Unemployment Compensation or Benefits on EAD? - Read this

If you ever wondered that getting Unemployment benefits on EAD or Green Card will make you ineligible for admission to US, Please read this. In general, lawful permanent residents who currently possess a "green card" cannot be denied U.S. citizenship for lawfully receiving any public benefits for which they are eligible.

Released April 29, 2011

Introduction

Public charge has been part of U.S. immigration law for more than 100 years as a ground of inadmissibility and deportation. An individual who is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible to the United States and ineligible to become a legal permanent resident. However, receiving public benefits does not automatically make an individual a public charge. This fact sheet provides information about public charge determinations to help noncitizens make informed choices about whether to apply for certain public benefits.

Background

Under Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an individual seeking admission to the United States or seeking to adjust status to permanent resident (obtaining a green card) is inadmissible if the individual "at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge." If an individual is inadmissible, admission to the United States or adjustment of status will not be granted.

Immigration and welfare laws have generated some concern about whether a noncitizen may face adverse immigration consequences for having received federal, state, or local public benefits. Some noncitizens and their families are eligible for public benefits – including disaster relief, treatment of communicable diseases, immunizations, and children’s nutrition and health care programs – without being found to be a public charge.

Definition of Public Charge

In determining inadmissibility, USCIS defines “public charge”as an individual who is likely to become “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by either the receipt of public cash assistance for income maintenance, or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense.” See “Field Guidance on Deportability and Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds,” 64 FR 28689 (May 26, 1999). In determining whether an alien meets this definition for public charge inadmissibility, a number of factors are considered, including age, health, family status, assets, resources, financial status, education, and skills. No single factor, other than the lack of an affidavit of support, if required, will determine whether an individual is a public charge.

Benefits Subject to Public Charge Consideration

USCIS guidance specifies that cash assistance for income maintenance includes Supplemental Security Income (SSI), cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and state or local cash assistance programs for income maintenance, often called “general assistance” programs. Acceptance of these forms of public cash assistance could make a noncitizen inadmissible as a public charge if all other criteria are met. However, the mere receipt of these benefits does not automatically make an individual inadmissible, ineligible to adjust status to lawful permanent resident, or deportable on public charge grounds. See “Field Guidance on Deportability and Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds,” 64 FR 28689 (May 26, 1999). Each determination is made on a case-by-case basis in the context of the totality of the circumstances.

In addition, public assistance, including Medicaid, that is used to support aliens who reside in an institution for long-term care – such as a nursing home or mental health institution – may also be considered as an adverse factor in the totality of the circumstances for purposes of public charge determinations. Short-term institutionalization for rehabilitation is not subject to public charge consideration.

Benefits Not Subject to Public Charge Consideration

Under the agency guidance, non-cash benefits and special-purpose cash benefits that are not intended for income maintenance are not subject to public charge consideration. Such benefits include:

* Medicaid and other health insurance and health services (including public assistance for immunizations and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases, use of health clinics, short-term rehabilitation services, prenatal care and emergency medical services) other than support for long-term institutional care
* Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
* Nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)- commonly referred to as Food Stamps, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, and other supplementary and emergency food assistance programs
* Housing benefits
* Child care services
* Energy assistance, such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
* Emergency disaster relief
* Foster care and adoption assistance
* Educational assistance (such as attending public school), including benefits under the Head Start Act and aid for elementary, secondary or higher education
* Job training programs
* In-kind, community-based programs, services or assistance (such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter)
* Non-cash benefits under TANF such as subsidized child care or transit subsidies
* Cash payments that have been earned, such as Title II Social Security benefits, government pensions, and veterans' benefits, and other forms of earned benefits
* Unemployment compensation

Some of the above programs may provide cash benefits, such as energy assistance, transportation or child care benefits provided under TANF or the Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG), and one-time emergency payments under TANF. Since the purpose of such benefits is not for income maintenance, but rather to avoid the need for ongoing cash assistance for income maintenance, they are not subject to public charge consideration.

Source

People Who Missed the Boat (PWMB) during July 2007 - Analysis of EB- India and China

Question was asked in the comment section that how would applications with Priority date before July 2007 who could not file in July 2007 would affect EB2-IC movement for FY 2011. These people are commonly referred as "People Who Missed the Boat (PWMB)" by some people. We earlier thought that these numbers will small percentage of the whole group. But careful analysis of PERM data suggests that these numbers are significant when you will include primary + dependents (assuming a family would consume 2.5 visas) applications. Some of the assumptions were made when analyzing the PERM data. To segregate petitions from EB2 and EB3 from the whole lot, "PWD Minimum Wage" was used. Any petition with minimum wage less than $55000 were assumed EB3 and rest were assumed EB2. Please note minimum wage required for the job is different than offered wage. Please see the PWMB database for EB - India and China below. Priority date was assumed as same as Receipt date. For many cases this may differ by 2-3 days. Entire data is broken by usual visa bulletin Priority cut-ff date. We plan to inculcate this data in our Prediction for EB2-IC for FY 2011. This will definitely change the whole outlook of potential movement. Depending upon how dates will progress in every bulletin, please add these data to the porting numbers. We will update our prediction calculator that will include PWMB data automatically (PWMB section will be added). EB2-IC movement beyond March 2007 does not look good in light of these added visa demand.

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ANALYSIS

Interfiling I-485 after Sucessfully Porting from EB3 to EB2

This post explains the current procedure for interfiling I-485 once you have successfully ported your Priority Date from previously approved I-140 and your old I-485 is still pending with USCIS.

