Planning to change my employer. Priority Date: Sept 2014 (EB2). H1: on my 5th Year (Filed for an extension it is currently in process). My plan is to change my employer once my extension is approved but I have the following questions. I am 100% sure my employer is going to withdraw my I-140. How is my H1 transfer going to work?
First of all the moment, your I-140 is approved no matter which category EB-1 or EB-2, the Priority Date is yours to keep that means if you got your green card filed in let's say 2017 and you left this employer after the I-140 approval, they revoked your I-140 and you started another green card in 2020 your Priority Date will be still 2017 because your I-140 was approved. So the moment the I-140 was approved the Priority Date becomes your property and it can be carried across categories, across employers, and across geographical areas. So if you go from a PERM filing in New York to an employer in California and your previous filing was EB-3 next filing is EB2 or even EB-1 you can carry the date of the work petition as long as the I-140 was approved. The moment the I-140 is approved, the Priority Date is yours.
There are limited exceptions unless the I-140 is revoked for fraud, etc., by the USCIS. Even if the employer revokes the I-140 you will keep your Priority Date. In addition to that, if the I-140 gets approved and stays approved for 180 days you will not only carry your Priority Date you will carry your right to extend your H-1 through any employer indefinitely. You will get a second benefit after 180 days and if the lawyer revokes the I-140 you will still get the benefit of both Priority Date and the right to extend your H-1 through any employer. The government has also said if you have an H-4 EAD for your spouse, your I-40 stayed approved for 180 days your wife's or your husband's H-4 EAD is safe even if the old employer revokes the I-140 later on as long as the I-140 stayed approved for 180 days. So if you left but the I-140 stayed approved for 180 days H-4 EAD is safe. That, in a nutshell, is the general law. More
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We take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Rajiv S. Khanna & his wonderful staff for working on our Employment Based Green Card processing.
Our Green Cards are approved on Jun 21, 2004 (Both mine & my wife's cases approved). Rajiv's office had shown excellent professional quality and was keen on keeping warm client relationship throughout the GC processing. The service was always courteous, professional and prompt. They were very prompt in responding to Service Center as well as responding to our queries. Any time I was able to contact the staff and they have given us a feeling that we are talking to some of our friends. They were really prompt in answering either by email or phone. We would like to thank Leila, Dian, Suman, Pooja & Mathew for their great job done for us. I will definitely recommend the Law firm of Rajiv S. Khanna to my friends and whoever ask for an opinion.
We wish all the best to Rajiv and his staff for their current efforts to make the GC processing more efficient from Govt.'s side. May God bless you All.