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  • Foster2007
    07-09 06:48 PM
    You are right! It seems USCIS has an "acceptance" probem...

    Can't accept

    1. Legitimately filed I-485s
    2. Affectionately sent flowers
    3. To top it all, its own "ineeficiency"





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  • EndlessWait
    01-24 11:39 AM
    I had the misfortune of travelling thru London in December on my way to Mumbai. After I purchased my tickets, I learnt that I need a transit visa (TV) for UK. (Who is going to tell them (UK) that they are no longer the center of attraction esp. if you have lived and worked in US). Anyway, as per the rules, you need a transit visa if you don�t have a valid US visa. (Note: If you have AP, and don�t have a valid visa, you still need a TV).

    I went to their site and did all the research to get a TV. Good god Heavens! Has anyone filled out their painful form for a TV? Besides asking the usual details, they get extremely nosy. They want to know each and everything about you. Where you work, what money do you make, name of your wife, kids and their citizenship status, name of your father and mother and where they were born, their birth date, how much money you have and where the money is (stocks, bonds, CDS) etc. etc. While filling up the form I realized that, even my future father in law did not pose so many probing questions to me. (Please note: I don�t mind answering these silly questions for a regular visa, but for the damn TV, it is certainly overkill).

    Anyway to cut the long story short. The regular cost of TV is/was $92. However, when I filled up the application form they were asking for $184. (The satisfaction of getting a good deal on the tickets was quickly evaporating). I assumed I must have made a mistake in thinking the cost to be $92 and reluctantly paid $184. Next it was time to fill the application for my wife and answer the idiotic questions again. You should have seen the �I will kill you right now� look on my wife�s face after I woke her up in the middle of night and asked details about her parents. After I filled up the form, to my surprise, now they were asking $274 for visa fees. It was already 2:00 am and I have no choice but to painfully enter my credit card details, hoping that they would realize the mistake in their recon process and would reimburse the difference. (Of course, I was only dreaming).

    It is now almost the end of January and I have still now received any money from them. I have tried sending several email to the emb(ass)y, but none of their emails work. I get bounced email for all the emails that I have used. I have tried calling them and left messages and no one has called back. I have send emails to my credit card company and the people who processed the payment and none of them have been able to help me. There is a way to talk to someone in the emb(ass)y, but you need to dial a 900 number, which BTW costs $2.49 per minute. Throwing good money after bad is not an option.

    I just wanted to share this experience with you and remind you of the pain ahead, if you are travelling thru UK and don�t have a valid US visa. Personally, even if they had charged me the regular $92, I will still use other options to travel next time. The amount of time wasted in filling the crappy application form, going to NY, (starting Dec doing your finger prints) is simply too much to handle. Visiting your motherland/fatherland is a very special occasion and all these intermediate steps certainly water down the �good feeling� that you experience during the days leading to your trip.

    I haven�t given up my quest for a refund, but now, not only I want my money back I would like to bring back home the Koh-i-noor too.

    of all the smooth talk..cmon we all know the one time might power ruled the world.. so its not easy for them to get over with..well for those who dont like i always say..just boycott..but i know lots of them will still give in and take the pain...

    the way i see..if indian airlines were upto the task.. we could have direct flights from all major cities in US..but then again how can I simply blame the British govt. for tormenting us..its the Indian govt. who can't sort this..either encourage big businesses to launch international flights with world class service..that's something which we have to wait!





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  • abuddyz
    01-08 09:55 AM
    Dear Smisachu/ and others:
    I was also planning to go to Kolkata this summer to extend my H1B for another 3 years. Now, I am so scared reading all about the PIMS verification; delay of issuing visas; and returning passports. I am also sacred because I did not apply for any AP because at the time of applying for my 485 my H1B was valid (in fact it is valid till July 08).
    So, what would you guys advise me to do:
    (1) Go to Kolkata (with my 485 receipt notice, original) and return before my
    current H1B expires in July 08? Or, (2) apply for an AP (it is my understanding that AP is rejected by USCIS if someone has a valid H1B)? Please advise. Thanks.

    this is my thinking... number of cases which are getting delays due to this PIMS check should be considerably less when we calculate in terms of percentage... all the persons who are getting passport quickly may not be coming to these forums as they will be busy in their India trip (though there are few people who posted and I salute them). And I guess whose passport get delayed .. most of those must be coming to such forums... so in terms of percentage it might be 10% or less of cases.. so if we decide to go for stamping, there will be risk of passport delay but the probability will be less...

    these are just my thoughts.. no other source of information.





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  • gc_chahiye
    06-25 05:29 PM
    it coul dmatter..if the histrionics of teh last 2 years are repeated...

    that is actually true. My heart goes out to the people who were stuck at a date for an year and a half, and all of a sudden that date jumped two years...

