SarahG

Job description agreed and ready to be advertised. Waiting for prevailing wage and then it is all systems go.

I should perhaps develop an ability other people have. Patience.

Found this flow chart online that explains process that may help some people.

AddyLaddy

Just got our I-485 approval/card production txt/email. Yippee!

07/17/12 PERM filed (BSc + 10 years experience)
09/12/12 PERM response (57 days)
10/03/12 I-140 filed (Premium processing)
10/10/12 I-140 response (7 days)

11/02/12 I-485/EAD/AP filed (EB-2 ROW)
12/26/12 Biometrics appointment (54 days)
01/17/13 AP/EAD approved (76 days)
01/24/13 AP/EAD combo cards received (83 days)
01/29/13 I-485 approved/card production (88 days)

SarahG

Congrats!

We are trying to get letters from OH previous employers that back up his skills/experience. Problem is that the last Co he worked for were very pissed off he left and we are not sure if they will give him a letter confirming skills etc that the lawyers have said he needs. Previous employer in UK will do whatever we ask him to but not the most recent job.

AddyLaddy

I had trouble too as 3 of my previous employers are now defunct. Another one was a multi-national and when I requested my former manager sign the experience letter, I got a standard HR response letter which only confirmed my dates of employment and job title. Supposedly they are now only allowed to provide that basic information for a reference, I guess to avoid litigation?

Luckily I had spent over 13 years with one employer, so I got my former CTO, who is now at a large computer company, to print and sign a letter on headed paper.

But I thought that the EB2 skills/experience (in lieu of a Masters) had to be earned outside the USA to be valid?

SarahG

I'm not sure but I think the lawyers want to cover all bases. My OH only spent 2 years at the company in Indiana and pretty much all experience/skills obtained in UK.

Brat1

Congratulations to you, that didn't take too long at all

AddyLaddy

Thanks!
Yes only around 200 days from the PERM filing to the GCs being issued which is pretty good.
The PERM was started back in Dec 2011, so around about 1 year altogether.

Next task will be making sure we all maintain our PR status (#1 son wants to go to Uni in the UK) and perhaps go for citizenship in 5 years time?

Paul S

I wish I had been in EB2! Just looked up how long my EB3 took, only 1722 days from start to finish

jxv73

A minor point, but worth clarifying: PERMs are filed without identifying if EB-2 or EB-3. Of course the job description in the PERM needs to fit the classification, so this must be planned ahead. But technically, the choice of EB-2 vs EB-3 occurs at the I-140 stage.

SarahG

Fair enough but all I was saying was that is the category that OH work have said they are putting him in & the job description is done now. I am just happy to know it is EB-2 rather than EB-3.

SarahG

Finally got all the letters from OH previous jobs confirming dates worked for them and skills/qualifications obtained. Well, everyone except his last job, the one that we came over to the US for. All we have from them is a letter from HR confirming he worked there. The owners of the company and ignoring all requests for them to sign a letter and print it on company letterhead and send it back to us. They have been called and emailed and nothing. In my opinion they are being childish but the lawyers have said it should hold no bearing on the whole process. We have enough letters from previous managers and his other jobs that it won't cause any problem. (I hope!)

The lawyers wanted to get all the paperwork together before having the job advertised. I am sure they know what is best.

SarahG

Currently waiting on Prevailing Wage and then recruitment will start. Lawyers reckon it will be received in 4 weeks. Been told we still need to try and get a letter from OH former employers even though they are ignoring all requests. How very professional.

Orangepants

That is so annoying and yes unprofessional. Can you write a sample letter and forward that to them, stating dates worked and his work duties, very basic - no superlatives or comment on work performance. We did this in the same situation and they finally succumbed.

SarahG

We have tried that already. We wrote a letter and got the lawyers to OK it before sending. Emailed several times and called. When my husband called them they said 'We got your email, we will deal with it.' and then hung up. That was over a month ago. We've sent several emails and left messages. No response. All they need to do it print it, sign it and then scan it and email it back.

DavidLemon

I wrote all of my letters for them too. All they had to do was print it out on company headed and sign them. We managed to get them all to comply with my requests, but it took a lot of time and effort. Our lawyer eventually had to ask one of the companies as they were adamant they were not going to do it. The lawyer asked nicely and they finally agreed.

I wonder if those documents could suffice for another application with another company? As in if you were to get another H1-B position and had to get all the documentation together, would you have to repeat the process or would it be ok to re-use the original letters of attestation from the first application?