BritVsRedneck

Hi all

Thank you for all for the post with the wealth of knowledge about all things Visa and Greencard process, its been super helpful to me while I've adjusted to life over here.

My back ground; I started an industrial placement with my company in 2008 in the UK, I graduated from Uni in 2010 (In my last year of uni I still worked 2 days at the company, so when I graduated I walked straight into that job).

2 years later the company closes the technical center in the UK, I'm offered a job in France or USA.

In April 2012 we have our L1b and L2 visas for wife and kids and arrive in USA.

My contract is local and open ended, no expat deal. We did get relocation allowance and a large disturbance allowance (for staying with the company rather than taking a redundancy payment due to site closure).
The contract also states the Greencard process will start after 2 years of being on a visa.

We get settled and enjoy it here, my wife and kids especially. SO i ask at the 2 year mark about the Greencard. Im told there is a queue of people in front of me and that HR can only process 1 GC application at a time. So it will be at least a year until they start my process.

Later that year i get invited into the HR manager's office, she tells me that it will unlikely that they can process the Greencard application before our 5 year L1b visa expires. So we will have to be 'moved' to a H1b.
I asked what this entails, she doesn't fully understand that the H1b visas are lottery based, and that this would mean my wife would have a H4 visa and would no longer be able to work. There was zero sympathy, in fact the HR manager suggests we have another baby! (I didnt ask why she suggested this bit of family planning during a workplace HR meeting, I just got up and left the room).

About 6 months later, the lawyers had field our H1b visa applications, and we had a 20% chance, we were successful and in December 2015 transferred to the H1b/H4 visas.

At the same time the lawyers also started my Perm process for the Greencard, I'm EB3 category.
Here's the list of dates so far..

Perm job description started 10/28/2015
Perm job filed with DOL for prevailing wage 2/19/2016
Perm job advertised 7/1/2016
perm recruitment ended 10/4/2016
perm application I140 (ETA 9089) 10/17/2016
perm application certified 12/29/2016
I140 receipt 1/20/2017
I140 approved 2/13/2017
EAD spouse filed 2/15/2017
EAD spouse received 4/4/2017
Priority date became current Mar-17
Medicals 4/14/2017
I-485 filed 5/2/2017
I-485 received date 5/3/2017
I-485 receipt notice 5/9/2017
Biometric appointment TBA
greencard arrived TBA

This forum has been so useful for me to understand the process steps and help me keep calm during the waiting periods and stressful silences.

I hope that I can somehow help someone else by logging my experience.

Pulaski

That's quite a saga. Congratulations on making it this far without throwing in the towel!

BritVsRedneck

Thanks Pulaski, quite a journey, but it has been worth all the headaches!

My problem has been with my company's HR department, my manager did help push things along when needed, but I have had to drive this process. 50% of my job has been chasing Visa and Greencard processes with lawyers!

I left out instances such as where in February of this year the Lawyers didn't notice that my son's H4 visa had expired and his passport had just expired, I had renewed his UK passport in 1 week via mail!
But as he was now "out of status", I had to fly to the London with him and renew his H4 visa at the embassy.

When we found out we had to move to H1b/H4 visas, and it was a lottery, I asked the HR manager what would happen if we weren't successful. Her response was we would have to move back to the company's UK office!

When I pointed out that it was closed 3 years ago, and that is the reason why we were here in the US, she looked surprised! I told her if they cannot organize the visas or the Greencard for us, they would not be able to fulfill my local contract, and they would be breaching the contract and would need to repatriate us to the UK and I would also seek legal action.
She changed her tune and decided that the Greencard process could be started after all!

When we were successful in obtaining the H1b/H4 visas, we were told we needed to have an appointment at a US embassy, the default was Toronto in winter. I said no way we're waiting for 2 weeks or so stuck in a hotel room in Canada in the winter!