    I asked my lawyer this, and he said that per a USCIS (Pearson?) memo you can change the underlying I140, but it applies to the same person. This is called interfiling. He said some people have taken this to assume that you can also request that underlying I-140 be changed across applicants, and primary-derivative names be flipped, but he is not sure if this will work, he has never done this in any case so far, and its a grey area.



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  • Lisap
    09-11 10:59 PM
    Collected from some other forum . Just google search your name combinations ( within quotes ).

    For eg. if you have FirstName MiddleName LastName .

    The search should be ( put within quotes )

    "FirstName MiddleName"
    "FirstName LastName"
    "MiddleName LastName"

    and all the reverse combinations.

    If you get hits in 100s or 1000s , yeah you can wait 2 -3 years.
    This is observed from the names of Indians.

    well this is great news there were no hits for my husbands name and only 1 hit for my name! Hopefully we will be ok and not get stuck in name checks then! Thank you for your response!





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  • pani_6
    09-15 11:28 PM
    Call them once, twice , thrice;)



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  • gveerab
    08-21 11:58 AM
    MetroPCS has a plan with unlimited international calling with $50 mobile phone plan.

    http://www.metropcs.com/plans/default.aspx





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  • abhis0
    09-15 11:59 AM
    90 days...

    Btw, I've got mine I-485 receipt at Sept 13th, filed with NSC and was received by well known J. Barrett at 10-25 of July 2nd.

    Did you have LUD on your I 140?



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  • ItIsNotFunny
    11-05 03:17 PM
    Bump ^^^^





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  • vikki76
    10-12 12:45 AM
    Thanks for such informative post KewlChap.
    My case is pending with IO since Sept 15th and there are no updates officially from USCIS. My question is- what should I ask IO through POJ method on phone? They just tell me to wait.
    Should I directly ask "what is status of my application"- tried that once and then was told to wait.
    Folks,

    Got the email about being registered as a new permanent resident on Oct 8th. Thanks to SoP, caliguy, fatjoe and all others on the forum who helped / gave me support. I essentially learned that USCIS will not move quickly on their own, they need to be pursued just like any other govt. office in India. I give my time line below for an idea of what I did. If anyone is waiting still, I sincerely think that you should do all of POJ/SR/Infopass/Senator/Ombudsman.

    Timeline:

    Sept 1st - became current
    Sept 5th - contacted NSC several times through POJ. Finally, a very nice lady told me that my case was not even assigned to an officer. Said that she will send in a request to the contractor to pull my case out and get it assigned to an officer.
    Sept 11th - Case pulled out of storage area and moved to a smaller waiting room [got this info later, but this is what had happened]
    Sept 13th: Opened SR.
    Sept 18th - Infopass: Told me that my case was assigned to an officer on Sept 11th (which was wrong really) and that I should wait 30 days. Also told me that my FP were renewed on March 9th and all my checks were clear.
    Sept 20th: Contacted Senator's office. Said they will send in inquiry.
    Sept 25: Response to SR. Case under review. Wait 30 days.
    Sept 27th: Letter from Senator saying my case was under review and I need to wait 30 days.
    Oct 2nd: Contacted NSC again through POJ method. A nice lady, Terry, told me that my case was assigned to officer on Sept 30th. She said, "your case was pulled out of storage and put in a rather large holding area where it was till Sept 30th." Also confirmed that my FP was renewed and other checks were clear. Said, just wait, it will happen soon.
    Oct 6th: Sent 7001 form to USCIS Ombudsman.
    Oct 8th: Got decision email.

    Learnings: Pursue your case as much as you can. Call NSC, but be polite. They are usually in good mood on Thu/Friday evenings and if you make some small talk, they will help you. I kept records of which NSC IO is rude and if they picked up the next time, I would just keep the phone down. In fact, the lady who helped me remembered me 'coz I managed to reach her 3 times. Dont just ask for status, say that you have called in the past and so far you know xxxx about your case. Some IOs are nice, some are rude. Nice ones actually tried to explain the entire storage area, holding area, supervisor supply chain to me. I think I kind of understand the process that happens at NSC just through these conversations now. Approach Ombudsman asap with form 7001. Call your Senator office and ask to speak to the immigration person. They are very understanding and will help you.

    Long-ish email, but thought that I will put it out there, and it might help someone stuck in this morass. If you need more info, ask me / PM me. I will be around these forums for some more time.



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  • akred
    01-24 04:43 PM
    last i checked - there are plenty of flights between JFK/Newark and all major cities including Boston.

    also - all airlines work on a hub and spoke arrangement

    +1.

    One thing to realise is that direct point to point flights will take a while, and even then there is no guarantee that you will want to fly it because it may not be economical or convienient.