Procedure to Transfer Pending I-1485 From Current Approved Underlying I-140 Petition to New I-140 Petition

This posting involves aliens who are waiting for the I-485 applications where the underlying I-140 petition was approved but due to retrogression, I-485 cannot be approved. Most of these cases are EB-3 cases. When the same alien obtains an EB-2 labor certification approval through the same employer or a different employer and the visa number is available for the EB-2 for him or her, he should be eligible for filing another I-485 application based on the visa number available EB-2 I-140 petition. This can be achieved either by concurrent I-140/I-485 filing or if the new EB-2 I-140 has already been approved, by filing of stand-alone I-485 application. However, in the foregoing situation, the Pearson Memo of 2000 allows the alien to transfer the pending I-485 application from the existing underlying approved I-140 petition to a new EB-2 I-140 petition such that the alien does not have to file another I-485 application to use the second I-140 petition. This is called "Interfiling".

Interfiling Procedure

For this to happen successfully, two conditions must be met:

(1) The existing underlying I-140 petition (most likely EB-3) must have been approved before the I-485 transfer is requested.

(2) Secondly, the visa number must be "current" for the new I-140 petition (most likely EB-2) before the I-485 transfer is requested. As long as the PD is current, the pending I-485 application that suffer from the visa number retrogression can be transferred to the next I-140 petition.

According to the USCIS, people should take the following procedure to request such transfer of pending I-485 application from one I-140 petition to another I-140 petition:

• Request for Transfer of Pending I-485 Application to a Newly Filed I-140 Petition That Has Priority Date Current: In this situation, he/she is filing a new I-140 petition (probably EB-2 with visa number "current") with the agency to transfer the pending I-485 application and attach it to the new I-140 petition. The USCIS states that if he/she files such new I-140 petition, he/she should use "large, bold print in the cover letter or with a separate, brightly colored cover page and notation 'Inter-file I-140 with Pending I-485' and include the Receipt/File Number of Pending I-485 Application, both on the Envelope and Cover Letter."

• Request for Transfer of Pending I-485 Application to Already Approved New I-140 (most likely EB-2 category): USCIS asks to print the cover sheet on brightly colored paper, and submitting it with a cover letter providing the following Information:

• Name of 485 applicant
• Name of I-140 petitioner (employer)
• I-485 Receipt Number
• "A" Number of the 485 applicant
• Prior I-140 petition (1) Receipt Number, (2) Filing Date, and (3) Approval Date+ New I-140 to be inter-filed
• Statement requesting new I-140 be inter-filed with the pending I-485 application.

These procedures may be particularly helpful to individuals whose has recently ported from EB3 to EB2 and would like to send an interfile letter on their own to transfer pending I-485 application to newly approved I-140 cases.

EB3 to EB2 Porting Calculations - Part III

gcw07 said...

"Excellent analysis done by you. I have become a big fan of your blogs. All I understand that DoS is afraid of heavy porting EB3 India to EB2 India. Do you have any estimation for EB3 India to EB2 India porting? I have seen your dashboard and how to apply the dashboard sample to real world data?"

EB3 to EB2 Porting Poll Results

We have a poll on EB3 to EB2 Porting which is up since last week of February 2011, and till-date we have received '445' votes. Results has been consistent through out the poll for the last two months. It suggests that the general trend or distribution of individuals with different PD that are porting has not changed from day to day regardless of number of votes received, at most by +/- 1%. So we feel safe to assume that sample size represents entire population of EB3 to EB2 porting applicants. We are convinced that this will be a general trend for rest of the current year regardless of porting numbers.

Converting EB3 to EB2 Porting Results to Real World Data

There are number of ways that we can use the dashboard data and convert it into real-world data. One way to do it is to use new PERMs received during last quarter of fiscal year 2010 and first two quarters of FY 2011 for EB2-I and convert it into real world data assuming percentage for new cases and refiled cases. There are lot of unknowns in this approach and I do not feel comfortable using this approach.

Simple calculation is just based on assumption that no quarterly spillover is used until today (except to move EB2-I for May visa bulletin) and DOS is waiting to use majority of available spillover during the last quarter excluding few numbers that will be used for May and June visa bulletin to gauge EB3 to EB2 upgrade demand. Since we know that DOS has utilized total annual limit for EB2 India due to continuous incoming EB3 to EB2 upgrade demand, we think that atleast 2800 visa numbers is used to satisfy this demand.

Assuming that these 2800 numbers are porting numbers for first 6 months (Oct-Mar) of the fiscal year 2011 (May visa bulletin released first week of April), we can assume that this will convert into 5600 porting application for full fiscal year 2011 for individuals with PD before 08 May 2006. This includes primary applicants + beneficiary applicants. We know on an average a primary applicant will use 2.5 visa numbers.

Primary applicants with PD before 08 May 2006 = 5600/2.5 = 2240


Based on poll results percentage of applicants that are porting with PD before 08 May 2006 is equal to

Percentage of PD (2002 + 2003 + 2004 + 2005) + Percentage of PD April 2006 (08 May 2006)
= 7+9+9+9+ (19 * 4/12)
= 40.33 %


Total Primary EB3 to EB2 porting applicants for the fiscal year 2011 (PD 2002-PD 2011)

40.33% of Total Primary applicants = Primary applicants with PD before 08 May 2006
40.33% of Total Primary applicants = 2240

Total Primary applicants for fiscal year 2011 = 5554


Total Primary + Dependent EB3 to EB2 porting applicants for the fiscal year 2011 (PD 2002-PD 2011)

Assuming on an average a family member will use 2.5 visa numbers,
Total Primary + Dependents applicants for fiscal year 2011 = 5554 * 2.5 = 13885


EB3 to EB2 Porting for FY 2011

Before PD 08 May 2006 = 40.33% of 13885 = 5600
Beyond 08 May 2006 and before PD 31 December 2006 = 8/12* 19 % of 13885 = 1759
Beyond 31 Dec 2006 and before PD 01 July 2007 = 7/12* 15 % of 13885 = 1215
Beyond 01 July 2007 and before PD 31 Dec 2007 = 5/12* 15 % of 13885 = 868
and so on .......


