|
flavor posted:Additionally, it's not "incredibly hard" for a PhD with a sought-after skill to stay, at least not as difficult as for the general public of foreign countries. For example, unless I'm mistaken, the H-1b program has quotas for researchers. NOTE: All of this is anecdotal so it could be wrong information. A real immigration lawyer can clarify. The H1-B itself is a bit flawed in that the employee is at the mercy of the company the visa is tied to. They paid me slightly below market rate because they knew they had me by the balls. And they also stalled me repeatedly whenever I brought up the issue of applying for a green card. I was working for my company under the H1-B for about a year and a half before it did massive layoffs in 2009 and I got cut. Some consultations with immigration lawyers provided me with the info that I had about 1-2 months to find a new job and transfer the visa or I would need to leave. Of course, finding a new job in the height of the recession didn't work out so well. So after 10 years of building a life in the US (undergrad, grad school and work), I uprooted and went back home. The work-sponsored green card process itself is another nightmare, especially if you are from an over-subscribed country like India or China. I have an Indian passport and the rule of thumb is that it generally takes at least 5 years. That's 5 years that you will be tied to the same company. The process restarts if you switch companies, and god help you if you get laid off halfway through. My cousin got his green card a few years back and it took him the sum total of 9 years with the same company. I don't think committing yourself to a company like that is a reasonable expectation these days, especially at the beginning of your career. The appeal for a highly-skilled worker to go through a process like this is very low. Kwagga fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Aug 28, 2012 |
#
¿
Aug 28, 2012 09:31
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:06 |
|
|
Hello thread. I'm an Indian citizen married to a US citizen and we both currently live in France. We are intending to move to the US in the next 6-12 months. I've filed an I-130 petition which has now been accepted. I'm assuming the next step is waiting for a letter in a mail to make a biometrics appointment and eventually an interview for the green card. That part's all clear. What's not clear is how it works after that. My understanding is that the petition gets approved after the interview but the green card itself doesn't get approved until we show up at a US border crossing with my approved petition packet. Reading up online tells me different things about how this works. Once I present myself at a border and get the green card approved, am I allowed to leave the country again? Is there a waiting period before I can do so? The reason I ask is this: once the petition is approved, I may want to make a trip to the US just for 1-2 weeks to find a place to live and set up bank accounts and all that jazz, with the intention that I come back here to France to help close up shop and pack everything up. In other words, the petition is approved, I show up at the border, get the green card approval, look for a place to live, set up a bank account, buy a car, travel back to France, pack up, close all my accounts, pick up my wife and we both fly to our new home. We'd prefer to be able to set the groundwork in our new home first rather than pack up everything up and move there without a place to live, especially since we are intending to move to a city where housing is notoriously difficult to find. Any experience or knowledge on what the rules are regarding travel back and forth?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 16:57
|
|
|
TheImmigrant posted:You won't be scheduled for biometrics until you file an I-485. The I-130 isn't an application for an immigrant visa - it just gets you recognized as your spouse's next of kin. An I-485 is for an Adjustment of Status. I am doing consular processing as I am outside of the United States. There is nothing in any of the procedures that I've read that say I need an I-485. Can you point me to other information if you have it?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 17:14
|
|
|
TheImmigrant posted:Ah, I see. Good thing I'm not working today. It's been a while since I've done an IV with consular process, but I think you'll need to fill out a DS-261, your spouse will need to complete an Affidavit of Support, and then your immigrant visa application with DS-260 (online). Wait for Ashcans to confirm this. Have you heard from National Visa Center yet? I'm still waiting to hear from the NVC. I understand the next steps are: I'll receive forms (the DS-261 I guess) and request for further documentation which I will then fill out and take to the consulate in order to get my biometrics and then an eventual interview. The USCIS received my I-130 on June 6th so I assume I should expect to wait another few weeks to hear from the NVC. And yes I assume it'll be the Consulate in Paris. Good to hear that they're friendly.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 18:12
|
|
|
All good info. Thanks for that. Any one of you know how long it should be till the NVC contacts us?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2015 19:41
|
|
|
I didn't get an answer to this earlier but now that people are reading this thread again: I'm doing consular processing here in France to get myself a green card through marriage. My wife and I submitted an I-130 in June (priority date June 9th) and I have received the I-797 already. I believe the next step now is to wait for the National Visa Center to send us a packet with more forms and a required list of documentation. How long should I expect to be waiting for this packet to show up? edit: should specify my wife is a US citizen, which I believe removes any waiting time for a visa number to become available Kwagga fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Jul 9, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2015 18:32
|
|
|
Ashcans posted:Has your application been approved? Or just receipted? It will not be sent to the NVC until it has been approved by USCIS. I-130s usually take 4-5 months to process and approve by USCIS, so I am guessing you just have a receipt notice at the moment. Yes it's just a receipt. I didn't realise it would be 4-5 months just for the I-130. Does that apply even for applications through marriage to a US citizen?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
Ashcans posted:Yes, unfortunately it applies to everyone. Being a spouse means you are not subject to retrogression (the years-long wait for a spot some people endure) but you have the same processing as everyone else. Fair enough. And once I kick off the consular processing phase, is that another 5 months or so?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2015 19:12
|
|
|
Ashcans posted:Honestly I am not sure, I don't deal with consular processing nearly as much as adjustments. It also depends on where you are applying - some consulates are much busier and have longer wait times for appointments, but I think most of the time is in the NVC. If you can get all your documents together and have it ready to go, it will help. Yeah that part is going to be a pain as I have to get police certificates from Singapore, Spain, Germany and France. I guess I'll start collecting those one by one while we wait.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2015 19:55
|
|
|
I'm in the early stages of applying for a green card through consular processing. My I-130 petition was approved at the end of August and I got the notification that the petition was being forwarded to the NVC and that I would be hearing from them soon. Blah blah blah if I didn't hear from them in 30 days, to send an email to the NVC service desk. Well I haven't heard anything and my two emails to the service desk have gone unanswered. Any ideas on what else I can do?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2015 18:00
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 00:06 |
|
|
Ashcans posted:You might have better luck trying to call them. If your petitioner is in the US they could do it too, but otherwise you might just need to eat the time difference/hassle and make the call yourself. You might not get a useful resolution right off, but you can at least talk to someone and get a name/ID so that you have some evidence your contact isn't just flying off into the ether. We're both in France but I don't care that it's a hassle / time difference / cost of calling etc. I just want to get this moving again. I didn't even realise they had a phone number but a simple google search has helped.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2015 19:27
|
|