    And the absence of point-to-point flights has more to do with the airlines following a hub and spoke model than with any government restrictions. Point to point flights were identified as a core part of Boeing's product strategy only recently. The situation should improve over the next few years as airlines take delivery of new models, but until then we are stuck with the hub and spoke arrangement.

    We were very satisified with Continental even though we flew Seattle->Newark->Mumbai.





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  • 485Mbe4001
    09-11 05:33 PM
    CIS Ombudsman's annual report.

    The information might have been posted earlier...

    http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/CISOMB_Annual_Report_2007.pdf

    page 37 - 44 - detail the problem and proposed solution
    the flow chart on page is 42 gives a good description



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  • gc_peshwa
    03-29 10:38 AM
    12000 visas would certainly translate to more than a week's advance IMHO:D
    DOS has not said by how much will be the forward movement.
    The Department of State announced that the Indian EB2 category is expected to advance one week in the May Visa Bulletin. The demand for EB1visa numbers has decreased by 50 percent this fiscal year. Last year from October 2009 to February 2010, 22,000 EB1 numbers were used. During the same period this year, only 10,000 to 11,000 have been used. EB1 will be current worldwide all fiscal year. This will free up an estimated 12,000 visa numbers to fall down from EB1 to EB2 this year

    EB2 India Expected to Advance in May 2011
    Posted 29.Mar.2011

    The cutoff date for EB2, India, is expected to advance in May 2011. This advancement will occur in the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin for May 2011. The Visa Bulletin for May 2011 will be published in early to mid April 2011.

    On March 29, 2011, the DOS advised that demand for visa numbers in the EB1 category has declined significantly. Thus, approximately 12,000 unused EB1 numbers will be available to shift downward to the EB2 category, starting in May 2011. There was no estimate of the expected amount of forward movement in the cutoff date for EB2 India due to the availability of these additional visa numbers.





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  • bayarea07
    09-11 08:22 PM
    Called Up and Left Voice Mails
    Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.)202- 225-5811
    Dan Lungren (R-Calif.)202- 225-5716
    Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) 202-225-5911
    Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.)202- 225-4176

    Can anyone Please update the final list of all the supporters and non suppoerters so that we can focus only on Non Supporters as of now.



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  • aquarianf
    06-15 01:08 PM
    Seems like we are so many here who are planning to file on our own. Isn't it wise to hire an attorney and negotiate a better rate, so we all can file correctly in one shot?


    All attorneys are going to be very very busy so it is just better to file your self. I have an attorny, I submitted all documents to my attorney by 20th May but they have not done anything about it.





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  • snathan
    03-29 11:33 AM
    This is good but the numbers are very less to do anything in the bigger picture(EB2+EB3 pending). Atleast something is better than nothing.

    Hope this doesn't lead to laxing on the advocacy day agenda or less efforts from EB2 people on the verge. EB3 people stuck wtih pre -perm labor, no substitution should also be helped, and way to do it , recapture of unused numbers, hold on diversity lottery. Going through advocacy efforts. A united effort has a higher chance.

    It may not have any impact on EB3 this year...but once the EB2 is cleared it will have an impact on EB3; may be in a year or two.



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  • it is ok
    08-21 07:50 PM
    Dear All:

    Do we need to dial 011-91-and then Phone Number, or we can simply Dial the number..

    Thanks,





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  • gcvision07
    07-10 10:16 PM
    http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/07/10/PH2007071002061.html





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  • PavanV
    04-06 06:10 PM
    Politicians are politicians every where. India or USA their intensions are the same. Always cause a trouble to the ruling party, no mercy for the general public who suffer directly with their actions.

    Shutdown means no work for 800k fedaral employees. Hence no wages. But bills won't stop.

    Hope for the best.
    Fringe Warning Start---
    I am not into conspiracy theories, but this one sounds like one, i.e. Mr. Oppenhemer (not sure about the spelling), announced major advances to the EB 2 I queue in the last week of March, now did he know the government was shutting down ?, possibly, well if the Govt shuts down, all visa offices/ Passport / Immigration offices shutdown, so let us say if the dates do advance considerably, and voila the Govt shuts down, well most of the folks will be current but unable to file for change in status due to shutdown, and when the Govt comes back up so will the visa numbers retrogress. I hope I am totally wrong, but you never know.
    Fringe Warning End---





    nrk
    10-01 10:56 AM
    Two of my colleagues on Nov 04 and Dec 04 didn't cleared out till.
    I don't think so they are on IV, but they will use 6 cards (1+1 in one case and 1+3 in another case)

    Since 2004 EB2 is cleared, I am seeing less number of posts being made on IV.Yay I became a senior member, will that mean I will get a green card?





    Janisaris
    09-17 04:36 PM
    Got all receipts a few mins ago.

    Jul 2nd
    Barrett 10:25am
    NSC
    I140 approved at NSC over a year ago.

    Did you receive it from NSC or TSC?