The following questions and answers are based on those frequently regarding the MurthyChat. As a courtesy to our clients and the immigrant community, we generously offer this online resource.

See the login page of the MurthyChat for the schedule of the next session.
 

1.	Do I have to be a client to get an answer?
2.	Do I have to subscribe or pay anything?
3.	How soon will the chatlog be posted?
4.	How many folks can log on at any given time?
5.	Is this chat always at the same time, same day?
6.	Does Attorney Murthy see all the questions posted?
7.	Will unanswered questions be posted at the next chat?
8.	Why is my question not answered?
9.	Do I have to keep typing to stay connected to the chat?
10.	Can I ask questions about engaging the law firm?
11.	Can I chat with other folks in the chatroom?
12.	Can you tell me in advance if my question will be answered?
13.	What are examples of questions that get selected?
14.	Does the MurthyChat run under America Online?
15.	Which web browser do you recommend for MurthyChat?
16.	Why doesn't text wrap or scroll in the applet?
17.	Do scroll bars appear incorrectly on Mac OS 8.5?
18.	My profile settings were not saved in the Client applet.
19.	Why do sounds not play on my system?
20.	I don't see the login window - only a gray box. What do I do?

Question 1. Do I have to be a client to get an answer? TOP

No, this chat is open to all people who manage to log-in. Attorney Murthy's office provides answers to client questions directly over the phone and by eMail. MurthyChat is a service offered to the entire immigrant community!



Question 2. Do I have to subscribe or pay anything? TOP

MurthyChat is FREE! You do not have to pay or subscribe to anything special to participate. Of course, the chat requires you to log in with a nickname, which will appear onscreen with your question when it is posted.



Question 3. How soon will the chatlog be posted? TOP

The chat log is reviewed by Attorney Murthy before it is posted. Depending upon her work schedule, it could take a few days before it is posted at <http://www.murthy.com/chat.html>.



Question 4. How many folks can log on at any given time? TOP

The current capacity is for 200 folks to log in at any given time. It is not possible for Attorney Murthy to respond to all questions from participants.



Question 5. Is this chat always at the same time, same day? TOP

Mostly, yes. Mondays from 9-10 p.m., Eastern Time (U.S.). On occasions when Attorney Murthy is traveling to the Consulates or to the USCIS centers, the date / time may be canceled. If a major holiday falls on Monday, there will be no chat session scheduled for that week.



Question 6. Does Attorney Murthy see all the questions posted? TOP

No, she does not. The questions first go to the Screener. The Screener then releases general, brief questions to the Attorney Murthy. The sheer number of questions posted makes it impossible and impractical for Attorney Murthy to get them directly from participants. If there are comments posted - we make sure that Attorney Murthy hears about them - but this is done through eMail after the chat.



Question 7. Are unanswered questions posted at the next chat? TOP

No, the questions will have to be posted again. We regret that ALL questions posted do not get replies. Attorney Murthy answers all that she can in the given amount of time.



Question 8. Why is my question not answered? TOP

A good question! There are several reasons for this. Attorney Murthy will respond to questions that are not case specific. The purpose of this chat is to clarify the law and not to answer specific questions. It could be that your question is too long or contains multiple queries. Again, try to form your question so that it is not case specific - word it as a general query about the law. Questions that are not specifically related to U.S. immigration law will not get answered. Posting questions multiple times will not get them through to Attorney Murthy - so please don't attempt this. Multiple postings of questions only make our task in sorting them more difficult. We attempt to post one question from each participant. Since we usually have over 100 people logging in - we cannot always answer everyone.



Question 9. Must I keep typing to stay connected to the chat? TOP

We have set the time-out feature to 1.5 hours. This should allow you to stay logged in without being disconnected from the chat. If you have logged in early to ensure being able to participate, we recommend that you type any singular character key - for example /. It is possible that, with dial-up connections to the Internet, you could be 'dropped' by your Internet service provider (ISP).



Question 10. Can I ask questions about engaging the law firm? TOP

Attorney Murthy would like to keep the chat 'commercial free' - and will not respond to questions about engaging the firm or about fees, etc. If you are interested in using The Law Office of Sheela Murthy for your immigration matters, you can visit our website at <http://www.murthy.com/repre.html> or send an eMail to law@murthy.com.



