Urgent answer needed!!!

Silverdragon102, BSN · May 1, 2007

I checked the USCIS processing times for Texas Service Center today and the current date for schedule A nurses is October 14th 2006. My documents were submitted on September 13th, 2006, and I already have my advance parole and finger prints done. I called my lawyer to inquire if she's heard anything about my case. She tells me I have 3 year wait time because the current priority date is sometime in August 2003. I am from Ghana and went to college here in the states so I don't think I am affected by the restrictions on some countries. Also she told me that I am affected by retrogression because I didn't have a green card in hand before october 2006. From my understanding, retrogression affected applications submitted after october 1st but not applicant without green card by october . This is very confusing, somebody is giving me the wrong information.
Has anybody who applied in august or september 2006 recieved his/her green card? Somebody please help me out here.

If not a US citizen or GC holder when doing training then you are affected the same as everyone else with retrogression, training in the US does not matter regarding getting a GC. At the moment the processing date is Aug 03. Do you have EAD and working?, just wondering with you having advanced parole. Was your file at NVC by October or was it just your I140 which was submitted in September?

suzanne4, RN · May 1, 2007

All are under the retrogression at this time, no matter when they applied for it. You just submitted your initial papers before the retrogression started, and things have been significantly slowed down in the processing by immigration. And that is do to a cut down in the immigration staff that does the processing.

Since you got your petitions in before the cur-off date, and if you have an EAD, you will be able to renew the EAD when it expires and will continue to be able to work, if that is what you are worried about. Remember that we knew that the retrogression was coming, and visa numbers are not reserved the day that you submit your papers, but when it is approved. You will have to wait for the visas to open up again.

And it makes no difference as to which country you are from, all are affected, it is not limited to a few countries this time around. You cannot be given a green card if there are no visas available.

Your attorney is 100% correct.

suzanne4, RN · May 1, 2007

Not one person out there has received their green card if they just started the process in September or October. Even if there were visas avaiable, it would still be another month or so on average, but that is no longer the case.

Not sure why this required an ungent answer. Your papers have been submitted, and now it needs to be processed by immigration. Have you even gotten approval of the I-140 as of yet?

owura143 · May 1, 2007

it required an urgent answer because i wasn't sure of what was going on and as such i needed immediate clarification. If I was a know-all i wouldn't be here. As I mentioned earlier, all that I havr fone so far is biometrics and aldo recieved parole, I am using my OPT now, I've already applied for a renewal.

suzanne4, RN · May 1, 2007

it required an urgent answer because i wasn't sure of what was going on and as such i needed immediate clarification. If I was a know-all i wouldn't be here. As I mentioned earlier, all that I havr fone so far is biometrics and aldo recieved parole, I am using my OPT now, I've already applied for a renewal.

The EAD that comes with the OPT cannot be renewed. Did you actually have a petition submitted for the EAD that comes with the green card processing? That is the EAD that you will need to be using once your OPT is completed. They are completely different and are not interchangeable. If the oetition for the EAD was not submitted with the petition for the AOS and the I-140, then you will be out of luck with working. This needed to be done before the retrogression started.

These are things that should have been asked of your immigration attorney that has been doing your processing. But in the future, please be specific with the information that you need in the title line, not that you need urgent help. Most are unable to give you the information that you were looking for and it makes it much easier for those that can answer to know what you are looking for in the first place.

We are here to help, but please try to be helpful to us in return as well.

suzanne4, RN · May 1, 2007

Just went back and reviewed some of your other posts as some of things that you mentioned here did not make any sense to me. And to clear up things for other foreign nurses that may read this.:

You are not under the OPT, you have had an AOS filed on your behalf, so the F-1 status no longer exists. You are on the EAD that comes with the green card petitioning. Once you were petitioned for the green card and the AOS was submitted, it cancelled out everything else and the visa that you held before that. That was why you were required to get the Advanced Parole prior to being able to travel out of the US.

Immigration attorneys normally do not get things filed immediately when you get your documents to them. They usually go over them to see if anything needs to be adjusted. And with the retrogression looming as it was in September, and even before; they were aware that everything had to be submitted complete. Anything was missing, and it was going to be sent back. Your attorney is actually on your side.

Be happy that you graduated when you did and were able to also get the OPT, otherwise, chances are that you would not have an employer right now. In normal times when there are visas, it is usually seven or eight months at the earliest to get the green card in your hands, but with the retrogression, you will need to wait until visas are available again. No one is getting a green card that did not already have a visa assigned to them before the retrogression started. And there are those that are still waiting since last spring for the green card. And this retrogression affects all nurses, no matter where they trained, or how much experience that they have.

owura143 · May 1, 2007

I appreciate what all of you do here. Yes, a petition for an EAD was included in the initial application but I never got it. My lawyer said I could use my OPT until it's about to expire. I have already sent in another application for EAD renewal. That was a few weeks ago.

