Success Stories From 2009

Indian-born client had I-140 approved under Category EB2 with Priority Date of 2003 and a pending I-485 case affected by retrogression. The client married a foreign spouse while I-485 was pending. The new spouse was born in Canada, a country not affected by retrogression in the client's category. We filed the I-485 for the new spouse and a request for cross-chargeability for the main applicant. The client's I-485 was approved 3 months after request for I-485 cross-chargeability and the spouse was approved 5 months after the I-485 filing.

Indian-born client had I-140 Approved and I-485 filed through first Labor Certification case under EB3 with a 2003 Priority Date. He also filed an I-140 under EB2 with a Priority Date of 2006. Rajiv advised to file I-485 through 2nd Labor Certification, requesting Service to permit inheritance of the 2003 Priority Date to have a current I-485 case. Based upon the 2nd I-485 being filed and the EB2 category request, the client obtained his Permanent Residency 1.5 months after filing the 2nd I-485.

In a case dating back to 2001, Petitioner eventually moved his office to a location greater than 50 miles from the address of the original office listed on the Form ETA-750. In 2008, USCIS issued an RFE requesting Petitioner to submit evidence showing that the new location is still within the same metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) as the original location. While Government Data and distance may suggest the two locations are not within the same SMSA, we created a new and original argument enabling the Petitioner to obtain I-140 approval.

In recent months Service has issued I-140 RFEs requesting Petitioner to demonstrate ability to pay all immigrant and non-immigrant petitions in specified windows of time. For one client, this entailed analysis of approximately 150 petitions including H-1s (new, transfers, and extensions), L-1s, and I-140s. With detailed explanations of each petition, our firm was able to obtain I-140 approval within one week.

A beneficiary obtained an RFE given that she underwent only seven semesters for her bachelor's degree, one semester short of the four years typically required. Our office was able to succeed with the RFE and her EB-2 I-140 petition was granted within four days time.