Comparing data to "EB3 to EB2 Porting Calculations - Part II" based on Google Analytics

Above calculations matches very well with our data based on Google analytics. We are convinced that the EB3 to EB2 porting numbers are reasonably high as dates will move from July 2006 to July 2007. It will at least bring more 3000 porting applications (primary + dependents) to current porting demand.

EB3 to EB2 Porting - ROW - M-P

"gcw07 said... All your blogs are well analyzed, well researched and well written. Appreciate all your blogs and the contents, which are informative and convincing the readers.I differ from your view on concerns/ conclusions.

From DoS angle, increase in upgrades (EB3 to EB2 portings) include all countries (ROW includes M & P), while many perceive the topic as 'India' specific. I know many M & P guys and gals who ported to EB2. The spillover from EB2 ROW to EB2 India & China would be less compared to last year"

I totally agree that EB3 to EB2 porting is happening for ROW-M-P as well, but numbers seems less and it would not affect spillover by large amount (unless you can point me to some trackitt data which suggests otherwise). Porting numbers could be around 500, and in case it is more than that it would be counted towards EB2-ROW demand. We are assuming at least 8000-9000 number as spillover, 500-1000 less visa numbers are so few that it can be ignored as 'noise'. I do not think that DOS is worried about EB3 to EB2 upgrades from ROW-M-P. Please see excerpts from May visa bulletin. It clearly indicates they are worried about movement of EB2 - IC due to upgrade demand. End of the day movement is based on available spillover after porting (regardless of India, China or ROW), thus numbers cannot be that high. EB2-I movement after receiving EB1 spillover indicates that EB2-ROW is not consuming any spillover and thus demand is low. For sure some spillover is expected from them. I would not worry about few hundred or thousand of EB3 ROW upgrades as of now. How this will change in coming years would be interesting to see.

While thousands of “otherwise unused” numbers will be available for potential use without regard to the China and India Employment Second preference per-country annual limits, it is not known how the “upgrades” will ultimately impact the cut-offs for those two countries.

"INA Section 202(a)(5) provides that if total demand in a calendar quarter will be insufficient to use all available numbers in an Employment preference, then the unused numbers may be made available without regard to the annual per-country limits. Based on current levels of demand, there will be otherwise unused numbers in the Employment First and Second preferences."

June 2011 Visa Bulletin Predictions - EB Category

Here is the prediction for June 2011 Visa Bulletin. We should see following movements in each category as long as USCIS/DOS would use visa numbers for each category as per statutory allocations.




Updated 10 May 2010 - (Check this for Reason of Update)

Predictions

• EB3- China could advance to 01 July 2004


• EB3-Philippines could advance to 22 September 2005. (As EB3-P cannot have cut-off date surpass that of EB3-ROW, predicted cut-off dates are revised)
  


• EB3-Mexico could advance to 15 October 2004.


• EB3-ROW could advance to 22 September 2005. (Due to unknown hidden demand as mentioned in above linked article, we have to revise our prediction for EB3-ROW from 1 Oct 2005 to 22 September 2005. Reduction in demand for May was only 1575)
  


• EB2 will be current for ROW, Mexico and Philippines.


• EB3-India could advance to 22 April 2002.

• EB2-India would see movement till 15 July 2006 - Since I-485 Inventory suggested that demand for EB2-India from '08 May 06' to '01 July 2006' was 2806 and demand data only reduced by 2875, this suggests that not much upgrade demand was gauged. We still think DOS will be interested in gauging some more demand before moving dates in June visa bulletin by significant amount. We still predict that cut-off dates for EB2-I will move by two weeks and at most by 4-5 weeks. We expect significant movement for EB2-IC in July visa bulletin.
  


• EB2-China could advance to 08 August 2006.

Visa Bulletin - May 2011

May 2011 Visa Bulletin was released today. Little movement for Family-Based categories. For Employment-Based category, EB-3 overall saw some movement in cut-off dates for each country. EB2 is current for all other countries except India and China. EB2-India finally moved after long stall. EB2-China progressed to 01 August 2006. EB1, EB4 and EB5 are still current. Please also read some of the projected movements for each category in coming months.

Family-Based

Family 1st – saw some movement for most countries;

Family 2A – most countries advanced to June 2007; Mexico advanced to January 2007.

Family 2B – world numbers stalled at April 2003; Mexico saw no movement and Philippines advances to 01 March 2000.

Family 3rd – most countries advanced to May 2001; Philippines retrogress to February 1992; Mexico advances to 15 November 1992.

Family 4th – most countries stalled at January or March 2000; Philippines stalled at 08 April1988; Mexico stays at February 1996.

Employment-Based

Employment 1st – still current in all categories

Employment 2nd – 01 July 2006 for India; one week improvement for China (01 August 2006) and current for all other categories.

