AC21 law and the green card
It says - The person should not be denied green card if he has changed job and the jod description is same or similar and 180 days have passed between filing and adjudication.
There has been a lot of discussion about the above AC21 law
questions have been raised
a) what is filing date - is it receipt date or notice date - Most people agree it is receipt date
b) what is 180 days - it is business days or calendar days or 6 months - Most people agree it is calendar days
c) what is adjudication - For example if the officer passed judgement on February 1st and
the avm was updated on february 4th with the message that the green card has been approved on February 1st and
the person received the approval notice on February 10th and
the person stamped his passport with I-551 stamp on February 20th
when was adjudication done ? - Most people agree that adjudication was done on February 1st
The AC21 law covers the period between I-485 filing and after 180 days and before adjudication and the Employment based candidate can change jobs during this period.
Can the Employer cancel the I-140 before and after 180 days - Popular opinion is that the employer is able to cancel I-140 approval before 180 days.
The gray areas are
a) VSC/TSC/NSC has the following stand. Candidates who have changed jobs before 180 days and are adjudicated after 180 days are approved.
CSC - some of the officers are approving such cases and others are denying such cases.
b) Candidates are not informing INS and If the candidate gets a request for (further) evidence it is at that time the lawyer
Now the AC21 law does not cover what happens after adjudication - Does this law allow candidates to change jobs after adjudication - The answer to this question is No - this is not covered by AC21 law. Then the question is when is it safe to change jobs.
The employment based green card is a three step process
a) Labor certification - this is when the Labor department approves that local candidates for the job which is described in the labor application cannot be found.
b) I-140 which checks the financial ability of the company and if the company does really require a person of that calibre
c) I-485 which checks the candidate - if he is of good moral character , has be been in lawful status during his stay in the USA. etc etc
The green card candidate may or may not be working at the green card sponsoring company but would have to take up employment when he is approved. The green card is granted to the candidate because the employer requires his skills.
But what is the duration of the requirement and his employment. Is the application fraudelent - Has all this work been done with the sole intention of somehow getting a green card for the candidate. If the INS is able to prove that either the employer or employee did not have any intention of honoring their commitment to grant employment or the candidate had no intention of working at the employer then even though the green card has been granted it can be revoked. Now this happens if INS detects such cases because of random surveys or because of complaint by either some individual or by the sponsoring company or someone.
Does this mean that the employer and the employee are bound forever - Generally if the employee changes jobs after 6-8 months the INS cannot revoke the green card - Good lawyers will appeal and win the case. But what happens if the sponsoring company changes its business or goes out of business - The candidate should seek a letter from the company clearly explaining the situation. Why is this important - This review of the candidates employment history comes up when he is seeking Citizenship and it is better to have a clean record.
Disclaimer - I am not a qualified lawyer and the above opinions may or may not be correct. I request you not to consider the above as full and final view of the law and also caution you to p
It says - The person should not be denied green card if he has changed job and the jod description is same or similar and 180 days have passed between filing and adjudication.
There has been a lot of discussion about the above AC21 law
questions have been raised
a) what is filing date - is it receipt date or notice date - Most people agree it is receipt date
b) what is 180 days - it is business days or calendar days or 6 months - Most people agree it is calendar days
c) what is adjudication - For example if the officer passed judgement on February 1st and
the avm was updated on february 4th with the message that the green card has been approved on February 1st and
the person received the approval notice on February 10th and
the person stamped his passport with I-551 stamp on February 20th
when was adjudication done ? - Most people agree that adjudication was done on February 1st
The AC21 law covers the period between I-485 filing and after 180 days and before adjudication and the Employment based candidate can change jobs during this period.
Can the Employer cancel the I-140 before and after 180 days - Popular opinion is that the employer is able to cancel I-140 approval before 180 days.
The gray areas are
a) VSC/TSC/NSC has the following stand. Candidates who have changed jobs before 180 days and are adjudicated after 180 days are approved.
CSC - some of the officers are approving such cases and others are denying such cases.
b) Candidates are not informing INS and If the candidate gets a request for (further) evidence it is at that time the lawyer
Now the AC21 law does not cover what happens after adjudication - Does this law allow candidates to change jobs after adjudication - The answer to this question is No - this is not covered by AC21 law. Then the question is when is it safe to change jobs.
The employment based green card is a three step process
a) Labor certification - this is when the Labor department approves that local candidates for the job which is described in the labor application cannot be found.
b) I-140 which checks the financial ability of the company and if the company does really require a person of that calibre
c) I-485 which checks the candidate - if he is of good moral character , has be been in lawful status during his stay in the USA. etc etc
The green card candidate may or may not be working at the green card sponsoring company but would have to take up employment when he is approved. The green card is granted to the candidate because the employer requires his skills.
But what is the duration of the requirement and his employment. Is the application fraudelent - Has all this work been done with the sole intention of somehow getting a green card for the candidate. If the INS is able to prove that either the employer or employee did not have any intention of honoring their commitment to grant employment or the candidate had no intention of working at the employer then even though the green card has been granted it can be revoked. Now this happens if INS detects such cases because of random surveys or because of complaint by either some individual or by the sponsoring company or someone.
Does this mean that the employer and the employee are bound forever - Generally if the employee changes jobs after 6-8 months the INS cannot revoke the green card - Good lawyers will appeal and win the case. But what happens if the sponsoring company changes its business or goes out of business - The candidate should seek a letter from the company clearly explaining the situation. Why is this important - This review of the candidates employment history comes up when he is seeking Citizenship and it is better to have a clean record.
Disclaimer - I am not a qualified lawyer and the above opinions may or may not be correct. I request you not to consider the above as full and final view of the law and also caution you to p
