Nahuel Prieto Galardo
May 24, 2023
An ongoing story of patience
I always thought of the possibility of immigrating to the USA, but I never seriously considered it with intent until 2019, when a company from my country offered me an L1 visa to move to the US branch, given my ability to handle the clients they had in that market.
I accepted the offer with excitement, and then... the pandemic struck, before the company lawyers even had a chance to complete the case. On the bright side, now they had a lot of time to make the case as high quality as they wanted, given the presidential proclamation stopped them from filing anyway.
When USCIS resumed case processing, the lawyers filed and the case was a success, but... something else was a-brewing... while the petition was approved and I was preparing for the consular interview in late 2021, the company got acquired by a bigger corporation. I was concerned, because I had assumed some financial commitments myself based on the plan the company had (for example, flights, hotels, and other obligations), so I asked my senior directors if this changed anything but they said it didn't, and to move on with the relocation.
So we did, and I first landed in the USA on may 2022... at that time, the acquisition was completed and the company was now a subsidiary merged with the parent corporation. At the beginning things were ok, but, as the months went by, the new corporation displayed a significant unwillingness to having people working in the USA due to the cost of life. They stopped paying me the bonuses I had in my original contract, and did everything they could to pay only the very minimum required by law for this visa type. As months went by, things started getting really harder and harder.
The first company lured me in to move to the USA and now I had a life here and financial commitments to meet, but the second company was hostile to the idea of having me here, treating me in a sub-par fashion. I started talking to an immigration attorney, and he suggested to try and go for an EB-1 given my profile, since L1 was dual intent anyway, and I could change employer to a company that was willing to pay what was right for the role.
So I did. I started working with them in my EB-1 case, and right when we were about to file with premium processing, my lawyer called me and he said "wait... we are seeing an unusual trend in premium processing". They wanted to file with traditional processing. This meant having to wait about 20 months instead of 15 days. But I wouldn't risk it. I decided to do the long wait if it meant a bigger chance of success.
Given my incredibly low salary, this meant I had to find a solution financially to resist until the immigration process was complete. I decided to go back to my country to wait and do it through consular processing, because the numbers simply didn't work to stay to wait in the US, especially given my null credit history in the country.
As you can imagine, I lost a lot of money in the process and I am in debt with family and the bank. I do realize this was not my fault and I was incredibly unlucky with the company acquisition, which changed everything.
But now, this will be my last 2 months in the US under the L visa, and I will soon resign and go back to Argentina, the 4th country with the highest inflation rate in the whole world (and climbing). It's not ideal, but it's the only realistic plan I have.
I just hope this nightmare will be over soon and that there is light at the end of the tunnel for me as well as other people who are extremely passionate about what they do and just want to help grow the economies that do want our help.
I will never stop pursuing happiness and I am more ready than ever to make America, and the world, a better place.
L
Intracompany transfers
Total Days: 1334 days
Case
2021-12-03
2025-07-29
I-129
49 Days
I-140
294 Days
I-824
494 Days
Texas Service Center: I-129, I-140, I-824
Timeline Map
2021-12-03
I-129
Submission to USCIS
2022-01-21
I-129
D+49
Decision (Approval or Denial)
2023-05-15
I-140
D+528
Submission to USCIS
2024-03-04
I-140
D+822
Decision (Approval or Denial)
2024-03-22
I-824
D+840
Submission to USCIS
2025-07-29
I-824
D+1334
Decision (Approval or Denial)
This timeline was created with the Lawfully App. Download the Lawfully App now.
ADVERTISEMENT
Blue BlueMay 24, 2023
upgrade to premium. your lawyer is not helping you
Blue BlueMay 24, 2023
open a credit card if you have to
J DMay 25, 2023
that’s really bad on the company’s part. so long to get the I 140 approval! but hang in there now that you’ve done so much. have u already resigned ?
Nahuel Prieto GalardoMay 25, 2023
@J D not yet. Even though technically I would have a 60 day grace period on the L1 after quitting, I would rather use that as a backup window in case I need to stay a bit longer for any reason. I prefer to work until the very last day.