Employment 3rd – EB3 saw overall movement for each country and category

Employment 4th – still current in all categories

Employment 5th – still current in all categories


VISA AVAILABILITY DURING THE COMING MONTHS

Family-sponsored: The extremely high level of demand during the first few months of FY-2011 resulted in the retrogression of most worldwide cut-off dates in January or February. While most of these cut-offs have begun to advance slowly, heavy demand in the Family First preference has caused a further retrogression for May. At this time it is not possible to predict the rate of forward movement, but some movement is anticipated in most categories for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Employment-based: At this time the amount of demand being received in the Employment First preference is extremely low compared with that of recent years. Absent an immediate and dramatic increase in demand, this category will remain “Current” for all countries. It also appears unlikely that a Second preference cut-off date will be imposed for any countries other than China and India, where demand is extremely high. Based on current indications of demand, the best case scenarios for cut-off date movement each month during the coming months are as follows:

Employment Second: Demand by applicants who are “upgrading” their status from Employment Third to Employment Second preference is very high, but the exact amount is not known. Such “upgrades” are in addition to the known demand already reported, and make it very difficult to predict ultimate demand based on forward movement of the China and India cut-off dates. While thousands of “otherwise unused” numbers will be available for potential use without regard to the China and India Employment Second preference per-country annual limits, it is not known how the “upgrades” will ultimately impact the cut-offs for those two countries. (The allocation of “otherwise unused” numbers is discussed below.)

China: none to three weeks expected through July. No August or September estimate is possible at this time.

India: One or more weeks, possibly followed by additional movement if demand remains stable. No August or September estimate is possible at this time.

Employment Third:

Worldwide: three to six weeks
China: one to three weeks
India: none to two weeks
Mexico: although continued forward movement is expected, no specific projections are possible at this time.
Philippines: three to six weeks

What to do once Priority Date (PD) becomes current?

Anonymous said...
Good Day, great work you are doing here. When a PD becomes current take me through the process that follows please.

A very commonly asked question by fellow petitioners is the step by step process that they should follow after an individual’s Priority date will become current. There are two scenarios to it. 
 

a) If your I-140 is approved, you can file for I-485 for Adjustment of Status (AOS). Once I-485 application is approved, the applicant becomes a lawful permanent resident for US and receives green card.

b) If your I-140 is not filed or approved, you can concurrently file for I-140 and I-485. Your application for I-140 would be handled by your employer and attorney. Only thing that is expected from you is the experience letters showcasing your qualification to the advertised PERM position. Your case will not be approved unless until your I-140 is approved.

In each case, I-485 is an individuals or primary applicant’s petition and employer is not involved in this at all. Only role of the employer is to provide you with the Employment letter (see below). During the filing of I-485, primary applicants are allowed to add in their dependents (wife and children) to their petition. 

I-485 Process / AOS

Adjustment of Status is the final stage of Green Card. After the completion of this process, the applicant becomes a lawful permanent resident of the US.

A applicant can opt either for I485 or Consular Processing (CP).

1. File form I-485 - In this case, the applicant can file for adjustment of status using form I485 for him/herself and family members while remain in US.

2. Consular Processing - In this case, applicant can apply for adjustment of status at the US Consular office in their home country. (We will only cover details related to I-485 in this article. CP will be explained later in other article)

Preparation before filing I-485

 

What documents required to file for I-485 AOS?

The following is a generic list of documents may required for applying for 485/AoS application. It is expected that you have these documents ready to file I-485 application. It is advisable to start looking into it as soon as you think your PD would become current in coming months. The generic list is as shown below:

• Form I-485 - Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status.
• Birth Certificate - If you do not have Birth Certificate, you may need a non-availability birth certificate letter from your birth city’s government office AND affidavit or oath under public notary from your parents and one relative or family friends vouching for your birth-date.
• Copy of Passport page with nonimmigrant visa
• Color photographs as per new guidelines
• Fingerprints ( USCIS will notify when and where to provide finger Print)
• Fee
• Form G-325A, Biographic Information (for those between the ages of 14 and 79 years)
• Employment Letter - on employer's letterhead. This letter should confirm that the job on which the visa petition is based is available to you and it should mention your salary.
• Copy of your I-797 Notice of Action, showing that your I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, has been received or approved by USCIS .
• Form I-693, Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment of Status. ( Must be completed by the USCIS authorized physician)
• Form G-28 Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Representative. This will enable your lawyer to represent you.
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization or EAD ( Optional, if you want Employment Authorization while the case is pending)
• Form I-131, Application for Travel Document ( Optional, if you want Travel document in case may have to travel out of USA while case is pending)
• You might be required to submit copies of marriage or divorce certificate, death certificate (of spouse), birth certificates for children and certified copies of any arrests or criminal records, depends on your case. In case of non-availability of marriage certificate you may need to furnish affidavit on your marriage and some other proof that you are currently married and stay together (joint bank accounts, joint lease and so on). See country specific requirements on primary and secondary evidence for birth  and marriage certificate in case you DO NOT have originals.

Medical Examination

All applicants must pass a medical examination conducted by a civil surgeon approved by the USCIS and submit copy of I-693 with their application. Medical Examination as old as one year is allowed. If you think that your dates will be current in coming months, please get this done as soon as possible. This way you can beat the traffic especially if your dates will become current during last quarter of fiscal year.

You can find the USCIS approved civil surgeon in your area - online. You can also contact USCIS' National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 to find an approved civil surgeon in your area. The civil surgeon will record the results of the examination on the Form I-693 and in sealed in an envelope which should be submitted to USCIS along with I-485 applications. You are responsible for paying all doctor and laboratory fees for the exam. You must carry your passport (or other form of photo identification) and your medical and vaccination history. If a condition is diagnosed which makes you inadmissible, you may still be eligible for immigration after completing treatment for the condition.

