Form I-140 , Immigrant Petition for Foreign Workers is a form sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) by potential employers to apply to aliens for employment in the US permanently. This is done in cases where the worker is considered extraordinary in some sense or when eligible workers do not exist in the US. The employer of the file is called the applicant, and the foreign employee is called the beneficiary; both can coincide in the petitioners' case. This form has a length of 6 pages with a separate 10-page directive document by 2016. This is one form of USCIS immigration.
Video Form I-140
Reason to complete Form I-140
Form I-140 is required for EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories. For EB-4 and EB-5, Forms I-360 and I-526 are used, respectively. These categories were introduced as part of the 1990 Immigration Act.
The following is a list of all the reasons (also known as the petition type) to fill out Form I-140.
Maps Form I-140
Archive details
Initial evidence
Form I-140 petition must be accompanied by so-called "preliminary evidence". This evidence depends on the type of sponsored employee, but for example (in some cases) includes awards given to employees or publications by employees stating that they are someone with remarkable abilities. In many cases (see table above), part of the initial evidence is labor certification, which provides, inter alia, that there are inadequate workers in the US to fill positions taken by foreign employees. In cases where labor certification is required, the petition is said to be based on labor certification.
In labor-based certification applications, labor certification must be submitted and approved by the US Department of Labor before Form I-140 can be submitted. It is possible to establish a successor relationship between a successor and a predecessor company, in which the predecessor laboratory certification can be used.
Public evidence
Additional evidence to be provided includes employer financial data, educational evidence and employee work experience, as well as evidence that the employer can pay the wages he has to employees.
Alien may also file a petition in the case of EB1-A Alien of Extraordinary Ability or EB-2 National Interest Waiver.
The form must be signed in order to be valid.
Forms submitted with
Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, is required if the applicant requests Premium Processing.
Form I-140 may be filed simultaneously with Form I-485, Application for Enrollment of Permanent Residence or Custom Status.
Archiving Modality
Form I-140 may be filed with paper or electronically. If the form is submitted electronically, the form will be sent to the appropriate service center.
Address
The filing address for Form I-140 depends on whether Form I-140 is being submitted on its own or in conjunction with Form I-485. Archiving addresses may also vary by country to be used by beneficiaries for Premium Processing.
Archiving costs
The fee for filing Forms I-140 is $ 700, and must be paid in US currency to the US Department of Homeland Security. There is also a $ 1225 fee for Premium Processing (next section).
However, this charge is not included :
- In case the beneficiary is already in the United States, the fee for Form I-485 (filed separately by the recipient, so not part of the petition), may range from $ 750 to $ 1140 depending on category, plus biometric cost $ 85.
- In the event that the recipient is not in the United States, the cost of processing an immigrant visa application which, by May 2015, is $ 325.
- In the event that the recipient is not in the United States, the $ 220 USCIS immigrant fee, which is required to process immigrant visa packages and produce and send to the Green Card applicants.
Premium Processing: Forms I-907
USCIS offers Premium Processing Services at an additional cost of $ 1225 for the I-140 petition form. Premium Processing is only available for this form and for Form I-129 (non-immigrant workers). The Premium Processing Service promises a preliminary review from USCIS within 15 calendar days of receipt of the form, after which it may approve, reject, or issue an Application of Evidence or a Declaration of Desire to Deny. USCIS will refund the Premium Processing Service fee if processing takes longer than 15 days. If a fee is refunded, the associated case will continue to receive accelerated processing. The time starts from receipt of Form I-907 and related costs.
The Premium Processing Service was introduced in 2001 for Form I-129 and extended to Form I-140 in 2006.
Premium processing does not guarantee the final decision; only gives a deadline for initial review of the petition. In other words, a 15-day calendar guarantee is only for a preliminary review of a petition, which may result in the approval, rejection, or publication of an Application for Proof or Declaration of Desire to Deny.
For immigrant visa allocation, the I-140 petition form must be approved and the priority date set for the petition must be before the cutoff date (which depends on the country's chargeability and visa category). As the cutoff date and processing time for the I-140 petition form are independent, the waiting time for Form I-140 to be processed is the latest from the time of availability of the visa number (cutoff date) and the processing time of Form I-140. Therefore, Premium Processing may accelerate the overall process of obtaining a valid legal resident status when processing time of Form I-140 is longer than the time of availability of the visa number. In other words, if there is no waiting time for the availability of a visa number, either because the category is not closed or the lid barely can be met, then Premium Processing is profitable. On the other hand, for the visa category with chargeability states where the current cutoff date is far in the past (ie there is a long queue), Premium Processing will not accelerate the overall process because the cutoff date even goes beyond standard processing time.
