Capture The Art Blog's

Hello all, my lawyer is charging $600 for EAD (including uscis fees), I heard from one of my friends that EAD can be applied by yourself.

Has anyone done that?
Is it easy to do that?

Here is:

e-file 765(180 $)
Send copy of 485 along with printout of receipt
Wait for FP appointment
Done(got cards 40 days later)


I already did it for wife, son and myself.

Saved about 1500$

I just started using SBI global and I am happy with their services. One question though. I am sending money to my own account. I know we have to declare the accounts more than 10K. Is the interest earned on that money taxable in US ? Another question is , since we are here is that money taxable in India also ? If yes, how do we manage our indian taxes while living here(tax returns etc). Any help would be great.

I have SBI NRI account (You can only transfer USD, not sure about other currencies, but for sure you can't deposit India Rupees), for this account you dont need to pay any tax in India, whatever you transfer from here are alredy taxed, so dont worry, even you dont need to pay the tax on the earned interest from ur NRI account.

Please note that there is one more accout type exist for NRI, this account will allowed to deposit indian rupees, but you have to file taxes for the earned interest/income.

Hi,

Got some info reg my 140 issue.

First my 140 was filed in first week of april and got receipt notice with received date as 11-Apr-08, and later it was rejected because of check bounce issue.

Again my 140 refiled in july,and got my 140 receipt notice with received date as 24-Jul-08.

(My labour was approved on 23-Jan-08 and its expiration date is 21-Jul-08)

Got this response from my lawyer:
we first filed it well before the dates,so you should not have a problem, as this is refiled in follow up to the original one.

I am still wondering the USCIS will process my 140.

Good to know someone at least thought about our poor souls

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/12/kundras_managem.html;jsessionid=VEGR0THB1JIVRQE1GH OSKHWATMY32JVN


Kundra's Management Challenges
Posted by J. Nicholas Hoover on December 21, 2009 03:17 PM

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra's job is different from others whom we’ve named as InformationWeek’s Chief of the Year in the past in a few big ways that make it especially challenging.

The 2009 chief of the year (read our story here) is certainly younger, and the federal government’s $76 billion IT budget dwarfs those of any other organization. However, Kundra’s two big biggest differences are that first, his job isn’t driven by traditional profit motives and second, many of his subordinates report to him only via a dotted line. In some ways, these two issues play together, and they've been challenges that have played a role in creating what top officials like OMB director Peter Orszag note as a gap between IT in the private and public sectors.

Unlike in the private sector, where Wall Street can make or break IT decisions, the government doesn’t have the same forcing mechanisms for IT performance and for determining what should be the next project to pursue. Second, the reporting structure in the federal government is one of typical bureaucracy. Dozens of federal agency CIOs report to Kundra, but only indirectly. That means that while Kundra sits as chair of the federal CIO council, there are limits of what he can require of agencies or demand of budget and system decisions.

Kundra's peers say he stands out in his ability not only to strategize, but to execute. Take his ability to understand that a drop of sunshine can go a long way when it’s tax dollars and not supply and demand at work, and that citizen engagement is the name of the game, which has played out in his use of dashboards and full embrace of the administration’s transparency initiatives, both as federal CIO and before as CTO of Washington, D.C.

“His goal has never been innovation merely for innovations’ sake, but innovation to get results in service to the public,” Virginia governor Tim Kaine said in an e-mail that didn’t make it into our story. “Vivek has a limitless imagination, and combined with his agility in the structures of government, I have the utmost confidence that he will continue to do great work for President Obama.”

One story, which also didn’t make it into our feature, is particularly telling. Earlier this year, President Obama called on the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to partner with Kundra, federal CTO Aneesh Chopra, and federal chief performance officer Jeff Zients to find ways to improve the immigrant application experience.

Kundra took an idea and ran with it. "Vivek very quickly helped to think through how transparency and open government could instill more confidence if we could publish average turnaround times in a forum online for visa and other application processing time, by office," Chopra says.

The effect would be two-fold, Kundra thought. First, immigrants could now find out exactly where they stood in line to get their green card or visa and check on processing times for specific forms at US-CIS field offices around the country, comparing them with national averages and national goals. Second, placing that data online at the hands of the public could put pressure on US-CIS field offices to make them more efficient.

Kundra then acknowledged the need to separate this effort from a larger, more complex modernization project currently underway at US-CIS. "When you have a multi-year project plan, it's challenging to thoughtfully introduce any new innovation without disrupting or adjusting requirements," Chopra says. And yet, that's exactly what happened: the team delivered the site within 90 days, and though it required shifting some money around, it didn't end up requiring any additional budget expenditure.

"When you put it together, he sees the ability for something like the IT Dashboard to really jump start his larger strategy for how to change the way IT projects are done and then puts his head down and gets it done within 10 weeks," Zients says.

One time IO entered my visa type wrongly. Instead of L1-b he wrote H1-b on the I-94. I pointed out his mistake saying "My visa is L1-b. Shouldn't that be L1-b on I-94". He asked me "what visa are you in?". I repeated L1-b. He was angry and said in a raised voice "You should know what visa are you in. You should know". First place he didn't ask me what visa I was in and he made the mistake and jumped on me.

Baseline is IO can make mistakes but we are the one to be affected by that. So make sure your visa type, EAC #, and all other info on I-94 are correct before leaving the counter at POE.

Congrats! Enjoy the freedom.

i'm not going anywhere and would like to contribute in what ever way possible to address our cause.

lol, but you have got to specify the exact date and time of your PD coz' the pace it moves at, ever second matters.