Employment Authorization Document (EAD), USCIS Form I-765

You and your eligible family member like spouse can apply for an EAD.
An approved EAD allows to work or business to the secondary applicant (spouse).
The primary applicant may take up a part-time job or start a business as long continue working for the employer who filed for the Green Card.

Application for EAD (Form I-765) can be filed concurrently along with I-485 or any time after that as long as I-485 application is pending. The following documents must accompany the form:

• Fee payable by check or money
• 2 passport photographs taken within 30 days of filing the application and as per the new guidelines.
• Copies of both sides of your I-94 card
• Copies of both sides of your EAD if you already had one.

Depends on the service center, EAD approval may take few weeks to few months to get approval. For those who are secondary applicant and does not have a Social Security Number or not allowed to work can apply for Social Security Number , after receiving the EAD Card.

Advance Parole (Travel Document)

The Advance Parole or Travel Document is used to apply for admission to the United States upon return from abroad without having to obtain a visa from a US Embassy or consulate. You must fill Form I-131 for Advance Parole. There is a non refundable Filling fee to be paid by check or money order. This document is usually issued for the time it takes for the AOS application to be processed and is valid for multiple entries. Starting March 2011, both EAD and AP documents are issued on single card. Please ensure that you renew your EAD and AP in timely manner whenever you will travel outside US. If your AP would expire during your stay abroad or you traveled with expired AP, you will lose your AOS status and your I-485 will be denied. (This is not required if you are still in H1-B status. Please see below)

Maintaining your H-1B visa status during this time

It is not required but advisable to maintain your H1-B status even if you have file for I-485 application. Remember that H1-B is dual intent visa and you can file for AOS and still allowed to maintain your H1-B status. This is particularly important incase your AOS is denied and you would not lose your H1-B.

Including your spouse and children for AOS

You can include your spouse and children aged less than 21 at the time of filing I-485 for Adjustment of Status. You must submit all the documents required for AOS for each dependent (except form G-28). In addition, you may need to file Form I-134 (Affidavit of Support) for each dependent. Other documents may include:

• Copy of passport with I-94
• Copy of I-797 and H-4 visa
• Copy of Birth certificate
• Copy of Marriage certificate
• Original Bank statements
• Passport photos as per new regulations

After Submitting I-485 application

Once you would submit your I-485 form, following things would happen.

a) Fingerprinting/Biometrics

b) FBI Name Check

c) Interview (Waived for most applicants)

 

Fingerprinting/ Biometrics

When applying for I-485, you will be fingerprinted so the USCIS can check for FBI and criminal records. The USCIS accepts fingerprint cards prepared only by authorized sites such as Application Support Centers (ASCs), and US Consular offices and military installations abroad. Once you file for I-485, the USCIS will send you a letter with an appointment for fingerprinting and Biometrics for green card at the nearest ASC location. You must have the letter with you when you go in for biometrics. There is a charge per person. Once your biometrics is taken, you will be issued a card FD-258.
Remember: You should not submit the FD-258 card with your application. If you do so, the card will be rejected and you will have to go for fingerprinting again.

FBI Name Check

FBI name check is conducted by the National Name Check Program (NNCP) located in Washington DC. Its main mission is to look up an individual's name in a giant database (Central Records System - CRS) and find any matching records. It may sound simple but is actually a multi-step process that can get quite complicated. This is a typical work flow:

· Receiving requests: USCIS submit thousands of names weekly to NNCP on magnetic tapes;

· Electronic search: Batch names are searched against the CRS' General Indices;

· Easy clearance: If no record was found in either main files or reference files of the Universal Index (UNI) for a particular name, the name check is considered cleared;

· Manual search: Names returned with potential matching records ("hits") are searched again manually. Additional names are cleared after this step;

· Manual review: Names still remaining will be reviewed manually, and matching records located across the country must be forwarded to the agent for analysis.

· Completion: Results are returned to the USCIS who will make a decision as to what effects the information may have on the case.

As per June 2009 – FBI Process 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days and process the remaining two percent within 90 days. You do not have to do anything here. Your FP/Biometrics will take care of this. But your case cannot be approved until FBI Name Check is cleared.

Appear for an interview

Usually the interview is waived for most applicants. If you are called for an interview, it will be a formality. It is advisable to have your lawyer accompany you. The reason for the interview is to clarify any changes or corrections and to verify that all documents are correct. You may be asked to carry any documents that were missing or incorrect. You may be asked for tax records and pay stubs.

If your interview is waived (or if it is completed and you meet all requirements) you will receive an approval letter from the USCIS. You must go to the local USCIS service center with your passport and all I-94 and EAD cards. A temporary green card stamp (I-551) will be placed on your passport. This is an interim green card in case you need to travel out of the US. Within a few months, your green card will arrive in the mail - it is not green in color and looks more like a driver's license or a credit card.

What to do if you case is beyond normal processing time for I-485 application for your National Service Center?

You can do following things (though not advisable for cases which are not already pre-adjudicated) once your case is beyond normal processing time.

a) Open Service Request with USCIS

b) Contact your local Congressmen

c) Get Infopass

EB2 Category will see atleast 12,000 Spillover from EB1 for FY 2011

As per recent statement by Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division, U.S. Department of State, it appears that India EB2 cutoff dates will advance, perhaps substantially, in May. This means that China EB2 cutoff dates will also advance with them.

