Thread to track HSMP applications from U.S.A

[raguraam]

pateketu,

I hope you are in UK by this time(almost a month right?). Since you have seen both US and UK, can you share your experiences in comparing these two places in terms of work and life? This will be helpful for those of us who aspire to come to UK from US.

thanks

[wzhao1]

Hi,
I have some questions about EC application.
Is it possible to apply for EC if my H1B visa has expired? Do I have to apply from my country of origin? What kind of document does UK embassy consider as proof of legal status in US?

Thanks

[arm]

You can apply for EC under H1B visa.

I dont know how they consider your situation if you visa expired you are illegal you should leave USA.

[windmill]

wzhao1,
if by visa you mean, your H1B visa stamp is expired, then you're still fine as stamp is just for entry, not for your continued stay. But if your H1B visa (i mean the approval -I797) has expired, obviously then your illegal (although I'm quite sure thats not what you meant) and can't get EC.

But yeah don't worry about stamp.

[windmill]

So after almost 3 months of application and 2 months of review application, I got my approval.

They rejected me on two criteria - Income and Experience.

Income, I knew would be easy to prove. It was just a miscalculation on their part. I already sent them all the original paystubs and all. So that was taken care of with a excel sheet of monthly income, to make it easier for them (I borrowed this idea from giblet - Thanks!!)

Experience was tricky as I already included whatever my employer was willing to provide. Now I couldn't have gotten anything else from employer and I could not submit anything extra in review. I wrote a detailed 3 page explanation of what I do and why does it require a graduate degree (mine requires Masters). I included the list of conference publications I had while on job and also a copy of my H1B. This was the only thing I was worried about - they might reject the review cos of a copy of H1B but they didn't. I also pointed them to the weblink of USCIS website which says Bachelors degree is needed for H1B.

Rest all the resources were provided as web links or print outs or web links. It worked!

Thanks for the valuable suggestions and tips/hints I've picked up from reading and replies over here. Now the next step - job hunt and EC.