many, many people were successful  in transferring embassies without having residence in the new country. I know of two personally because I reached out to them. One lady from Finland who had been waiting for her spouse immigrant visa successfully applied to Casablanca was was able and willing to go there. It's not widely documented but it does happen and based on my experience it happens more often than you'd think. Also I don't know of anyone who went through the official DOS route. I and they went through the embassy directly. I think you're going to see more people documenting their experience about this.

49 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Anyone can ask ANY consulate to accept their case....That is common knowledge.  Providing a VALID connection to that consulate is a different aspect completely.

True - but you're missing the point. I came on to share my experience on changing embassy, and you lot just can't take it. And initially didn't believe it. 

Just now, Crazy Cat said:

I suspect that the "WHY" is the most important factor which consulates consider.  I think your experience was the exception rather than the norm.  Simply, a person can ask ANY consulate to accept their case......but, I suspect MOST consulates would not be so accommodating to someone with no connections or residency in their jurisdiction.  Congratulations, but I would expect similar results for anyone else who is "consulate shopping".

Exception or not, it is possible and I explained how to do it. If Bucharest accepted based on the grounds of a long delay, then others with more pressing reasons you would only imagine would have a better chance of success.

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

You are correct.  This story may be best served in the Embassy and Consulate forum.

 

Also, thanks for your information.  It is great when members come back and relate their success stories.

 

Good Luck!

Thank you very much. Honestly it was hard to get the information out. My first thread was deleted. My second thread was moved (after I myself was told to move on), and besides yourself and perhaps one other person, the big shots here seem to be threatened that I proved something they apparently thought was impossible. As you say I only came back to help out but I might critique this site by saying egos are going to get in the way of people getting the info they need. That's not directly towards you by the way, and thanks again for showing respect when others are seriously lacking it.

4 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

Congrats on getting your IV interview moved to a different embassy..

But, I will counter your type of visa did impact your process. 

As Dublin has consistently been issuing CR1/IR1 visas since July 2020 but have ignored other IVs. 

 

What was your reasoning behind choosing Bucharest and not another embassy like London, Frankfurt or Paris?

 

You're right to a certain point, the motivation to move embassy was influenced by the situation at Dublin. But the context of my experience was to describe HOW I managed to move embassies, not why. There is an assumption that people reading this will find it helpful and might prompt them to do something similar.

At the time, Trump had issued PP 10041 and also there was a Schengen-wide ban on entry due to Covid. Since Romania is not in the Schengen area and at the time they had Covid under control, I looked up the NIV wait times and they were only 2-3 days. Now, I figured, if they are processing NIV interviews fast, they must also be a short waiting period for IV interviews. So I threw caution to the wind and asked the IV unit in Bucharest if they would accept a transfer request. Honestly, from the first response I got from them to the point I got my visa, they were very accommodating and courteous. It is clear that the Department of State rules on embassy transfer are not strictly followed in all cases. The embassies are seen to somewhat dance to their own tune.

20 minutes ago, ROK2USA said:

Questions:

1.) Did you provide your visa category when you wrote Bucharest?

2.) Did you state how long you had been waiting for an interview via Dublin?

3.) Did you give a reason for why you wanted the case transferred?

OR

Did you just write an email saying

 

To whom it may concern, 

I'm @johnnyirl and I'd like to transfer my case to your embassy.

Regards, 

@johnnyirl

 

Not being facetious, just wondering about the process and the information you provided. 

Would be happy to answer your questions. For the record, I didn't write "I'm JohnnyIrl...".

I gave the following information:

• How long I'd been waiting at the NVC and in particular, how long I'd been documentarily qualified.
• My visa category.
• That Dublin was completely backed up and that they stopped responding to my emails.
• That the interview was for me and a derivative (my spouse).
• That we were available to travel to Romania at short notice and are both double vaccinated.
• Other than that I didn't really provide any more information.

The embassy replied like that 'We understand you and your spouse have been waiting a long time to be adjudicated. We accept your request to adjudicate your visas and we'll be in touch when we receive your file from the NVC.'

Then I got in touch with my petitioner and got them to send a letter on official letterhead paper and signed by the CEO to the NVC expedite email address. It was approved by the embassy and they got in touch with me directly to schedule the interview.

Despite me telling people transferring an immigrant visa interview to a different embassy in a country which I am not a resident or citizen, it appears there are still some who do not believe it. So let me explain exactly how I did it. I am now living in the US having moved in December 2021.
 

Step 1. In July 2021 after having being ‘At NVC’ for almost 12 months, I contacted the embassy in Bucharest directly asking if they would adjudicate my immigrant visa. They replied in August 2021 and said that they would, and asked the NVC to transfer my case from Dublin to Bucharest. I received a new case number beginning with ‘BCH2021’ (old number was ‘DBL2020******’.

Step 2. I got my petitioner to send an expedite request based on the grounds that unless I immigrated as soon as possible they would withdraw the petition and this would not be in the interest of the USA. The request was accepted.

Step 3. The embassy in Bucharest reached out to me directly to schedule an interview and I went there a few weeks later and did both the medical and interview in Bucharest. The visa was issued.

The rules are the rules, but this is my experience and it shows that the rules are not always enforced. Those who told me that I am EB-3 and this is a CR* forum and for me to get lost - learn how to treat people with respect. Also EB-3 visas and CR* visas are both immigrant visas and are both handled by the NVC so there is commonality in the handling of the visa scheduling.

Hi everyone,

Been tracking my NVC case number since August 2020. Was documentarily qualified in November 2020. The status has always been 'At NVC'. Today however, it's showing 'Your search did not return any data.'. 

Has anyone encountered this before? Getting worried that something's up!

Thanks!

30 minutes ago, Kvickers4 said:

Everyone who got DQed after 4 weeks was going over as a spouse (or fiancé I think) I’m not sure if they started scheduling any other visas yet. 
 

I hope the expedite works for you! It seems like they’re caught up in Dublin so I’m surprised they haven’t started looking at other visas yet.

Thanks a mil! Yeah hopefully at the end of this month they will schedule more employment based and other visa interviews. Will report back with the expedite result.

Thought I'd weigh in since I too have sent through an expedite request to the embassy in Dublin. It's for an employment based immigrant visa and I got the employer to send through the request. It's been about two and a half weeks and haven't heard anything back yet. Will update once I get a response!

Read that some people are getting interviews 4 weeks after being DQd? That's news to me! I'm DQ'd since November 2020 and haven't heard a dickie-bird.

I don't mind - Ireland, UK. Would love to hear from EB applicants in either region!

Thanks!!

Hey everyone,

So my case is a bit unusual. It's an employment based immigrant visa petition (EB-3). My case has been documentarily qualified by the NVC since November 2020.

Has anyone else from Ireland recently gone through consular processing for an employment based green card, or going through the process at present?

Would love to hear from people in any of the main EB categories (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3) especially, and if you wouldn't mind sharing your timelines and interview dates that would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Jonathan