Mr. Oppenheim said “[US]CIS says they have seen a decline in filings, and does not expect a change in the number use pattern. Therefore, this decline in EB-1 number use will allow me to begin having those ‘otherwise unused’ numbers drop down and be available for use in the EB-2 category. Based on current indications, that would mean that at least 12,000 additional numbers will be available to the EB-2 category. This situation will allow me to advance the India EB-2 cut-off date for May. The reason being that all ‘otherwise unused’ numbers are provided strictly in priority date order, and the India demand has the largest concentration of early dates.”

Statement in red could be read in two ways

a) This means bare minimum 12000 will be available for entire fiscal year based on current indication or trend.
OR
b) This means 12000 visa numbers are available from EB1 right now and we can expect 24,000 unused visa numbers for rest of the year.

On a conservative side, I would think at least 12000 unused EB1 visa numbers will be available for spillover for the entire fiscal year. Apart from this we could also expect spillover from unused EB4, EB5 and EB2-ROW-P-M category later in the last quarter.

But contradictory to a) is the statement published on the other website which suggests "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."

Please ignore the statement on movement by only one week, which seems little too unrealistic. If we closely look at statement in red, this suggest at least 18000 spillover from EB1 to EB2 category this year.

Based on above two scenarios, a) and b), we will update our "May visa Bulletin Prediction" and "Prediction for EB2 Category for FY 2011".

Indeed this is a good news for EB2-India and China applicants who are waiting for some visa numbers for long time.

May 2011 Visa Bulletin Predictions - EB Category

Updated 03/29/2011 - Based on recently released data

Here is the prediction for May 2011 Visa Bulletin. We should see following movements in each category as long as USCIS/DOL would use visa numbers for each category as per statutory allocations.

Predictions

• EB3- China could advance to 08 April 2004


• EB3-Philippines could advance to 22 August 2005.


• EB3-Mexico could advance to 15 August 2004.


• EB3-ROW could advance to 22 August 2005.


• EB2 will be current for ROW, Mexico and Philippines.


• EB3-India could advance to 15 April 2002.


• EB2-India would see movement till 15 December 2006 (based on EB1 spillover of 12000, half yearly EB2-demand and half-yearly unused EB4 and EB5 numbers).


• EB2-China could advance to 15 December 2006.

Finally, a Startup Visa That Works!!!

This bill is currently discussed a lot among immigrant community. This would add new category EB6 to the employment-based category with out addition of visas to total annual quota of 140,000 visas. This visa is an amazing opportunity for individuals who would like to start a business or a company in USA. On other hand it has been proposed that any unused EB5 numbers should Fall down to this EB6 category before the numbers could be made available to EB1. Introduction of this visa will definitely impact spillover in long run. Investment involved is not that high, so definitely there is a scope for fraud or to use this visa as a stepping stone visa to transfer to other non-immigrant visas during an open window of 2 years. Time would tell. Until then it is necessary that more information is published on this new visa type.

Finally, a Startup Visa That Works
- By Vivek Wadhwa

In my last post about the Startup Visa, I was very critical of the Kerry–Lugar legislation. That’s because it required immigrant entrepreneurs to raise at least $250,000 in financing for their startups, of which $100,000 had to come from American VCs or Super Angels. Few startups raise this kind of seed money—even in Silicon Valley. I couldn’t foresee this bill generating more than a few dozen jobs. Yet our political leaders would have claimed “Mission Accomplished”, and we would have lost a valuable opportunity to stem the brain drain.

I was delighted to receive an e-mail, last week, from Garrett Johnson, who works for Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). Garrett said that the Senator had read my articles and asked his staff to consider my comments. After consulting with Bob Litan, of Kauffman Foundation; Brad Feld, of Foundry Group; Eric Ries, of the lean-startup movement; and other champions of the visa, Garrett had revised the legislation. He sent me a draft of the bill that was introduced today. This new legislation is even better than I had hoped for. If it gets through both houses—and doesn’t have bureaucratic constraints—I expect it to unleash a flood of entrepreneurship.

The new legislation provides visas to the following groups under certain conditions:

1. Entrepreneurs living outside the U.S.—if a U.S. investor agrees to financially sponsor their entrepreneurial venture with a minimum investment of $100,000. Two years later, the startup must have created five new American jobs and either have raised over $500,000 in financing or be generating more than $500,000 in yearly revenue.
2. Workers on an H-1B visa, or graduates from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science—if they have an annual income of at least $30,000 or assets of at least $60,000 and have had a U.S. investor commit investment of at least $20,000 in their venture. Two years later, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised over $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
3. Foreign entrepreneurs whose business has generated at least $100,000 in sales from the U.S. Two years later, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised over $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.

The investor must be a qualified venture capitalist, a “super angel” (U.S. citizen who has made at least two equity investments of at least $50,000 every year for the previous three years), or a qualified government entity.

The really good news is that this enables foreign students and workers who are already in the U.S. to qualify for a visa. The requirements for them are very reasonable—they must show that they have enough in savings not to be a burden to American taxpayers, and get a qualified investor or a government entity such as the Small Business Administration to validate their ideas by making a modest investment.

Yes, there is a risk for holders of this visa that, if their venture fails or doesn’t go anywhere, they must start again or leave the U.S. But that’s entrepreneurship—there are no guarantees. This won’t appeal to everyone, and it is not meant to. The Startup Visa is for risk takers.

This version of the bill will, I expect, encourage tens of thousands of workers trapped in “immigration limbo”, and foreign students who would otherwise return home after graduation, to try their hands at entrepreneurship. Many of these people would not otherwise have considered entrepreneurship; they will now have the incentive to take the risk.