My sister lives in Sydney Australia, so I told them we wanted to go the embassy there. Under the circumstances in that I felt we were going backwards and it wasn't my fault, my manager agreed to the trip. So in December 2015 we flew to Sydney and spent 3 weeks on the beach waiting for our H1b/H4 visa stamps in our passports. I expensed everything to the company.

I'll be glad when I can finally concentrate solely on work, and I think we are now at stage where the HR are not involved any more in the process. It's just a waiting game for the USCIS to issue our biometric appointment dates now...

ian-mstm

To clarify, a visa is a travel document - nothing more. It's the I-94 that determines how long you're able to remain in the US. So... if the I-94 expired then yes - he was out of status, but otherwise he wasn't.


With respect, your ignorance just reared its ugly head. I grew up in Toronto, and I can assure you that you wouldn't have been stuck in a hotel room for 2 weeks. Toronto has an entire underground city with shops, restaurants, theaters, and other attractions - and a world class subway system. You most certainly wouldn't have been bored - and you likely would never have had to even go outside!

Ian

BritVsRedneck

Yes sorry, that's right the i94 had expired as the date only ran up to the expiration date on the Visa. So when I said the Visa ran out I was correct, but like you say it was not the reason why he was out of status, but it was certainly the root cause, right?

I'm not bashing Canada by all means! It's on our list of places to go!
But given the choice of Toronto or an all expensed trip to Sydney in their summer time to see my sister and my parents (who flew there from the UK). I hope you don't mind me taking the latter option..

But thanks Ian for your advice on Toronto, I'll be sure to check it out in future.

Pulaski

I visited Toronto once on an extended business trip (three weeks). If struck me as a nice place to live, but there was very little reason to visit. I later realized that it is similar to Charlotte, NC in that regard, except that Charlotte's linked buildings are linked above street level, not below (nor as extensive), and Charlotte isn't quite as close to the nearby lake.

Orangepants

I renewed my visa in Toronto. Appointment was Monday morning, picked up passport on Wednesday afternoon. Very efficient service. Toronto have some great music festivals in the summer.
I'd take an all expenses trip to Sydney too in the middle of a Toronto winter!

Congrats on sticking it out for the GC journey. We had a similar roller coaster ride.

giri26

Congrats on the GC. EB3 in 2 years is amazing. I was from a heavily backlogged country and did not even get to file the AOS after 10 years. Finally decided to give up and move out. Lived in US for 14 years with a masters degree from an university there.

jsted

Guessing India?

giri26

Yes it is.

BritVsRedneck

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you, a lot of my colleagues are from China and India and I shudder every time they tell me how long their wait is until their priority date is current.
If you are born in any country other than India and China it seems you are very lucky by comparison!

BritVsRedneck

No updates yet, I'm still waiting for the biometric appointment dates.

I asked the lawyer when the USCIS usually scheduled the appointments and she obviously can't tell me, but did say they had another client who had received I-485 receipt notices in March but were still waiting for the biometric appointment letter.

I was originally told by the lawyer that I wouldn't be able to travel outside the US once the I-485 was filed until the biometric appointments were done.
I had already told them before filing the I-485 we had travel plans for late June to fly back to the UK for 2 weeks. This was totally ignored/forgotten it seems.

So when they told me about not travelling, I wanted to know why. They were worried that we would miss the biometric appointment and the risk we would have to file I-140 and I-485 again.

However now that the I-485 has been received by the USCIS, they told me I'm OK to travel but keep in mind the risk of missing the biometric appointment.

Right now we are 4 weeks away from flying and 6 weeks away from returning to the US. We've not had a biometric appointment letter, so I'm not changing my travel plans.

Fred16

I've been told :
As my visa expires 2019, that my only travel restriction are

Between
Date AOS is filed and AOS receipt date
That is a week, at most

BritVsRedneck

Thanks for the info Fred16. That seems to match my understanding too.

Where are you up to with the GC? Have you filed AOS yet?

Fred16

Not yet, Medical paperwork is ready for me to pick up today
So I'll mail them along to Legal team with other forms, hopefully that will be in next two weeks