From: Beat Schmid < >
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 16:06:50 -0700
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win98; U)

Hi

On June 13, 2000 my Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker I-140 Sec. 203 (b) (1)
(B) has been approved, i.e. I got the Notice of Action (I-797) from the INS
California Service Center. They received my application on February 24. 2000.
Thus it took only 3.5 months. The INS indicated it would take 6-7 months and
Mercury News was talking about 11 months. Note that our research institute and
myself did the petition without the help of an immigration lawyer. I certainly
had a lot of help from friends, though.

That's why I'm writing to the swiss list. Before I can file for adjustment of
status I need to get an Immigrant Visa Number

That's what I get from http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/howdoi/immvisa.htm

What is an Immigrant Visa Number?

An immigrant is someone who is not a U.S. citizen but has been authorized to
permanently live and work in the United States. If you want to become an
immigrant, you must go through a three-step process. First, the INS must approve
an immigrant petition for you, which is usually filed by an employer or a
relative for you. Second, a visa number, through the State Department must be
immediately available to you, even if you are already in the United States. If
you receive an immigrant visa number, it means that an immigrant visa has been
assigned to you. Third, if you are already in the United States, you may apply
to adjust to permanent resident status after a visa number becomes available for
you. (If you are outside the United States when an immigrant visa number becomes
available for you, you must then go to your local U.S. consulate to complete
your processing.)

How Do I Apply for an Immigrant Visa Number?

You do not directly apply for an immigrant visa number. In most cases, your
relative or employer sends a visa
petition to the INS for you (the beneficiary) to become an immigrant. (Certain
applicants such as priority workers, investors, certain special immigrants, and
diversity immigrants can petition on their own behalf.) INS will tell the person
who filed the visa petition (the petitioner) if the visa petition is approved.
INS will then send the approved visa petition to the Department of State's
National Visa Center, where it will remain until an immigrant visa number is
available. The Center will notify you (the beneficiary of the application) when
the visa petition is received and again when an immigrant visa number is
available. You do not need to contact the National Visa Center, unless you
change your address or there is a change in your personal situation that may
affect your
eligibility for an immigrant visa. You may contact the National Visa Center by
writing to: The National Visa Center; 32 Rochester Avenue; Portsmouth, New
Hampshire 03801-2909.

That's all fine and clear. But on the INS Notice of action it says:

"The above petition has been approved. The approved petition will be stored in
this office. If the person for whom you are petitioning for becomes eligible for
adjustment of status then he or she should submit a copy of this notice with
Form ..."

No word about visa number or that "INS will then send the approved visa petition
to the Department of State's National Visa Center"

Is there anyone out there that can help me. I called the INS and they suggested
to go to their local office. But if I can avoid standing in line for half a day,
the better.

Sorry for writing such a long e-mail.

Beat

-- 
Dr. Beat Schmid
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute
NASA Ames Research Center
MS 245-5
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
Phone: +1 650 604 5933
Fax:   +1 650 604 3625
e-mail: bschmid_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov
http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sgg/ACE-2
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