Even though the bill doesn’t allow visa holders to work for any company other than their own, I have no doubt that the anti-immigrants will rally against it. They always do, regardless of what is good for the country and of what is good for them. They fear competition and will make claims that these startups will, somehow, take their jobs away.

But the fact is that skilled immigrants create jobs; and recipients of the startup visa will not be allowed to stay in the U.S. permanently unless they do. Right now, these job creators have no choice but to take their ideas and savings home with them and become our competitors. This legislation allows them to create the jobs here.

A lot of hard work has gone into this bill, over the last two years, by tech notables Brad Feld, Eric Ries, Dave McClure, Manu Kumar, Shervin Pishevar, Fred Wilson, and Paul Kedrosky. This group is launching a campaign to gain the bill political support. It is using social-lobbying tools powered by Votizen to take tweets, Facebook posts, and SMS messages and hand-deliver them to Congress. The Startup Visa website details how you can get involved and help the bill to succeed. Now it is your turn to speak up and help us revitalize the economy.

Editor’s note: Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School, Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at The Halle Institute for Global Learning at Emory University. You can follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa and find his research at www.wadhwa.com.

EB3 to EB2 Porting Calculations - Part II

We have completed our analysis to calculate EB3 to EB2 porting which is shared herein. Google analytics and 'EB3 to EB2 porting' poll on this website were used to crunch some numbers for yearly EB3 to EB2 porting. Please note as mentioned in my previous post, this site has three posts which could be of interest to individuals looking to port from EB3 to EB2 category.

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Google Analytics

With Google Analytics, we looked at each of these topics and noted number of "unique visits" we had receive every day. Unique visits with direct traffic from Google search were ONLY considered. Please see table below to see number of visits. Any visits referred from other forums and websites were ignored. This way any error in the method to calculate EB3 to EB2 porting is offset by number of ignored visits from other sites. If we assume that only 70% of these individuals are eligible or would qualify to port their priority date, we can assume total monthly and subsequently total yearly EB3 to EB2 porting.

EB3 to EB2 Porting Polls

Result from EB3 to EB2 porting polls was further used to calculate distribution of yearly porting among different priority date based on poll results. This is an ongoing effort but so far we have received 115 votes; which is believed to be a good sample size to evaluate distribution of current EB3 to EB2 porting rate. Further breakdown is done to predict monthly porting between PD Jan 2006 and PD Dec 2007. This results will be of interest for current fiscal year when unused visa numbers will be available due to spillover and for next fiscal year especially when this demand will hit I-485 inventory or would start using annual visa numbers once date will become current for these PDs. Moving EB3 to EB2 porting is also calculated. See table below. For every primary applicant, family size is considered to be 2.25 to calculate Porting (Primary + Dependents)


Poll Results

Note: This is just one way to analyze this data. If you have any other better way please feel to comment or contact us and we can add your analysis to this site as well. Our goal is to help immigrant community.

Pageviews and Unique PageViews based on three posts used to calculate EB3 to Eb2 porting

Visa Bulletin - April 2011

April 2011 Visa Bulletin was released today. Little movement for Family-Based categories. We expect more retrogression for Family-Based F-1 and F-2A category in coming months. For Employment-Based category, EB-3 overall saw some movement in cut-off dates for each country. EB2 is current for all other countries except India and China. EB2-India did not see any movement. EB2-China progressed to 22 July 2006. EB1, EB4 and EB5 are still current.

Family-Based

Family 1st – retrogressed for most countries;

Family 2A – most countries advanced to April 2007; Mexico advanced to July 2006.

Family 2B – world numbers stalled at April 2003; Mexico saw no movement and Philippines advances to December 1999.

Family 3rd – most countries advanced to March 2001; Philippines advances by nine months to Novemeber 1992; Mexico retrogresses advances to 08 November 1992.

Family 4th – most countries stalled at January or February 2000; Philippines stalled at 08 March 1988; Mexico advances three weeks to February 1996.

RETROGRESSION OF FAMILY PREFERENCE CUT-OFF DATES

Continued heavy applicant demand for numbers in the Family First (F1) preference category has required the retrogression of the Worldwide, China-mainland born, and India cut-off date for the month of April.

Further retrogressions cannot be ruled out should demand continue at the current levels for some categories and countries.

Employment-Based

Employment 1st – still current in all categories

Employment 2nd – no movement for India; two week improvement for China (22July 2006) and still stalled for India (8 May 2006).

Employment 3rd – Eb3 saw overall movement for each country and category

Employment 4th – still current in all categories

Employment 5th – still current in all categories

Can America keep best, brightest immigrants? - MSNBC Nightly News

America's visa restrictions lead to reverse brain drain

Please see the video. Tom Brokaw addresses the concern that America is losing its best and brightest immigrants because of visa restrictions. From 1995 to 2005, a quarter of start-up technology or engineering companies had at least one immigrant founder. It talks about most of the H1B issues with not much emphasis on Employment-Based Green Cards.

Look around the offices of SnapDeal, an online coupon business, and it's not hard to see all the signs of a thriving venture.

A young staff full of drive and ambition, a tote board on the wall tracking new customers, one about every second.

But SnapDeal isn't in Silicon Valley — it's in New Delhi, India.

Kunal Bahl, 27, and his partner, Rohit Bansal, launched SnapDeal in February 2010. They're already the No. 1 e-commerce retailer in India.

