I-485 EVL RFE and response options

[ebizash]

Hi,

My attorney received an EVL RFE for my I-485 case. My PD is 2007 EB3 so I don't have any hope of getting GC but I guess they are just pre-adjucating my case.

Here is my situation - I filed my !-485 in Aug 2007 and changed job (without filing any AC-21 paperwork with USCIS) in April 2008. My attorney had looked at new job description and given green signal for change. My entire immigration history of 10 years in US is totally clean with no gaps and with all work autorizations.

Now, my concern is that the letter that my attorney has prepared for my current employer to sign has lot of legal lingo (AC-21 language, lot of CFRs, info related to my LCA and I-140) and has some language to the effect of supporting my LCA and I-140 till my GC is approved. It also states that my current employer was able to afford to pay my salary since the LCA date. My employer is fortune 5 company so money wise there is no problem but my concern is that they may not want to sign such a lengthy (wordy) legal doc without consulting their Immi attorney. I don't have much time to respond (only 8 more days). So if my employer takes long time or tells me that they can not sign it, I want to be ready with Plan B. Can someone suggest what should I do?

1 - should I prepare a simple document with job duties, responsibilities, start date, salary etc that my employer will be willing to sign. So at last moment I can atleast get that signed. Something will be better than nothing.
2 - Should I / (bigger question is can I) ask USCIS to give me more time to respond to RFE?
3. Provide simple letter from employer with an affedavit or something stating that the new job is same / similar as the old job.

Sorry for a long post and thanks for any suggestions.

[mayitbesoon]

I am in a similar situation. My lawyer prepared the following letter which seems much simpler than what you had mentioned. I hope, its helpful. However, my company HR is not willing to even sign on this one. they omitted the word 'permanent' and also, removed the last sentence mentioning that i will continue as full time employee after receiving the green card. I regret joining a big company now. But, we are where we are and have to deal with it.

July 1, 2009

Nebraska Service Center
USCIS
U. S. Department of Homeland Security
P.O. Box 82521
Lincoln, NE 68501-2521

Re: Permanent employment of Mr. your name

Dear Director:

This letter is submitted in support of the above-captioned matter.

Mr. 'your name' has been our employee since 'Date'. The position offered to Mr. 'name' is a permanent, full time position of a 'job title' with the annual salary range of $000.00 which requires an individual with a Bachelor’s Degree in computer related field and work experience in information technology industry. The following are the duties of the offered position:

'insert your job duties here'

Upon receiving permanent residency, Ms. 'name' will continue her employment with our company in the same capacity as a full time permanent employee.
For our company information, please visit our website at www.xxxx.com.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Sincerely,


Name of the HR person.
Designation

[ebizash]

Thanks mayitbesoon!

I am also worried about the bureaucratic delay associated with big company. I will prepare this letter as well just in case for alst minute negotiation. Will keep you guys posted.

Anyone else has advice for me?

Thanks
ebizash

[desi3933]

......
3. Provide simple letter from employer with an affidavit or something stating that the new job is same / similar as the old job.

Sorry for a long post and thanks for any suggestions.

Simple employment letter with details of job title, salary, and job duties should be enough to demonstrate that new job is in same/similar classification as your labor/I-140. The letter must indicate that job is permanent and full-time.

Do you have employment offer letter? That letter should also list job title, and duties.


________________
Not a legal advice.

[ebizash]

Thanks Desi3933 for such a quick response!

My employment offer letter has everything but the job duties but the job duties I can get from HR at anytime. In fact we have automated system that can generate all these in a PDF that the HR person can sign.

I am thinking that combination of offer letter, Job verification letter signed by HR, last pay stubs from previous employer, AC-21 memo and a cover letter explaining the portability provision should be enough.

The problem is my attorney is insisting that the letter that they sent for my employer's signature is "required" to successfully respond to this RFE. Is it really true? I have seen other posts where IV memebrs sent a very simple EVL and stuff.

Thanks
ebizash

[desi3933]

The problem is my attorney is insisting that the letter that they sent for my employer's signature is "required" to successfully respond to this RFE.

Could you please explain this a bit. I am not sure if I am understanding this right.

.

[ebizash]

Could you please explain this a bit. I am not sure if I am understanding this right.

.

My attorney prepared the EVL for my employer to sign. I have handed that over to my boss who has sent it to HR for review. This letter has lot of legal lingo and information related to my LCA and I-140 e.g.,

"We acknowledge that, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. §1154 and 8 U.S.C. §1182(a)(5)(A)), ............"

