Experience – H1B Visa Petition Approved after 3 RFEs – 8 Months Roller Coaster Ride

One of our readers, Sreejith, went through lot of tough time with 3 RFEs and many delays in the span of 8 months. He was gracious enough to write up his experience to give hope to prospective H1B seekers. Thanks to Sreejit for sharing his experience. Congratulations to him on approval !  You can share your experience here

————————————————————————————————–
Hi,

First let me thank my stars that I have an approved petition in hand. Because if I fail to do that, it’s the height of ingratitude to the Almighty, for my petition had 3 wonderful RFE’s.

First H1B RFE

1.) Provide evidence that Sreejith S and Sreejith G are the one and the same person.
(Thanks to my employer for sending some other Sreejith’s passport)

Second H1B RFE

2.)Provide evidence that the beneficiary is eligible/ qualified for the proposed role.

Third H1B RFE

3.)An ORIGINAL of the university transcripts from XXXXXXXXXXXX. The transcripts must be signed and dated by the person in charge of records. Both sides of the sealed flap on the outside of the university envelope must be signed and dated by the person in charge of records. Include the phone number and address for the office of the person in charge of records.

Background of H1B Petition Filing

The above RFE’s are just a small part of the story. Actually my petition was filed on Sept-1-2011 (Regular). Took one month to get receipt number. On Dec-10-2011 the status changed to RFE (RFE issue date : Nov-20). I did not receive any information till Jan 10, 2012.  So, I asked my employer to call USCIS and follow it up. Still I did not receive any response till Jan 20. My employer informed me that they have put in a duplicate RFE request. Again no response.So I started pressurizing my employer again.On Mar 10, employer told me that they have again put in a second duplicate RFE request. Please note that the maximum time frame for RFE response (=90 days) had already crossed by then.

H1B Approval Hope – Upgraded to Premium processing !

I almost gave up hope thinking that USCIS rejected my petition.Then on April 06, I got a mail from US attorney saying that if I need to know the RFE details immediately, we have to upgrade it to premium. We didn’t upgrade the petition because my employer had given up hope to get the RFE. But suddenly on April 10, I got the first RFE. Send the passport copy of Sreejith S. My employer sent the copy of my passport and also upgraded it to premium thinking that this was what caused the delay.I was a bit relieved by now thinking everything’s over.

But within next two days I got the RFE asking for original degree certificate(in sealed envelope signed by the registrar of the university). I got the RFE on April 14. Due date : April-19. Sent shivers down my spine. Sacrificed my sweat and blood and got the envelope by Apr-16. Sent it. My employer informed me that it won’t reach USCIS by Apr-19. But they told me that since USCIS had acknowledged the delay on their part, they might give some consideration because mine is a “SPECIAL” case. Finally after having everything(also the 2nd RFE mentioned above seeking my eligibility), everything was submitted by April 25. I kept my fingers crossed. Finally got approval on May 1st, within one week because it was in premium now.

Because of the inadvertent change of passports and some other incomprehensible science , it took 8 months from the date of filing to get my petition. And that too because it was upgraded to premium.If it was not upgraded to premium,it would have crossed 12 months for sure. Anyway all was not well but now it ends well. Phew!!!!!!! This is called H1B roller coaster ride.

Also, check out  H1B Approval a LUCK Game !

Image credit : seamlessbrand.blogspot.com ,  http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6YoQGM4kII/TZOYOjhhu5I/AAAAAAAABY8/6WWMjnu7Jc0/s1600/shutterstock_roller_coaster.jpg