“SnapDeal is a very simple concept,” Bahl said. “Every day there is one attractive deal and people come to the website, buy the deal and go use it at the merchant.”

Bahl's company has created 300 jobs — and counting. But he sometimes wonders "what if …?" What if the country where he got his education, where he helped start a company while still in business school, had let him stay?

“I put my chips in the American basket and said let me try my hand here,” said Bahl, who earned an engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a business degree from its Wharton School.

But Bahl's visa ran out, and he took his skills back to India.

The United States issues only 85,000 of the so-called H1B visas for highly skilled workers each year. And these expire after six years.

There's broad agreement that the current immigration and visa system needs reform — that's going to need to come from Congress.

Still, the State Department does what it can to help encourage entrepreneurship around the world.

Video: 'I didn't have an option' (on this page)

The San Francisco Bay Area — the home of Silicon Valley, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley — has always been a magnet for the best and brightest from foreign lands, but now many are wondering, why do U.S. immigration officials make it so hard for them to stay?

“We're strengthening our competitors, we're weakening ourselves,” said Vivek Wadhwa, a visiting professor at Berkeley and research associate with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. He has been warning of a "reverse brain drain" for years.

"There are a lot of very good human beings who are unemployed, who have lost their jobs,” Wadhwa said. “It's easy for them to blame foreigners. What they don't understand is people like me, when I came to this country, I came to study. My first company created 1,000 jobs. My second company created 200 jobs.

Wadhwa's research found that between 1995 and 2005, 25 percent of startups in Silicon Valley had at least one immigrant founder. And those startups created nearly a half-million jobs.

U.S. immigration rules are big roadblocks for the enterprising foreigners.

Martin Kleppmann, German co-founder of San Francisco startup Rapportive, which shows users everything about their contacts from inside their email inboxes, said everyone has stories to share about how painful the visa process has been.

“You're trying to quickly engage with customers — make sure that everything's developing, and at the same time, you've got this huge distraction — worrying whether you're going to get kicked out of the country,” said Kleppmann, who has a bachelor's in computer science from the University of Cambridge and studied music composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Video: Immigration laws blocking economic potential? (on this page)

At a gathering of nearly a dozen young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs recently, more than half said they think they’ll end up back in their home countries rather than staying in the U.S. because of visa issues — and they would take jobs with them when they leave.

Immigration officials often don't even understand the technology business.

Kleppmann drew laughs from the group when he explained an example.

“In our case — we got a beautiful letter from the immigration service asking to prove that we had enough warehouse space to store our software inventory. We don't even have boxes of software, it's all on the Internet."

Sakina Arsiwala of India co-founded San Francisco-based Campfire Labs, a startup that wants to "change the way people think of social interactions in the real world and online."

“Why deal with all this, you know, old school immigration systems, just go where you're wanted, you know?” said Arsiwala, a software engineer who formerly headed YouTube's international business for Google. She studied at the University of Mumbai and San Francisco State University.

Bahl went where he felt welcome. Close to family in a newly vibrant India.

“There is no ‘either or’ relationship between the American dream and the Indian dream, Bahl said. “They can both exist, it's just that the guys who are building the Indian dream right now could have been part of the American dream, too.”

In an interesting twist in Bahl's case, he's looking into launching SnapDeal internationally, including in the U.S., and hiring Americans to help him do it.

Source - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41894670/ns/business-consumer_news/

USCIS released I-140 Statistics for EB1 (EB1-A and EB1-B) Category

USCIS yesterday released Approval and Denial Statistics for I-140 for EB1 Category for fiscal years 2005 to 2010. USCIS release specifically points that released statistical data for I-140 is for E-11 and E-12 category. As per DHS, definition for E11 and E12 is "Aliens with extraordinary ability, new arrivals (E11)" and "Outstanding professors or researchers, new arrivals (E12)". New arrivals are usually individuals who has applied from outside the US or CP cases (physically residing outside US), whereas Adjustments are individuals who are currently present in the US in a non-immigrant category adjusting to a immigrant status to receive permanent residence. Since E11 and E12 includes data released for new arrivals it should not include AOS numbers. But this does not look right when you compare USCIS released data and DHS released data on FY 2009 I-485 Visa Number Use as per Class of Admissions. We can see that the numbers are very close when recent released data is viewed in terms of AOS + new arrival. As far as I think, USCIS data does include AOS applicants as well. as new arrivals Please note that I-140 data would only include primary applicants i.e. E11, E16, E12 and E17

DHS Vocabulary on Class of Admissions

Aliens with extraordinary ability, new arrivals (E11)

Aliens with extraordinary ability, adjustments (E16)

Outstanding professors or researchers, new arrivals (E12)

Outstanding professors or researchers, adjustments (E17)

Multinational executives or managers, new arrivals (E13)

Multinational executives or managers, adjustments (E18)

Fiscal Year 2009 Data

Type and class of admission --------------------------Total----AOS-- New Arrivals

Aliens with extraordinary ability, new arrivals (E11)---------308 -----NA------- 308

Aliens with extraordinary ability, adjustments (E16) --------3,134- - 3,134 ------NA

Outstanding professors or researchers, new arrivals (E12) ---20------NA------- 20

Outstanding professors or researchers, adjustments (E17)-- 3,412--- 3,412------NA

Multinational executives or managers, new arrivals (E13)---- 214 ----NA------ 214

Multinational executives or managers, adjustments (E18) ---9,718 ---9,718-----NA

FY 2009 I-485 Visa Number Use as per Class of Admissions


Approval and Denial Statistics for I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers