Employer letter to renew temporary Green Card

[SGB]

I have a i-94 with i-551 stamp on it (temp GC) valid for 6 months in lieu of the expired GC that was filed for renewal. The temp GC is expiring next month and so is the driver license that was also issued for just 6 months based on temp GC. Also the expired passport is being renewed too.

I set up an info pass appointment with USCIS and they asked me to bring a letter from my employer stating that I need to travel so they can renew my temp GC. Since I am a full time employee of my own company and working at client sites as a contractor, can I issue a letter from my own company and sign it stating that I need to commute to client site for work? My company is my only employer. Clients do not care what issues I have as a contractor and they do not want to sign anything.

Also, my son is listed as vice-president of the company - can he sign the letter for me or should I sign as the president?

I got this appointment with a lot of difficulty going through tier-2 and tier-3 officers at USCIS as they literally have no appointments and they are saying that I don't need to travel. Even if a person is jobless or working from home, he needs to go shopping and other errands. How is he going to manage without a DL?

Please advise...

TIA

 

[not2cleverRed]

What state are you in?

I have a i-94 with i-551 stamp on it (temp GC) valid for 6 months in lieu of the expired GC that was filed for renewal. The temp GC is expiring next month and so is the driver license that was also issued for just 6 months based on temp GC. Also the expired passport is being renewed too.

On what basis have you been granted a GC?

I set up an info pass appointment with USCIS and they asked me to bring a letter from my employer stating that I need to travel so they can renew my temp GC. Since I am a full time employee of my own company and working at client sites as a contractor, can I issue a letter from my own company and sign it stating that I need to commute to client site for work? My company is my only employer. Clients do not care what issues I have as a contractor and they do not want to sign anything.

Do you need to travel outside the US? Why?

If you actually have a solvent company, it would be well worth the cost of consulting a lawyer that specializes in this area of law, rather than random strangers on the internet.

My knee jerk reaction is that if USCIS is asking for a letter from your "employer", then they want verification that you are employed, and that part of your job description includes travelling outside the US. So yes, a letter on your company's letterhead stating that your ability to travel is vital to your position in the business should be sufficient. Your clients should not be writing or signing anything to fulfill this requirement. You could sign, your son could sign, you both can sign...

I got this appointment with a lot of difficulty going through tier-2 and tier-3 officers at USCIS as they literally have no appointments and they are saying that I don't need to travel. Even if a person is jobless or working from home, he needs to go shopping and other errands. How is he going to manage without a DL?

Please advise...

TIA

Plenty of people manage to live fruitful lives without a DL. They just deal with the situation and find alternative transportation.

 

[adjusterjack]

This is the federal government bureaucracy you're dealing with. A letter from you or your son isn't likely to cut it by itself. In addition to a letter from you explaining your business operations I suggest the following.

Presumably you were self employed in 2020 so file your 2020 tax return immediately and bring a copy.

Your son listed as vice president implies that your business is incorporated. Your state government website should yield documentation of incorporation that you can bring with you.

If you have business insurance bring a copy of the declarations page of the policy.

Bring a handful of client invoices or contracts showing various locations at which you have worked and are working at now or have lined up for the future.

In other words, bring as much documentation as you can think of. Even if you overdo it, the more you have, the better your chances of a successful outcome.

they are saying that I don't need to travel.

See, told you so. Government bureaucracy. Their job is to say no, get you off the phone, so they can drink coffee and make paper airplanes. LOL.

 

[not2cleverRed]

See, told you so. Government bureaucracy. Their job is to say no, get you off the phone, so they can drink coffee and make paper airplanes. LOL.

I rather share that opinion. I think they have a quota, to justify their existence. Hand to G**, they delayed approving my ex's GC because they didn't like the photo submitted - it was professionally done at a place that advertised that they specialize in those sort of photos, had the exact dimensions of the head required, measured with ruler, but a bureaucrat (without a ruler) rejected it after just glancing at it during our interview.

The initial application was returned, rejected for missing a form... that was in the return packet, stamped as "received".

 

[LdiJ]

I rather share that opinion. I think they have a quota, to justify their existence. Hand to G**, they delayed approving my ex's GC because they didn't like the photo submitted - it was professionally done at a place that advertised that they specialize in those sort of photos, had the exact dimensions of the head required, measured with ruler, but a bureaucrat (without a ruler) rejected it after just glancing at it during our interview.

The initial application was returned, rejected for missing a form... that was in the return packet, stamped as "received".

I brought my ex over here on a fiance visa. Things went so fricking smoothly for us that his fiance visa ended up expiring one week before our scheduled wedding, so we had to do a quickie wedding in the minister's office to make things legal, and then had our big church wedding a week later. We had an interview with immigration the day before we left for our honeymoon, and his green card was waiting for us at home two weeks later, when we got back from our honeymoon.

 

[SGB]

Oh wow! So many responses. The renewal is not due until next month.

the bigger issue I have now is that the GC is expired for more than a year and so the new Jan 2021 automatic extension of GC for one year by USCIS does not apply to me because it is expired more than a year and I won’t be able to sign my next contract. I'm going to use this reason for renewal too.

@not2cleverRed GC was based on marriage. I won't need DL for traveling overseas. I need it for commuting locally.

USCIS did not use their brain when they gave me the ADIT card for just 6 months when my GC won’t be renewed for more than a year and only for me to crowd their place again now when they don’t even have appointments. A 6 month card for Temporary visitors may make sense but for GC holder, it doesn’t hurt to issue it for at least a year and save themselves some work

 

[not2cleverRed]

Oh wow! So many responses. The renewal is not due until next month.

the bigger issue I have now is that the GC is expired for more than a year and so the new Jan 2021 automatic extension of GC for one year by USCIS does not apply to me because it is expired more than a year and I won’t be able to sign my next contract. I'm going to use this reason for renewal too.

@not2cleverRed GC was based on marriage. I won't need DL for traveling overseas. I need it for commuting locally.

USCIS did not use their brain when they gave me the ADIT card for just 6 months when my GC won’t be renewed for more than a year and only for me to crowd their place again now when they don’t even have appointments. A 6 month card for Temporary visitors may make sense but for GC holder, it doesn’t hurt to issue it for at least a year and save themselves some work

Hey, Dim Bulb, I know you don't need a DL for travelling overseas. You are also don't "need" it for commuting locally. A DL is considered a privilege, not a right. People who do not have a DL, or whose license has been suspended (like, DWIs, DUIs, reckless driving) are expected to find other ways to get around - public transit, walk, bike, get a ride from someone else, taxi, etc.

Things may have changed, Dim Bulb, but it has been my experience that for a marriage based card, the USCIS "need to travel" is for travel outside of the US. Because, absent permission to travel outside of the US, leaving the country could be interpreted as abandoning your GC application.

As a reality check, I checked out Need To Travel at USCIS. All references to travel refer to international travel.

WHAT STATE ARE YOU IN?

Your STATE determines the rules for driver's licenses, not the federal government. USCIS is a federal agency, not a state agency. Have your spouse contract their congress person for help in this matter.