It is possible to apply for a Premium Process on the submitted application. In this case, the hours for Premium Processing begin when Premium Processing is requested.
Benefits of having pending and approved I-140 Form
Section 106 of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21) includes special provisions in cases of lengthy adjudication. Specifically, this allows extension by one year upon H-1B status for people with delayed I-140 forms (waiting for at least 365 days). Here, "pending" includes pending appeals. It also allows people with I-485 petition forms that have been delayed for more than 180 days to switch jobs without canceling Form I-140 and the underlying labor certification. However, there is ambiguity in the case where the extension was obtained but subsequently the I-140 application form was rejected.
Under one of the provisions of the LIFE Act, USCIS will disregard unlawful entry and unlawful presence when considering some Status app adjustments for persons whose Form I-140 has been filed by April 30, 2001 (with some additional caveats).
Statistics
Approval rate
The approval level for aliens with remarkable abilities ranged from 47% to 62% during 2005-2010. For professors or outstanding researchers, this ranged from 90% to 95% during the same year.
Processing time
USCIS processes Form I-140 on a first-come, first served basis, so that at any given time, the date received for the newly processed form provides a good approximation of processing time. USCIS split Form I-140 into eight categories and reported processing times separately for each:
- Extraordinary Capabilities (EB-1)
- Professor or Extraordinary Researcher (EB-1)
- Multinational or Executive Manager (EB-1)
- Advanced Degree Professional (EB-2)
- Professional or Skilled Worker (EB-3)
- Unwritten Worker (EB-3)
- Advanced level or exceptional ability to request a National Interest Liberation (EB-2)
- Schedule a Nurse (EB-2 or EB-3)
Average processing time is about four months.
There is a separate processing time reported for processing the appeal. Beginning February 1, 2016, processing times for administrative applications for all categories of Form I-140 are 6 months or less.
The adverse decision
Initial response
The initial response from USCIS to Form I-140 is one of these four:
- Approval
- Disclaimer
- Request of Evidence (RFE): Generally, evidence is requested about the relationship between the applicant and the recipient. For example, for a marriage-based petition (where one couple petitioned for another) evidence that marriage really happened, and that no marriage cheating is sought.
- Intent to Deny Notice (NOID): This is an earlier notification that the petition may be rejected, along with the reason for the proposed refusal. Applicants are given limited time to respond.
In the case of RFE or NOID, the applicant's response will be taken into account by USCIS when deciding whether to approve or reject the application.
Self-applying: petition removal and Notice of Intention to Retract
Based on new evidence indicating that the original petition is fraudulent, USCIS may issue a revocation of the petition (ie, withdraw the application entirely) or send the applicant a Notice of Intent to Revoke, to which the applicant may respond with additional evidence or a Reason challenge. A typical impetus for USCIS to reconsider approved petitions is when US consular officers evaluate the applications of beneficiary visas based on a petition that finds evidence indicating that the petition is a fake. If the consular office finds such evidence, he returns the petition to USCIS together with the reason the request is false, and issues Article 221 (g) quasi-rejection to the applicant (note that this is relevant for cases 2 and 3, and not to case 1 where the recipient is already in the United States). Here's what to note:
- The consular officer may refuse the application of the beneficiary visa without returning the petition to USCIS. This is because consular officers have many potential reasons for refusing the application without mentioning the validity of the petition in question. For example, consular officers may refuse an application using Section 214 (b), failure to establish non-immigrant intent.
- Once the consular officer returns a petition to USCIS, USCIS may decide that the petition is valid and notify the consular officer. if USCIS validates the petition, the consular officer must use this information and continue with the same visa application (ie the recipient does not need to apply for a visa).
Re-appeals and appeals
It is possible to reapply for the I-140 petition form if the original petition resulted in rejection or revocation. Upon resubmission, all previously submitted evidence must be re-submitted, and the cost of filing should be paid again. In addition, the receipt number of the previous I-140 petition must be given. & Lt;
If there is additional evidence available to the applicant that may cause the original petition to be approved, it may be possible to file a motion to reopen or reconsider the petition. For this, Form I-290B, Appeals or Motion Appeals, must be filed within 30 days of rejection (15 days in case of retraction).
