Sharing on how to expedite EAD based on job offer

[bluesunshine 15]

Hi all, I got so much information and help from all the forums on VisaJourney and I received my EAD card on Day 58 after I did my concurrent filing of I-485, I-130, I-131 and I-765 in early July 2014. I'd thought it'd be nice to collate all the resources I found and do a step-by-step list on how to expedite an EAD based on a job offer.

• Make sure that you have a job offer letter that clearly states your start date. The USCIS will only expedite processing if you can prove that a lack of the renewed EAD will cause financial loss to you. More info can be found here http://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria.
• Call National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283 and put in a request for an expedited EAD under the “Severe financial loss to company or individual” criteria. You will most likely be speaking with a Tier 1 officer who won’t be able to help much. It’s just a crucial step for you to ensure that your expedited request gets in the USCIS system.
• Note the Service Request case number – this is the number that the congressman’s office will use to look up your expedited request with the USCIS.
• Find your congressman at http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep?ZIP=98004&Submit=FIND+YOUR+REP+BY+ZIP
• Go to the congressman’s website and search for the privacy release form. It will look something like this: http://adamsmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/privacy_release.pdf . You needs to print out this completed form.
• Draft up a letter explaining why you need to expedite the processing of his renewed EAD. I’ve attached an edited version of my letter in this thread for your reference.
• Call the congressman’s office and request to speak to an immigration liaison staff. He/she will ask you to sign the privacy release form and fax the completed form before they will do anything.
• Fax the completed privacy release form together with the drafted letter and any supporting documents to the congressman’s office
• The congressman’s office should be able to get back to you within 2 weeks (or less, this is just based on my own experience!) about whether or not your expedited request was approved

Please note that this is only based on my experience, and is not representative of everyone's experience nor is it an official representation of the process. Obviously you have to be fairly certain that your EAD WILL not arrive before the start date of you job. If your EAD is scheduled to arrive within the next 2 weeks, then there is no point in expediting it. My job offer letter came on Day 29 after I did my concurrent filing, and there was no way my EAD card would have arrived in time for me to start my job.

I wouldn't have received my EAD so fast if it wasn't for all the information and resources here. I just want to pay it forward and help anyone else who’s in a similar situation as I was. Mods, please delete this thread if you think that it's inappropriate. Thanks!

Letter to Congressman for EAD Expedite based on job offer.doc

Edited October 3, 2014 by sophiesworld

[ashleyphilly 70]

This has been very helpful. Thanks. Hopefully, I will be able to utilize it

[msbau764 245]

Hi all, I got so much information and help from all the forums on VisaJourney and I received my EAD card on Day 58 after I did my concurrent filing of I-485, I-130, I-131 and I-765 in early July 2014. I'd thought it'd be nice to collate all the resources I found and do a step-by-step list on how to expedite an EAD based on a job offer.

• Make sure that you have a job offer letter that clearly states your start date. The USCIS will only expedite processing if you can prove that a lack of the renewed EAD will cause financial loss to you. More info can be found here http://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria.
• Call National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283 and put in a request for an expedited EAD under the “Severe financial loss to company or individual” criteria. You will most likely be speaking with a Tier 1 officer who won’t be able to help much. It’s just a crucial step for you to ensure that your expedited request gets in the USCIS system.
• Note the Service Request case number – this is the number that the congressman’s office will use to look up your expedited request with the USCIS.
• Find your congressman at http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep?ZIP=98004&Submit=FIND+YOUR+REP+BY+ZIP
• Go to the congressman’s website and search for the privacy release form. It will look something like this: http://adamsmith.house.gov/uploadedfiles/privacy_release.pdf . You needs to print out this completed form.
• Draft up a letter explaining why you need to expedite the processing of his renewed EAD. I’ve attached an edited version of my letter in this thread for your reference.
• Call the congressman’s office and request to speak to an immigration liaison staff. He/she will ask you to sign the privacy release form and fax the completed form before they will do anything.
• Fax the completed privacy release form together with the drafted letter and any supporting documents to the congressman’s office
• The congressman’s office should be able to get back to you within 2 weeks (or less, this is just based on my own experience!) about whether or not your expedited request was approved

Please note that this is only based on my experience, and is not representative of everyone's experience nor is it an official representation of the process. Obviously you have to be fairly certain that your EAD WILL not arrive before the start date of you job. If your EAD is scheduled to arrive within the next 2 weeks, then there is no point in expediting it. My job offer letter came on Day 29 after I did my concurrent filing, and there was no way my EAD card would have arrived in time for me to start my job.

I wouldn't have received my EAD so fast if it wasn't for all the information and resources here. I just want to pay it forward and help anyone else who’s in a similar situation as I was. Mods, please delete this thread if you think that it's inappropriate. Thanks!

this seems like a lot of work only to be expedited by a month or so if I am correct. Wouldn't it be better to wait? who exactly would give you a job offer and just expect to wait (for immigration purposes) unless you are the perfect candidate for a highly skilled job?

[icv21 110]

this seems like a lot of work only to be expedited by a month or so if I am correct. Wouldn't it be better to wait? who exactly would give you a job offer and just expect to wait (for immigration purposes) unless you are the perfect candidate for a highly skilled job?

