Thai Manne Vanakkam!!!!

I came to USA on Oct, 2011 and the last time i went to India on vacation was on Mar 2014. I have been spending more than 6.5 years in USA and almost last 4.5 years continuously. I planned for a vacation once in Feb 2017 but cancelled at the last moment due to some stir caused by the Trumps Immigration ban. My GC process also got started 2 years ago and i have my I-140 approved through which i applied for H1B Extension beyond the 6 year limit. Since i applied for extension back in Sep 2017, many things happened. I got released from my Support project(in which i thought i'm irreplaceable, but the onsite position itself got scrapped), then the next short term project which i was working on almost went into deployment and got messed up and later it took few more months for the deployment. On a personal level, i finally revealed my love story to my parents(i would write a separate blog detailing that) and got approval for marriage.

After applying for extension, i didn't get any update from USCIS for almost 7 months and finally on April, i got RFE. Few other people who applied for extension after me got theirs approved in 2-3 months(though they are still within 6 year limit). RFE is never a good news, especially in current times. Nowadays, its often the harbinger for rejection. So after i got the RFE i knew the possibility of extension approval is 50-50. So i was preparing myself mentally for both the results. More than me, my Girlfriend and Dad wished a lot for my visa to be extended. My girlfriend came to USA just 2 years back and she certainly wants to spend more time here and she doesn't want me to go back yet. My Dad kinda always wanted me to settle here and especially after i revealed him about my girlfriend, he thought its better if we both stay in USA for sometime after marriage. So they both were constantly checking the VISA status with me.

My girlfriend kept insisting me that i submit the documents on time and fill the details properly on every stage of the process. I, on the other side really didn't care much about the result. I was getting bored here and badly needed a change. So if i get visa, i will move to another state for another project and if i don't i will finally go to India. I kept it that simple. But this result just wouldn't come. My company responded to RFE only at the last few days as more RFE's were coming these days and they have to work on cases on priority.  After submitting RFE, i had only one month left for my Work authorization to expire(240 days since i94 expiry). So i can't afford to sit and wait again endlessly. So i requested for Premium processing. Once i submitted premium processing, people were saying that the result would come any day now.

I started checking the USCIS portal and my email the first thing daily morning. One week passed on nothing happened. I started losing patience and getting irritated everytime i check the case status and my mail. I just wanted it to get over and really didn't care about the result. I always had my luck with USCIS so far. I had my L1B visa approved when around 10 people in my account got rejected back in 2011. Then the first year i applied for H1B, i got picked in lottery. But this time i thought my luck would run out. So i was preparing for that and notified my apartment society for ending my lease by July end and settled my car loan and got the title so i can transfer to my girl friend if i have to leave. I was ready then to leave the country(or)state and just waiting for the result. 2nd week started since premium request and again same. I get up, check case status online, check my mails and nothing. My girlfriend had subscribed for notifications about my case status from USCIS. But USCIS site is not always up to date and not reliable. So i have to check both my mails and status online. More and more it got delayed i started losing my mind. I didn't want to get up in the morning, i wasn't getting sleep and most of the days i slept only at 4-5AM in the morning. I stopped cooking(which recently i got more interest and got really better), i stopped buying groceries for long term, i couldn't plan for July 4th(which surprisingly i got 2 days leave in my account) vacation. Because i may have to pack any day now and i may not get much time as my i94 expired long back and have to leave the country immediately in case of rejection. My Dad on the other side, checked astrology and was telling me that he was sure that i will get it approved between July 9-11th.

By the End of July 3rd, there was no still no update and i planned to go on a short 2-day trip to Wisconsin with my Friends here and their families. But on the whole trip i was checking the status and mails every one hour. I was in talks with few people about my next project in a different account and everything was getting delayed because of this VISA extension result. After the trip was over i again started checking status and mails from Friday(July 6th) morning. Saturday actually i was about to go to Phoenix to attend my Friend's son's 1st birthday party which i couldn't plan for because of the delay in VISA result. I so wanted to go and was checking the status on Friday every 30 mins once. Also checking the flight tickets which was costly on the last minute, so i was checking flight to Vegas which was cheaper relatively and planning to drive from Vegas to Phoenix. So i thought if no update in result by 4PM, i will  book a flight for Vegas and drive to Phoenix from there so i can make it to Saturday birthday party.

12:00 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)
12:30 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)
01:00 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)
01:30 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)
02:00 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)
02:30 PM - "Case Received and Receipt Notice Mailed on June 22" (No Update)

* June 22 was the day Premium Processing was filed with USCIS.

