Interviews for EB1 visa in mumbai consulate

[wonderwho]

I sent copies of the civil documents to the DOS in Virginia. The originals will have to be presented during the interview. My case is EB-1A category. So it is self-petitioned. I do not have a job offer.

On the "Petitioner is" section, should I select my employer or prospective employer? I worked for my employer for 8 years and recently moved to another country, and I am no longer working with them but will work again once my GC is approved.

Also, should I select "Other" or "my employer" for my Wife's DS-260?

[wonderwho]

I sent copies of the civil documents to the DOS in Virginia. The originals will have to be presented during the interview. My case is EB-1A category. So it is self-petitioned. I do not have a job offer.

Got it. Thanks!

[whitewizard]

Did you submit Offer Letter with Civil documents, or did your employer send it directly to NVC in Virginia? I assume you submitted copies of your civil documents and kept the originals for the interview. Is that accurate?

I sent copies of the civil documents to the DOS in Virginia. The originals will have to be presented during the interview. My case is EB-1A category. So it is self-petitioned. I do not have a job offer.

[wonderwho]

Nope. All employment-based cases I know of personally went through adjustment of status. I am the only one who is doing consular processing.

Did you submit Offer Letter with Civil documents, or did your employer send it directly to NVC in Virginia? I assume you submitted copies of your civil documents and kept the originals for the interview. Is that accurate?

[whitewizard]

Do you know anyone in a similar situation where their current offer letter submitted to NVC is significantly higher than their PERM salary?

Nope. All employment-based cases I know of personally went through adjustment of status. I am the only one who is doing consular processing.

[wonderwho]

Plausible but rather cynical. I am not aware of any law firms that specialize in consular processing of employment-based cases. Law firms are of little use at the consulate stage. There is not much that they can do. I am sure they exist, but I have not encountered any.

Do you know anyone in a similar situation where their current offer letter submitted to NVC is significantly higher than their PERM salary?

[whitewizard]

It makes perfect logical sense, and that is exactly what I thought until I read somewhere that USCIS or DOS might think that the employer intentionally posted job ads for a lower wage to deter US citizens from applying and then increased wages for the green card applicant. Do you know if anyone had any issues with this? Or if anyone submitted an offer letter with a much higher wage than the wage in their PERM certification? I might be overthinking, but not sure how to handle this issue.

This was the only reason I wanted to talk to an attorney experienced in handling Consular processing for employment-based petitions. Even our company attorney doesn't have any experience dealing with consular processing and screwed my I-824. It didn't cause much damage but delayed my approval by a month. Can you suggest any attorney who might be experienced with employment-based consular processing?

Plausible but rather cynical. I am not aware of any law firms that specialize in consular processing of employment-based cases. Law firms are of little use at the consulate stage. There is not much that they can do. I am sure they exist, but I have not encountered any.

[wonderwho]

The purpose of the prevailing wage determination during labor certification is to ensure that potential immigrant workers willing to tolerate lower wages do NOT displace American workers. The Department of Labor and the US Government is NOT worried about immigrants getting overpaid. Quite the opposite. In fact, it would look bad if your present wages were comparable to wages 10 years ago because it would suggest exploitation. Going by the logic of the regulations, your present wages should exceed the current prevailing wage for your job category. I am not a lawyer, so bear that in mind.

It makes perfect logical sense, and that is exactly what I thought until I read somewhere that USCIS or DOS might think that the employer intentionally posted job ads for a lower wage to deter US citizens from applying and then increased wages for the green card applicant. Do you know if anyone had any issues with this? Or if anyone submitted an offer letter with a much higher wage than the wage in their PERM certification? I might be overthinking, but not sure how to handle this issue.

This was the only reason I wanted to talk to an attorney experienced in handling Consular processing for employment-based petitions. Even our company attorney doesn't have any experience dealing with consular processing and screwed my I-824. It didn't cause much damage but delayed my approval by a month. Can you suggest any attorney who might be experienced with employment-based consular processing?

[whitewizard]

My only concern is that my wage has changed significantly since my Labor/140 filing, which was more than 10 years back. It has gone up more than 60%, and I just want to ensure it doesn't have a negative impact. The job description is the same and so is the permanent nature of the job, just the salary.

The purpose of the prevailing wage determination during labor certification is to ensure that potential immigrant workers willing to tolerate lower wages do NOT displace American workers. The Department of Labor and the US Government is NOT worried about immigrants getting overpaid. Quite the opposite. In fact, it would look bad if your present wages were comparable to wages 10 years ago because it would suggest exploitation. Going by the logic of the regulations, your present wages should exceed the current prevailing wage for your job category. I am not a lawyer, so bear that in mind.