Finally, it is possible to appeal the decision, in this case Form I-290B, Notice of Appeals or Motion, shall be filed within 30 days of rejection (15 days in case of revocation) to be processed by the USCIS Administrative Administrative Office (AAO). Note that although submitted forms are the same for invitations or gestures, how to fill out a form explains whether the form is used for appeals or motion. In the case of an appeal, there is no need to submit new evidence, as the claim is that the rejection or retraction is incorrect because of the available evidence at the time. AAO has a target processing time of 6 months or less to appeal, but the processing time is currently not reported. Appeals historically take up to 35 months to decide; for this reason, legal resources often recommend re-submission.
Finally, if AAO returns an adverse decision, it is also possible to file a motion to reconsider with the AAO itself.
AAO is the end point of the appeal in USCIS. Beyond this, a decision may be appealed into the federal judicial system. An example of an appeal is the case of Kazarian v. USCIS (2010).
Effect on non-immigrant status
Rejection of the I-140 petition does not end the status of non-immigrant aliens (eg status H-1B).
Relationship with the immigrant visa process overall
Submission of Form I-140 is one step of the whole process to become a legitimate permanent resident. The whole process usually takes several years.
- Labor certification (also called PERM process ). If the petition is certified based on labor, the employer must legally prove that he has the need to hire foreigners for a particular position and that no US citizen is least qualified or LPR is available to fill that position, hence the reason for employment foreign. This is currently done through an electronic system known as PERM. This step is processed by the United States Department of Labor (DOL). Labor certification is valid for 6 months from the date of approval.
- Immigrant petition . The employer applies on behalf of the aliens to obtain a visa number. The application is Form I-140, the topic of this page. Currently, this process takes up to 6 months.
- Availability of immigrant visas . When an immigrant petition is approved by USCIS, the petition is forwarded to the NVC for visa allocation. Currently this step is centered around the concept of the priority date.
- Adjudication of an immigrant visa . When the National Visa Center (NVC) determines that an immigrant visa is available, the case may be decided. If the alien is already in the US, the alien has the option of completing the green card process through a status adjustment in the US, or through consular processing abroad. If a foreign beneficiary is outside the US, they can only apply for an immigrant visa at the US consulate. USCIS does not allow aliens to perform consular processing and status alignment (AOS) simultaneously. Prior to filing the I-485 (Status Adjustment) form required that the applicant has a medical examination performed by a USCIS recognized civilian surgeon. Examinations include blood tests and special immunizations, unless the applicant provides evidence that the necessary immunizations have been performed elsewhere. The civil surgeon submits to the sealed envelope applicant containing the complete I-693 form, which must be included unopened with the I-485 application. (The cited reference also states that the February 25, 2010 edition of Form I-693 reflects that an individual should no longer be tested for HIV infection.)
- Status adjustment (AOS) . Once the alien has a labor certification and has allocated a temporary visa number, the final step is to change his status to a permanent resident. The status adjustment is submitted to USCIS via the I-485 form, Application for Enrolling Permanent Residence or Custom Status . If the immigrant visa number is available, USCIS will permit "concurrent submission" : USCIS will receive I-140 and I-485 forms submitted in the same package or will receive the I-485 form even before I- 140.
- Consular Process . This is an alternative to AOS, but still requires an immigrant visa application to be completed. Form I-485 is not used. In the past (pre-2005), the process was somewhat faster than applying for AOS, so it's sometimes used to avoid the old backlog (more than two years in some cases). However, due to recent efficiency improvements by USCIS, it is unclear whether implementing through consular processing is faster than the usual AOS process. Consular processes are also considered more risky because there are no or very few options for appeals if officers deny the application.
Related forms
From the USCIS immigration form, the following are most closely related to Form I-140:
- Form I-129, Petition for Non-Immigrant Workers, used for non-immigrant workers.
- Form I-130, Petition for Relative Alien, is another major form which is the first step for immigrant status. This is used for immigration of relatives of United States citizens and legal permanent residents.
- Forms I-360 and Form I-526 are forms used for the EB-4 category (religious and custom immigrant workers) and EB-5 (investor/entrepreneur).
- Form I-765 is the form used to file a Work Authorization Document. In contrast to the form above, it is not a petition but an app created directly by people looking for EAD. Form I-765 can not be used to immigrate to the United States or change a person's non-immigrant status but is used by persons in the United States on various statuses (such as students with F visas or eligible DACA applicants) to work. EAD classification is not tied to specific employers and gives workers the flexibility to select employers, possibly subject to constraints about the nature of the work or the number of hours worked. For example, a student receiving F visa receives EAD for an Optional Practice Training post-completion. The main difference between Form I-129 and I-765 is that the first is filed by the employer and associated with a specific job whereas the latter is filed by the employee and is not tied to a particular job.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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