This is a disaster, are you sure? do we have any opportunity to make expedite request in USCIS?

Can religious worker change jobs during these 5-6 years with EAD?

@a a An expedite doesn't work during refrigeration. I am hoping and praying for the best. I agree, it's a disaster. @XH D I don't think so. I think as long as your AOS is pending, you'd have to remain with your sponsor. You can always ask a competent attorney to be sure.

@N G this will greatly affect major religious organizations like the Catholic Church. Do you have any information if any of these religious groups are going to sue the USCIS for abruptly changing the interpretation without any prior notice? Such a lawsuit might be our only hope!

No, I don't know of any lawsuit. What is worse is, those with approved I360 cannot adjust their status. They'll have to leave. It hurts. This whole thing has upended my whole plans. After waiting 10 months for AOS only to get retrogressed a week after I got an RFE.

@N G at least you don't have to leave USA.. My I-360 is in processing. 13 days back my status got changed to "Name Was Updated" .. Nothing yet till now..

@JSS SS I'm so sorry to hear that. Have you spoken to an attorney for guidance? Here are some options: If you are on your first R1, you could renew it for a second time. Also, your sponsor could go through EB-3, and do a labor cert perm. Although EB-3 is backlogged, I suspect it could become current by Oct. Another option is to explore jumping on another visa class.

@N G EB3 for india currently stands at 2012 priority date..

@N G do you expect EB4 to become current at least for a little while in October? if not, where do you think the priority date will move to?

@JSS SS moving to a Student visa until eb4 becomes current is an option

@Vishnu Das I can extend my R1 upto June 2024. After that I have decided to go back to India for an year because my wife and my Son is here with me on R2 haven't met her parents since May 2019.

@Vishnu Das Where are you situated? can we discuss these things over email/phone if you don't mind? I am in California..

@N G it would be a miracle if it became current in October. Except you are a minister, which is permanent, the other certain religious worker program has an expiry date (usually expires with the national/federal budget) and needs to be renewed and approved by Congress and the President. Since the fiscal year starts in October, it could be marked unavailable (U) by October if the budget isn't passed/signed. Now that Republicans are talking about budget cuts, hopefully, they don't cut off the program because that would be the end... If it moves to 2020 by October, I'll think that's very generous. The issue is with the SIJS backlogs. Also, here is a glimmer of hope: Before the change in the INA interpretation, the 3 NCA countries had a cutoff date of May 2018 (I think). Mexico had a 2020 cutoff date, and ROW had 2022. If that's the case, it Mathematocally makes no sense for the post-interpretation cutoff date for everyone to be September 2018. Some part of me thinks they might have made a very conservative estimate. Nonetheless, my priority date is mid-2021, I am seriously praying and hoping for the best. To think that I was most likely a week away from approval before all these is traumatizing.

@JSS SS I feel for Indians, they have been dealing with retrogression for decades. EB 3 is not an option, then. Hopefully, USCIS comes up with some sort of Deferred Action for religious workers, especially for those that are yet to begin the AOS process. Nice, I live in the Silicon Valley area of CA. It would be nice if we all formed a Whatsapp group as religious workers and share information. You never know, we could become plenty enough to file a lawsuit against DOS and USCIS, If that becomes an option.

@N G I also live in Sillicon Valley.. Is it safe to share contact numbers here to form a whats app group?

i would like to join the whatsapp group but it’s not working

Okay, I have a Twitter page that is called Religious Workers Coalition (you can search for the name on Twitter). I post about religious workers and the retrogression there. We all could figure out the WhatsApp group from there.

@N G I am in San Jose too..I just checked this page shows location of San Jose..

I'm from Seattle. received an RFE on Jan 26th due to my employer and attorney's negligence they sent it on March 20th USCIS received it on 27th. lost hope after seeing the PD reteogression. spoke to my lawyer and he said Cases which are in active adjudication doesn't get affected by this. I don't believe this because he's just covering up the negligence he made for the RFE reply.

@JSS SS Yes, I live in San Jose. Let me know if you're down to connect. @Girish OMG, I'm so sorry to hear that. That was unprofessional on their part. In extremely rare cases, visa numbers get pre-assigned to cases before retrogression. Aside from that, I think most cases get locked away in cold storage until they come to life again once their dates become current. What was the RFE about and what's your priority date? In my case, I think I might have hurt my case by requesting an expedite after 10 months of waiting. I wanted to get an MBA while I work full time. I wanted to get an in-state tuition rate, as opposed to an international student rate. Looking back I think that spooked them and triggered the RFE. They were asking for letters from my employer, recent pay stubs, and all that. I felt it was unnecessary. I got the RFE notification on the 17th of March. It arrived in my mailbox on the 22nd. I collected all the documents and shipped them overnight to them on the 24th. They received it and updated my profile on the 27th. I was praying that I get approved before the 1st of April. That never happened. The retrogression began on April, 1st. The whole thing was a traumatic nightmare.

@N G Sure.. lets connect/meet next week..plz drop your contact/email me at jagjeetkkr@gmail.com.

I would like to join the WhatsApp group too. Can you share the link here pls?

i waited for 3 plus years for 485 alone after 360 was approved.

does it effect sijs too?

did someone create a WhatsApp group ?

I had applied for green card of EB4 religious workers and got the EAD last year, Could I change my employer during my 485 pending?