Flight from Chicago to Vegas that night was 180$. Checked Rental car also from Vegas for low price. About to book both.

03:00 PM - "Decision Notice Mailed" "On July 3, 2018, we denied your Form-I129 and mailed you a decision notice that explains why we denied your case and your options. Please follow the instructions in the notice. If you do not receive your denial notice by July 18, 2018, please go to USCIS site to request copy of notice...."

Ok Thats it. Luck run out.

I called my girlfriend and said its denied. She thought i'm kidding or checked some other case id(i do things like that, believe me) and checked the status in online to double check. Once she confirmed, she couldn't believe and i could hear welling up and about to cry. I told her not to cry in office and will call her later. Then i pinged my friends in office in watsapp group and everybody was in disbelief.

I saw the status updated in USCIS site on July 6th and the status said they said notice on July 3rd itself. So i wasn't sure how long i'm allowed to stay here and when should i leave. As July 4 was a holiday i thought the notice wouldn't have reached my company by 6th, so i kept waiting for monday. In the weekend i cleaned the room, washed the clothes and packed and almost ready to go. But no email from my company on Monday(July 9th). No mail on July 10th and none on July 11th too. I started panicking. My friends were telling me to be careful that if i overstay i may not be able to enter USA again ever. So i tried to contact HR, Manager, Immigration department and anyone i can, but everybody kept telling me that wait for the email. I also submitted a ticket and got response from my company that the decision notice isn't received from USCIS yet and it normally takes 7-15 business days for the mail to reach and i'm allowed to continue working until then. I still don't know how many days i will have after the notice reaches my company and they send me an email. But i'm ready to leave anytime and just waiting. Now daily morning i'm just checking my emails and every hour from morning.

Then the other problem is that i switched from my old company to current company in USA. So i'm a USA hired employee, so i need to get a project confirmed in India first, only then i will be transitioned to India payroll, else i will be out of job when i arrive in India. So the quest for project and also the location(either Chennai or Bangalore) has begun and was in progress.

I'm going to go to India after 4.5 years, so people are saying i should definitely buy things for family, friends etc. Some of them might ask me to carry stuff to India which i cannot deny. And i'm hesitant to inform all my friends in India to avoid their requests to carry stuff for them. For me and my family, as usual i have no clue what to buy.

A lot of things are going on my mind right now.
1. Climate. How difficult it would be to adapt to India after nearly 6.5 years since i came to USA initially.
2. Office. How difficult it would be adapt to offshore working culture, like staying in office till 10, doing all works other than the actual work, transportation from office to room and vice versa(Man!! Am i going to miss driving a Car),
3. Bike.I'm still not comfortable driving a bike in India. Have to learn that soon after i arrive in India.
4. Food. I don't have to cook in India where ever i end up. I will miss cooking new dishes in weekends though, but i can compensate by eating variety of items i missed to eat when i was in India. I didn't even many South Indian food item's names when i came to USA. I have huge list of food items which i want to eat in various parts of India.
5. Reading.  I like reading and i resumed reading books in Sep, 2017 after a gap of 2 years. Ever since i'm reading on regular basis. I will definitely miss Barnes & Nobles and Libraries here a lot. Sometimes i just go directly from office to B&N and browse some books and start reading some random and continue the book. I won't get such an environment in India or at least that i know of.  I have completed almost 14 books this year out of New Year resolution Count 30. Some how i need to continue the habit irrespective of however busy i get in work or other things.
6. Writing. After coming to USA, i rarely wrote about my experiences or any short stories in my blogs, even though i have visited a lot of places here. But in India, definitely a lot of adventures will happen just in our normal life and i'm sure i can continue writing again once i'm there.
7. Marriage. Well, then there is this thing. As my GF would be in USA for at least another year, i can't think about getting married for an year. But there are definitely few things which i need to take care before i get married and i need to be in India for that and hope this Visa rejection is a blessing in disguise for that.
8. Friends. Almost all are married and most of them with kids. So friends, who i can hangout with in India are very few and i have to use whatever time i get to enjoy last few months of our bachelor life there.

So i'm looking forward to the email from my company very eagerly and can't wait to land in India soon and feel "Thai Manne Vanakkam!!!".

Few of my friends are still in my condition(I-140 approved and awaiting H1b extension beyond 6-year limit) who are waiting to see what happens with me. I will keep them posted on the details.