Indian citizen born OUTSIDE India - Wait Time & Employer Revenue questions?


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Greetings fellows,

I have been following this forum for years since when I was in India in 2006, got my F-1 in 2007 for a PhD in computer science, dropped out for getting my Master's by 2009, moved to OPT, then on OPT STEM extension for a little bit and got my H1B in parallel. I moved 2 jobs during the H1B tenure and feel this 3rd I have recently joined is where I'd like to start my green card process at and don't mind being locked in at this firm for the longer term as I love the position and the pay is decent.

Since my stamping in October 2010, I have used up about 2.5 years of my H1B period as yet and I plan to initiate the green card process before June 2013.

The caveat is that I am an Indian citizen but born outside India (born in Kuwait). I am NOT a citizen of Kuwait.. simply born there (have birth certificate from Kuwait, in Arabic). I only lived in Kuwait for about the first 40 days from birth after which my family happened to move back to India.

Question 1: Does this put me in the 'current' quota for the green card process? If my employer files for EB2 (job requiring a Master's degree, $90-100k/yr income range), would my wait be the 'current' 2-3 years? Is it indeed true that simply being born outside India, even though you are an Indian citizen, automatically moves you in the current quota vs. the 5-8 year typical wait for persons BORN in India?

Question 2: My H1B with this employer was recently approved, about 2-3 months back. Is there a minimum or recommended wait time we should keep between the H1B approval and the green card application? Or am I good to go for applying at any time I please?

Question 3: This is a small business with less than 25 employees (23 at present and there MAY be more than 25 by the time we file for my green card just in case that matters), with not a lot of revenue. I was concerned that may cause issues during the H1B transfer (I was employed elsewhere prior) but we did not have any issues. Is the story regarding company revenue/financials any different with the green card process? Or is there a higher risk of my application getting denied? (I do have a potential job offer that I can work on getting from a different, much larger organization... but I really love this position).

Question 4: In case I do decide to apply but a rejection occurs, given that I am born in Kuwait, I would hopefully find out before my 5-6 years on the allowed H1B quota expire, right? So in the worst case, I have another shot with another firm down the road, correct? How long does the Govt. take in announcing the rejection, if anything?

I hope to hear back from you guys with your responses. Keep up the good job people - this is a very resourceful site and I have pointed a lot of junior friends going through the same process to this resource! Thanks.

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Thanks again Omshiv: isn't the total period of the process even in the 'current' quota approximately 2 years? What is this 6-7 month milestone you mention? Do you mean that the entire process can finish successfully in 6-7 months? (I heard that approximately 6-7 months is how long you need to be locked in with your employer before you can make a shift and let the green card process take it's course in parallel while you move to a new employer, if needed). Am I mistaken?

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For the EB2-ROW employment based category, the general processing times are currently ...

PERM labor certification application: Preparation by the employer 2-4 months, filing and processing 4-5 months (if no audit).

(If there is an audit, then add 4+ months to the filing and processing time.)

I-140 petition: Preparation by the employer <1 month, filing and processing regular 6 months or premium <1 month (if no RFE).

(Any RFEs will add to the processing time.)

I-485 adjustment of status: Since EB2-ROW is "Current" at present (albeit this could change), filing and processing can be done concurrently with the I-140 petition. Preparation, filing and processing 6 months.

In other words, the accelerated process currently takes ~1 year, and the regular, sequential process takes ~18 months, based on current published processing times and if no audit or RFEs.

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