Question 11. Can I chat with other folks in the chatroom? TOP

No. At present MurthyChat is a moderated session. The questions posted first go to the Screener, who releases them to Attorney Murthy. Attorney Murthy and the Moderator are the only people who can type responses directly to the screen.



Question 12. Tell me in advance if my question be answered? TOP

We will not really be able to tell you if your question will be answered or not. The questions that get answers are the ones that are not case specific. Long-drawn questions with too many details about the person's situation are not sent to Attorney Murthy. Also, depending on the number of folks logged in and the number of questions submitted, we select as many as we can for Attorney Murthy to answer in the time allowed. If a similar question has been asked at a past session, the question may not get a response. Please look up the MurthyChat logs at http://www.murthy.com/chat.html



Question 13. Examples of questions selected? TOP

Here are a few samples - you can get a sense from them.

OK question : What is limited review processing of Labor Certification?

OK question : If one who is working in H1B is laid off or fired from the company, how soon does s/he have to apply for transfer of H-1 with another company before being considered out of status?

NOT OK question : Company A, with which I am working now, has applied for my L-1 extension (my I-94 expired and I have maintained legal status by applying for extension), USCIS has requested an RFE. Will there be any problem in getting the extension? In the meanwhile, I have applied for H-1 from Company B which was filed in Oct. If I get my H-1, can I join Company B, even though my extension of L-1 has an RFE? Is it legal? will there be any problem while getting my new H-1 stamped...?



Question 14. Does MurthyChat run under America Online? TOP

Yes. However, it may be necessary to access MurthyChat from an external browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator / Communicator, rather than the built-in AOL web browser. This is due to apparent bugs in AOL 4.0 and earlier which cause some Java applets, such as MurthyChat, to redraw improperly. This bug appears to affect Windows 95/NT and Macintosh, though Windows 98 appears to be unaffected.

We are investigating this issue further, and will post more information as it becomes available.



Question 15. Which browser is recommend for MurthyChat? TOP

For the best speed and compatibility with the Client applet, we recommend Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows, and Internet Explorer 4.5 or later for Macintosh with MRJ 2.1 or later. You may use Netscape 4.0 for Macintosh, though these browsers exhibit poor Java performance.



Question 16. Why doesn't text wrap or scroll in the applet? TOP

Older Java virtual machines may not correctly wrap text. Our advice is to upgrade to a fully Java 1.1 compliant browser, such as Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. If you see scroll bars in the text entry area of the MurthyChat applet, you are not using a Java 1.1 compliant browser.



Question 17. Do scroll bars appear incorrectly on Mac OS 8.5? TOP

This is due to a bug in the interaction between Mac OS 8.5 and certain Java Virtual Machines, such as Macintosh Runtime for Java (MRJ) 2.0 or earlier, and the Microsoft Internet Explorer VM. MRJ 2.1 fixes this problem.



Question 18. My profile settings not saved in the Client applet? TOP

The Java applet security model does not allow applets, such the MurthyChat Client, to save information to the user's local machine. Therefore, each time the user returns to chat, s/he must reenter the desired nickname and other settings.



Question 19. Why do sounds not play on my system? TOP

Windows 95/98/NT users running versions of Java prior to 1.2 (including all current versions of Microsoft Java, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator/Communicator) will not be able to hear sound, due to a bug in these earlier Java releases that caused Windows to crash after repeated playing of sound. Therefore, we have disabled sound for Windows users not running JRE 1.2 or later. You must upgrade to Sun's JRE 1.2 to hear sound on Windows. Because current browsers such as Netscape Navigator/Communicator and Internet Explorer do not use Sun's JRE, sound will not be available to Windows users of the MurthyChat Client applet until these companies update their browser software.

In addition, there is a bug in Netscape Communicator 4.5 for Macintosh that prevents it from playing sound from Java applets such as the MurthyChat Client. We have notified Netscape of this error, though at present, they have not addressed the problem.



Question 20. I don't see the login window. What do I do?  TOP

The port setting on your firewall may need to be changed.