They did mention in one of the other threads that it will touch 2003 for ROW so I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel for EB3 I folks.

Just for fun, let me predict with all seriousness.

On Oct 2009 Visa Bulletin: EB3-I Cutoff date Dec 15th 2000
On Oct 2010 Visa Bulletin: EB3-I Cutoff date June 1st 2001

I'm hoping to see a movement of atleast 6 months for EB3-I during Fiscal year 2010.

I pledge $120 every month as soon as it is available......

and marry a celebraty

or work hard and support IV :)
-M
PS: good things come to those who wait

My AP is approved on 27th, but I did not receive it so far. I already booked my tickets and have only one day left for my travel.

Would it be safe to travel now? Are there any risks involved in doing so?

Please advice.

Thank you

Hey nrakkati !!!

congrats on your AP approval. I was in the same boat as you are now, a while back...Your situation is very dicey...You can travel now provided someone can mail you the approved AP when they receive the AP at the specified address...The only risk is, if it gets lost in the MAIL, YOU ARE SCREWED !!! USCIS, as a matter of policy, will not reissue a lost AP and would require you to start the AP process from the scratch...

Ofcourse there are alternatives when you get SCREWED that way...:)

If you already made the trip assuming that you would get the AP on hand and if the AP is lost in mail, You can go to the US Embassy in the country that you are visiting,( not US Consulate) and show them the proof of the AP approval and request temporary pass to return back to US...More details on this can be found on researching this forum...

Thanks,

Good to see approval for July 3 filers. Atleast NSC is on track.

Another improvement if I may:

Wondering if the website administrator has the ability to send a mass email to all its members. This is to inform and urge all its members to send web faxes and be more involved in planned activities.

Also, I sent a webfax to all three required personnel, but was hesitant to act since I was under the impression that I have to type the matter, choose the letter format, find the fax number for the official, etc. But later found our thats its as easy as clicking your mouse thrice.
We could have a section that tells people and members just how easy it is to send a web fax, and not having to search for the officials' fax numbers and not having to compose the letter, and such.

Lastly, launching a concerted and a planned membership drive and to reach all immigrant communites. For the fund raisers, and for memberships, we are still relying on a word of mouth which is not as efficient. IV could post some ads in those media that are immigrant friendly and has good reach.

It could also start assessing a fee for membership, and also try to reach corporate sponsors like those businesses that are immigrant owned and run. When these businesses contribute, IV can advertise them on its website as contributors, so they (the sponsors) get the business of immigrant friendly customers.

You have a lot of suggestions in there let me try and respond:

(1) Yes, we do have the ability to get in touch with our members by email. However, mass emails are a strategy to use when we want to launch a massive drive. We do send out regular newsletters, urging members to take action.

(2) We are working to make our webfax feature more transparent. I like your suggestion about letting people know how easy it is. Will try to get that in.

(3) About a concerted membership drive: I agree and we do have an ad running on Rediff; We are also trying to reach out to large organizations like NetIP.

(4) I think it would be counterproductive to charge a membership fee.

One of the big problems that any voluntary organization faces is that there are usually a lot of people with non-specific ideas and not enough people who will take an idea, come up with an action plan and execute it. We need many, many more volunteers who just take the initiative and execute.

We'd love it if you could help us by coming up with a concrete plan and execution strategy for any one of your suggestions. From idea, to steps to delivery.

I urge all the type-A get-things-done people out there to swing in to action!

best,
Berkeleybee

Look at the profile...... join date and no. of posts.


So whats the problem. I was active till 2007, till the special immigrant visas are over and retrogression set in for Schedule A workers, nurses and physical therapists. I was in my country till now, and Immigration voice sign in template don't have any option to register for people who are out of United states.

When I was active I always did my best to share my knowledge and help the people.
I supported and advocated for general visa recapture and special legislative initiatives for Schedule A workers. I was an active member of Schedule A workers sub group of Immigraton voice.

I hope I am clarified. I humbly request for valuable advices to decide on my situation. Once again thank you all for your advices.

I would recommend get the report both for you and your wife.

I believe this is the transcript of the article that was referred above. It says March 2006 on it and it was done for House Subcommitee on immigration. Hope this link works.

http://www.nfap.com/researchactivities/articles/Testimony033006.pdf

My Company is asking me to sign a new 2 year contract with them to get employment verification letter required for I-485. Is this legal?

if there is any breakage clause,Make sure that you understand the amount of damages. If the company is desi ,you can always negotiate at a later time

good luck with your green...

Abhjitp thanks for your reply.

Received an email from CRIS stating that Notice mailed welcoming the new permanent resident. Those who are tracking approval, check out IV profile/tracker.


congrats, ur online profile does not say if u r eb2 or 3 and whats ur PD ?

@sanju_dba - Sorry to disappoint you. We did think about making a documentary, but in the end we all figured that a lot more people might be interested in a narrative feature film. Perhaps we are wrong, but it was just a decision that our team collectively made.

@waitingnwaiting - Thanks for your honest feedback. You are right about a lot of things. All I can say is, I've been in this country for over 10 years still waiting for a green card like a lot of people. I just wanted to do something to make more people aware of the issues. I'm passionate about film making so I figured way I can do it is to make a film about stories based on my personal experience. Now, I don't know how the audience will perceive the film or if it will change their mind. But one thing's for sure, we all have given our best to this film and attempted to tell stories that have affected our lives.

Thanks again for the comments.

According to my attorney it is always best to be on H1 if the new employer is willing to do and invoke AC 21