[wonderwho]

I do not think the offer letter has to be notarized. The original offer letter on the official letterhead is sufficient. It has to be recent. Some places say within the month of the interview. Your salary should be equal to or higher than what was stated during the prevailing wage determination. Saying that your wage is at least XYZ amount would be a bit awkward and unusual. I think that there needs to be some language that the offered position is permanent and that the description of the job is consistent with what was described in the labor certification/petition.

My only concern is that my wage has changed significantly since my Labor/140 filing, which was more than 10 years back. It has gone up more than 60%, and I just want to ensure it doesn't have a negative impact. The job description is the same and so is the permanent nature of the job, just the salary.

[whitewizard]

Thank you! I have a final question, do we need to send a notarized offer letter? If so, does it have to match the initial salary mentioned in my labor, or can my employer mention my current salary, which is higher than the initial labor filing? I am considering having them write at least XYZ amount, which is the initial filing salary. Does that work?

I do not think the offer letter has to be notarized. The original offer letter on the official letterhead is sufficient. It has to be recent. Some places say within the month of the interview. Your salary should be equal to or higher than what was stated during the prevailing wage determination. Saying that your wage is at least XYZ amount would be a bit awkward and unusual. I think that there needs to be some language that the offered position is permanent and that the description of the job is consistent with what was described in the labor certification/petition.

[wonderwho]

Yes, my checklist also had the Affidavit of Support and financial documents. But the checklist is not personalized. The purpose of the checklist is for you to enclose it and thus communicate to DoS what you have sent, not what you need to send. So, I just had to tick not applicable. All employment-based case applicants that I know about had to mail their civil documents to the Department of State in Sterling, Virginia. You can see the address on the DoS link that I shared before. When you log on to CEAC, you will not have the option to pay the Affidavit of Support fee (it will be waived). There will also be no place to upload any files. The only thing you can do is pay the IV fee and fill DS-260 form. Incidentally, they share an address while filing the DS-260 form to send the civil documents to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This is the only place where it is clearly stated that you need to mail the documents. But note that this address is out of date. Use DoS address in Sterling Virginia as per the DoS website.

I cannot share a link from other forums here. It is not allowed. Just Google images for NVC checklist civil documents. You will find a couple of images with better resolution. They all look the same.

Thank you! I have a final question, do we need to send a notarized offer letter? If so, does it have to match the initial salary mentioned in my labor, or can my employer mention my current salary, which is higher than the initial labor filing? I am considering having them write at least XYZ amount, which is the initial filing salary. Does that work?

[mechy]

Any EB case got IL. Today I hear IR1/CR1 cases with DQ in Feb 2023 got IL in Aug 2023

[whitewizard]

Hi, yes, my case is employment-based, and I did receive a checklist, but it looked more like a family-based one because it has an Affidavit of support document listed on the checklist, which confused me. Do you have a bigger picture than this one? This image is too small for me to figure out anything. Thank you!

I am unaware that I need to send physical documents to Virginia. I thought they stopped this years back. Can you please confirm this?

I was DQ'ed on March 30, 2023. So my information is relatively recent.

[whitewizard]

Hi, yes, my case is employment-based, and I did receive a checklist, but it looked more like a family-based one because it has an Affidavit of support document listed on the checklist, which confused me. Do you have a bigger picture than this one? This image is too small for me to figure out anything. Thank you!

I am unaware that I need to send physical documents to Virginia. I thought they stopped this years back. Can you please confirm this?

Yes, my checklist also had the Affidavit of Support and financial documents. But the checklist is not personalized. The purpose of the checklist is for you to enclose it and thus communicate to DoS what you have sent, not what you need to send. So, I just had to tick not applicable. All employment-based case applicants that I know about had to mail their civil documents to the Department of State in Sterling, Virginia. You can see the address on the DoS link that I shared before. When you log on to CEAC, you will not have the option to pay the Affidavit of Support fee (it will be waived). There will also be no place to upload any files. The only thing you can do is pay the IV fee and fill DS-260 form. Incidentally, they share an address while filing the DS-260 form to send the civil documents to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This is the only place where it is clearly stated that you need to mail the documents. But note that this address is out of date. Use DoS address in Sterling Virginia as per the DoS website.

I cannot share a link from other forums here. It is not allowed. Just Google images for NVC checklist civil documents. You will find a couple of images with better resolution. They all look the same.