"We acknowledge that <my name>'s immigration petition filed on <I-140 filing date> listed his job title as <my LCA job title> and <my name>'s current position is in same or similar profession...."

So my concern is why would any employer sign this letter without knowing anything about my LCA, I-140 etc (I had changed job about 240 days after 485 filing). So my current employer may have issues signing this letter.

But my attorney insists that this letter (in same format) needs to be signed in order to respond to the RFE. My thinking is that all this lingo and stuff related to LCA can be eliminated from the letter so that my employer is more comfortable signing it.

[sohilbt]

I too received EVL RFE...however, my lawyer created the letter w/o any reference to AC21...except saying that my duties remains more than X ( > 50 or more)% same as compared to one filed in I-140 application and salary remains above required level.

I had discuss this with HR before joining new position...they had no problem with it.

[tuhin]

My apologies if this is not the correct thread (but I think it is related).

It has been a month since USCIS received the response to a EVL related RFE issued to me. I verified the receipt date from uscis.gov. Does anyone know how many days it takes (on an average) for them to decide upon such RFE? I am trying to make sure if it is too late and I should request an appointment through infopass.

Thanks!

[sankap]

SThe letter must indicate that job is permanent and full-time.
[/COLOR]

I've been thru many jobs here, and none of the offer letters mentioned that the job would be "permanent" (whatever that means). It's especially not possible to have that written on job offer letters for contract/project-based jobs. In any case, UDCIS does *not* require you to mention that on your EVL.

[chi_shark]

i sent something like you have desribed in option 1 for my evl rfe. my lawyer drafter it and the only legalese reference was : [please continue his process] "as per section" yada yada yada "of the American Competitivenes in the 21st century Act".

Hi,

My attorney received an EVL RFE for my I-485 case. My PD is 2007 EB3 so I don't have any hope of getting GC but I guess they are just pre-adjucating my case.

Here is my situation - I filed my !-485 in Aug 2007 and changed job (without filing any AC-21 paperwork with USCIS) in April 2008. My attorney had looked at new job description and given green signal for change. My entire immigration history of 10 years in US is totally clean with no gaps and with all work autorizations.

Now, my concern is that the letter that my attorney has prepared for my current employer to sign has lot of legal lingo (AC-21 language, lot of CFRs, info related to my LCA and I-140) and has some language to the effect of supporting my LCA and I-140 till my GC is approved. It also states that my current employer was able to afford to pay my salary since the LCA date. My employer is fortune 5 company so money wise there is no problem but my concern is that they may not want to sign such a lengthy (wordy) legal doc without consulting their Immi attorney. I don't have much time to respond (only 8 more days). So if my employer takes long time or tells me that they can not sign it, I want to be ready with Plan B. Can someone suggest what should I do?

1 - should I prepare a simple document with job duties, responsibilities, start date, salary etc that my employer will be willing to sign. So at last moment I can atleast get that signed. Something will be better than nothing.
2 - Should I / (bigger question is can I) ask USCIS to give me more time to respond to RFE?
3. Provide simple letter from employer with an affedavit or something stating that the new job is same / similar as the old job.

Sorry for a long post and thanks for any suggestions.

[chi_shark]

I've been thru many jobs here, and none of the offer letters mentioned that the job would be "permanent" (whatever that means). It's especially not possible to have that written on job offer letters for contract/project-based jobs. In any case, UDCIS does *not* require you to mention that on your EVL.

in my case, my rfe was clear that my evl needs to state that my job is "full time and permanent". it also asked for salary, "specific job duties", educational/training requirements, date of starting the job.

it also said that the ac21 letter my company lawyer had already provided when i changed my job was inadequate in details!!! howzzat?

[mayitbesoon]

Anyone who had good knowledge of AC21 same/similar, please reply.
My original labor has an annual salary of 50,000. My current salary is 95,000. I got an RFE to provide EVL. My job duties are mostly similar to that of the original labor. However job title is different.

is this a problem? My attorney is saying the salary differenence will cause an issue. He is asking me to convince my HR to add a range 50,000 - 95,000 as my salary, which i am sure my HR would be against doing that as it is a big company. I don't even want to ask them since they might think i am trying to do some kind of fraud and raise a red flag.

is there anyone in the IV community who had successfully used AC21 with a considerable difference in salary?. Please respond with your comments.