I am wondering when this gross change happened. I was aware of retrogression after october but then how come the date moved way back to August , 2003. It's confusing because I know of some people who applied in late 2005 and got their green card in 2006. So how come the date rolled back to 2003?

As it stands, I might even complete my contract with no green card in hand; it's torture. I know I'll still be able to work, howevr, the issue is not about just working, it's about opportunities/privileges one will get with the green card. As at now, I am at a loss as to my present status, i.e. being an F-1 immigrant or something else. As I'm planning on going for my masters, I would have to pay the huge fees for international students. My $19-ICU-3 vented patients jobwon't cut it. What is my status?

owura143 · May 1, 2007

Sorry Sue, I didn't see your last post before posting my last response. I mentioned where hail from because I thought there was a quota applied to some countries. Pardon me, I am not very conversant with the recent immigration changes. Thanks.

suzanne4, RN · May 2, 2007

I appreciate what all of you do here. Yes, a petition for an EAD was included in the initial application but I never got it. My lawyer said I could use my OPT until it's about to expire. I have already sent in another application for EAD renewal. That was a few weeks ago.
I am wondering when this gross change happened. I was aware of retrogression after october but then how come the date moved way back to August , 2003. It's confusing because I know of some people who applied in late 2005 and got their green card in 2006. So how come the date rolled back to 2003?
As it stands, I might even complete my contract with no green card in hand; it's torture. I know I'll still be able to work, howevr, the issue is not about just working, it's about opportunities/privileges one will get with the green card. As at now, I am at a loss as to my present status, i.e. being an F-1 immigrant or something else. As I'm planning on going for my masters, I would have to pay the huge fees for international students. My $19-ICU-3 vented patients jobwon't cut it. What is my status?

You are no longer under the F-1 status, that went away when your AOS was filed. And actually you cannot renew the EAD that came with the OPT, it is non-renewable. You can only renew the EAD that comes with the green card process. You no longer have to pay the fees for being an international student as you are no longer under that status. You get the same rates that you would get if you have the green card. The green card really does not give you any othe privilege or status, other than paying a cheaper rate for tuition. Until you have US citizenship, you are still considered a guest in this country.

You needed to get the Advanced Parole as your status does not have a title or visa right now, your previous visa was cancelled, if you look at it in this way, and your new status is in processing right now. So currently, if being specific, you do not hold a visa at this time. Just permission to remain in the US and be able to work legally.

If someone applied even in February or March, or even April of 2006, they have their green cards if they went thru the AOS process. The issue is that there were so many applicants for visas, that they got used up. The reason for the difference in the dates now is that the Schedule A that you were submitted under no longer exists. If you look at a current Visa Bulletin, you will see that it no longer exists. Everyone is now under the EB-3 status. It has been changing steadily over the past few months. And all are under that designation. Schedule A has always been a sub-group of that rating, but when all visas that were available under that were used up, all nurses were placed under the retrogression. And I mean all, does not matter where you are from.

This is why the dates have been changed. Those nurses that are from the PIC countries, as well as Mexico, actually have dates that are further back because of the numbers from those countries that are currently applying.

Expect that you will have your green card in the next year, and before your contract is over.

You have a pending immigrant status............nothing more and nothing less than that. Everything changed with the AOS being filed.

You should have had approval on the I-140 by now, have you received that?

owura143 · May 2, 2007

I am ata loss as to what I-140 is and what I 485 is. Now I understand they are different documents. I have not recieved any approval notice. All I have so far is a notice for biometric, which i already did, and the parole. I thought since I was scheduled for the niometrics it meant that the I-140 was approved. Those are the only documents I have recieved from USCIS. Should I have gotten it by now? I guess I would have to follow up on the I-140 then.

Let me tell you the story behind my EAD. Well, the documents were filed initially, form I 765 was included. I waited for sometime and never got the EAD so I asked my lawyer about it. She said they wouldn't issue another EAD because I already have one from my OPT. She then asked me to contact her in March so we could apply for a new EAD.

suzanne4, RN · May 2, 2007

I am ata loss as to what I-140 is and what I 485 is. Now I understand they are different documents. I have not recieved any approval notice. All I have so far is a notice for biometric, which i already did, and the parole. I thought since I was scheduled for the niometrics it meant that the I-140 was approved. Those are the only documents I have recieved from USCIS. Should I have gotten it by now? I guess I would have to follow up on the I-140 then.
Let me tell you the story behind my EAD. Well, the documents were filed initially, form I 765 was included. I waited for sometime and never got the EAD so I asked my lawyer about it. She said they wouldn't issue another EAD because I already have one from my OPT. She then asked me to contact her in March so we could apply for a new EAD.

When you were submitted for the green card via the AOS, Adjustment of Status; there are three petitions that were submitted on your behalf, or at least should have been. The I-140, for the job itself, that needs approval, then the I-485 is the actual petition for the Adjustment of Status, and then there is the one for the EAD, not the EAD that you got with your OPT. Suggest that you speak with your attorney because all that I am aware of that got their papers in even at the end of October have their approval now. At least for the I-140.