I think its helpful. Its not my case but I know people in this form who have good job offers from the same company they were working overseas with a position in this country and they have everything ready just waiting for their EAD to start it

[bluesunshine 15]

Hi, as mentioned, I'm only sharing based on my own experience of expediting my EAD after I got a job offer, not how to get a job offer. I was very, very lucky in my job hunt, and I know that not everyone will have the same experience.

Again, I know that not everyone will be in the same situation, but I also know that there are others who are in the same predicament I was in. I wanted to collate all the info I found in a lot of posts within several threads, and hopefully help other people who currently have a job offer but pending the EAD.

[VieSoCal 0]

I just saw my EAD status update - and my EAD was approved on day 35! now waiting to receive card.

i was also planning on trying to expedite EAD as I have a job offer - guess it worked out just fine without the expedite request.... happy!

[serenamh 0]

Thank you so much for sharing the useful information!!! I really appreciate your help!!

[ChurChur 0]

Thanks for sharing the information, I am currently awaiting the response of an EAD expedite request and called my congressman's office this morning and he has contacted immigration for me along with the letter and evidence I sent him. Contrary to my usual experiences, the guy at the congressman's office was very helpful but I just hope he can help get this pushed through.

Sophie, just to let you know - your first and last name is on the word document attached in the first post under "Author" in Word's save document pop-up. You may know/not care but just giving you a heads up.

[AC1022 27]

I think I went through the exact steps to attempt to expedite my EAD..not trying to be negative, but I do want to point out that :

1. Since my husband is in the military, which means steady income (although military don't get paid that much, you do have much of a job security), and we do not own any loans, so we did not qualify for severe financial loss. I saw some folks suggested to write up the expedite request basing on severe company's financial loss instead of individual, however it's more difficult to prove unless you are being offered a critical /senior position. I was offered a entry analyst position since I just graduated from school, so that did not work either.

2. Local congressman do have the ability to look up your information and the progress of your request for you - however they do not have much of a power in terms of actually expediting the case. I contacted two local congressmen and both of them only provided me the progress of my case and made it clear that at this point they cannot do anything further.

3. Eventually what worked out for me was talking to myfuture employer: I told them that I could not start working unless I have my EAD, which could take up to 90 days, and they accepted the fact and decided to wait. I got my EAD 30 days after they sent me the offer letter.

One thing is that you do not necessarily have to have the EAD with you to be eligible to work. As long as you know your EAD card in already approved, you can ask employer to verify your status on e-verify, and they should be able to find you in the system.

Good luck!

[ChurChur 0]

Thanks for sharing the information, I am currently awaiting the response of an EAD expedite request and called my congressman's office this morning and he has contacted immigration for me along with the letter and evidence I sent him. Contrary to my usual experiences, the guy at the congressman's office was very helpful but I just hope he can help get this pushed through.

Sophie, just to let you know - your first and last name is on the word document attached in the first post under "Author" in Word's save document pop-up. You may know/not care but just giving you a heads up.

I heard back from congressman's office today (so 4 days later) and the case was expedited and has been approved. Very happy!

[bluesunshine 15]

I heard back from congressman's office today (so 4 days later) and the case was expedited and has been approved. Very happy!

Congrats and thanks for the heads-up! I'm unfortunately unable to edit my post....so not very sure how to work around it. But I'm glad it helped!

[shynepapin 4]

Congrats and thanks for the heads-up! I'm unfortunately unable to edit my post....so not very sure how to work around it. But I'm glad it helped!

So glad someone can share this very easy process as it seems USCIS have their own way of seeing financial loss and the use of the congressman's office would be helpful assuming you get a liason officer that takes an interest in such cases like ChurChur did. I'm gonna go ahead and try this as I got a job offer today, not a letter though but an employment overview and schedule with expected start date. I hope that just works and is good enough, it's a total job outline with all necessary information.

What other supporting documents do you advice sent to the Congressmans office?

I heard back from congressman's office today (so 4 days later) and the case was expedited and has been approved. Very happy!

Good this worked for you, I hope it sure does too, but I would want to ask you what other supporting documents did you send to the Congressmans office? I'm just thinking of sending them the job offer/schedule documents I got from my employing company/firm.

Any other suggestion is welcomed.

[ChurChur 0]

I sent the employment letter, a covering letter (I used the template in this thread and edited it for my own purpose) and also copies of my completed biometrics form and notices for i765 and i485. Fill out the congressman's office release form before calling and then have everything ready to fax across. Good luck!

[shynepapin 4]

I sent the employment letter, a covering letter (I used the template in this thread and edited it for my own purpose) and also copies of my completed biometrics form and notices for i765 and i485. Fill out the congressman's office release form before calling and then have everything ready to fax across. Good luck!

Thanks and that was fast.

[rustyrockets 0]

Hi,

I am in a similar situation. I applied for my opt on 21 july 2015 with a start date on august 27 2015. In the recent events, i secured a job within my area of study luckily. But, the company wants me to join ASAP on or before 17th of august 2015. I am a Louisiana state resident. From your post and document you have uploaded I have found some information about bio-metrics, that I think are not required for post completion Opt application. So, in this situation, do you think that contacting the Us senator office would help me in expediting my EAD approval process. Also, considering the lead times. Please let me know if you could provide any other information in this regards.
And I would personally like to thank you for sharing this information, that could help people in this situation.

Thanks & Regards
Krishnachaitanya