[ebizash]

Guys, please start your own thread if you have a specific question and don't hijack my thread.

Thanks
ebizash

[kris04]

Hi,

My attorney received an EVL RFE for my I-485 case. My PD is 2007 EB3 so I don't have any hope of getting GC but I guess they are just pre-adjucating my case.

Here is my situation - I filed my !-485 in Aug 2007 and changed job (without filing any AC-21 paperwork with USCIS) in April 2008. My attorney had looked at new job description and given green signal for change. My entire immigration history of 10 years in US is totally clean with no gaps and with all work autorizations.

Now, my concern is that the letter that my attorney has prepared for my current employer to sign has lot of legal lingo (AC-21 language, lot of CFRs, info related to my LCA and I-140) and has some language to the effect of supporting my LCA and I-140 till my GC is approved. It also states that my current employer was able to afford to pay my salary since the LCA date. My employer is fortune 5 company so money wise there is no problem but my concern is that they may not want to sign such a lengthy (wordy) legal doc without consulting their Immi attorney. I don't have much time to respond (only 8 more days). So if my employer takes long time or tells me that they can not sign it, I want to be ready with Plan B. Can someone suggest what should I do?

1 - should I prepare a simple document with job duties, responsibilities, start date, salary etc that my employer will be willing to sign. So at last moment I can atleast get that signed. Something will be better than nothing.
2 - Should I / (bigger question is can I) ask USCIS to give me more time to respond to RFE?
3. Provide simple letter from employer with an affedavit or something stating that the new job is same / similar as the old job.

Sorry for a long post and thanks for any suggestions.

Hi,

Don't worry about this RFE, looks like your attorney is over reacting in responding to RFE, my close friend got a similar RFE last year when he used AC 21 without notifying USCIS and joined a new employer, he just responded to the RFE with the copy of the offer letter and a new standard HR letter provided for giving EVL letter for any purpose, but addressed to USCIS signed by an HR representative, upon the RFE response USCIS approved his I 485 within 15 days. USCIS is just trying to make sure you're currently employed and in the same profession, I think just getting the automated EVL and getting it signed by the HR plus your offer letter copy should be sufficient. I myself successfully used AC 21 , but by notifying USCIS after joining new employer and got my GC approved last year without any RFE.

Good Luck

Cheers

kris

[ebizash]

Thanks Kris, this gives me much needed relief!

[kris04]

Anyone who had good knowledge of AC21 same/similar, please reply.
My original labor has an annual salary of 50,000. My current salary is 95,000. I got an RFE to provide EVL. My job duties are mostly similar to that of the original labor. However job title is different.

is this a problem? My attorney is saying the salary differenence will cause an issue. He is asking me to convince my HR to add a range 50,000 - 95,000 as my salary, which i am sure my HR would be against doing that as it is a big company. I don't even want to ask them since they might think i am trying to do some kind of fraud and raise a red flag.

is there anyone in the IV community who had successfully used AC21 with a considerable difference in salary?. Please respond with your comments.

How old is your labor, if the PD is somewhere around 2002, dont worry,it is better that it is more than $50 K, lesser than $50 k will create problem, as I mentioned in one of the thread my friend's labor claimed $60000, but he used AC 21 and was working sort of independent consultant for a vendor, who provided EVL when RFE came, at the time of approval he was earning $120 K. with the lack of regulation, it is grey area and each lawyer provide different advise, until a regulation is passed by USCIS it is subjective to various interpretation.

Good Luck

kris

[ebizash]

I was amazed when my HR called me today to let me know that they had no problem in signing the letter and immidiately after the call, faxed me the signed letter.

Thanks everyone for answering my questions on this post as well as via PM.

I can not access PayPal from work but will donate additional $50 to IV after I get back home.

[sledge_hammer]

ebizash,

If you did not file the AC21 paperwork, what triggered the RFE? Was it a new H-1B petition with the new company?

I was amazed when my HR called me today to let me know that they had no problem in signing the letter and immidiately after the call, faxed me the signed letter.

Thanks everyone for answering my questions on this post as well as via PM.

I can not access PayPal from work but will donate additional $50 to IV after I get back home.

[ebizash]

No I guess it is just the routine processing, may be pre-adjudication. My attorney mentioned getting a few RFE on other cases without any new petition / AC-21.