Changing jobs on H1(7th yr) or EAD

[ishu_pd]

Dear friends/experts..

Here is my situation

My current employer filed my labor in Feb 2007 and it got approved in march 2007. They filed for my I 140/485 in Aug 2007. My H1B(6years) expired in Oct 2008 and I received 2.5 years extension.

Now I have another job offer. I would like to know the following things

1) Is it safe to assume that my 140 is approved as I had 2.5 years extension of H1b

2) Should I be changing jobs on h1b or on my EAD.
a) What are the pros and cons.
b) Is one safer than other.

Also wanted to let you know that my employer doesn't share I 140 details.

3) Does it matter that I don't have 140 details in either case. If so, how?
4) What actions can my current employer take to either prevent me from changing jobs or hurting my GC Process.

Any help/information is greatly appreicated.

Thanks

 

[mmed]

Dear friends/experts..

Here is my situation

My current employer filed my labor in Feb 2007 and it got approved in march 2007. They filed for my I 140/485 in Aug 2007. My H1B(6years) expired in Oct 2008 and I received 2.5 years extension.

Now I have another job offer. I would like to know the following things

1) Is it safe to assume that my 140 is approved as I had 2.5 years extension of H1b No assumption here, approval of I140 depends on many factors and unless you have approval in hand, nothing is sure

2) Should I be changing jobs on h1b or on my EAD. Whatever you like, it does not matter because you already exhausted your years on H. The people use their H in case their pending GC gets denied. Because you already done with the years, the only hope is that your GCget approved.
a) What are the pros and cons. EAD is relatively easy to get, just renew it in advance (120 days before expiration), you can move to any employer on EAD with no much hassle. For those who do not exhaust their H (less then 6 years) can save the time left in case their GC denied. On EAD you can work without certain wage limit which sometimes difficult to find an employer who can higher someone with that minimum.

b) Is one safer than other. If you exhausted the 6 years nothing safer than the other. sometimes if you extend your H because of pending I485 and the pending application denied, you may pretend that you have valid H till its expiration till you deal with the denied application by certain way or another

Also wanted to let you know that my employer doesn't share I 140 details.

3) Does it matter that I don't have 140 details in either case. If so, how? I-140 is the employer petition and up to him to share or not, I485 is your application
4) What actions can my current employer take to either prevent me from changing jobs or hurting my GC Process. He can request from the USCIS to revoke the I140, the USCIS may grant his request.

Any help/information is greatly appreicated.

Thanks

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[ishu_pd]

Dear friends/experts..

Here is my situation

My current employer filed my labor in Feb 2007 and it got approved in march 2007. They filed for my I 140/485 in Aug 2007. My H1B(6years) expired in Oct 2008 and I received 2.5 years extension.

Now I have another job offer. I would like to know the following things

1) Is it safe to assume that my 140 is approved as I had 2.5 years extension of H1b No assumption here, approval of I140 depends on many factors and unless you have approval in hand, nothing is sure

a) Does it help in any way to have I 140 details?
b) Is there a way to find out about the I 140 details. I have heard people mentioning Freedom of Information Act and some other options. Is there certain ways to find out this information.

2) Should I be changing jobs on h1b or on my EAD. Whatever you like, it does not matter because you already exhausted your years on H. The people use their H in case their pending GC gets denied. Because you already done with the years, the only hope is that your GCget approved. Under what circumstances can my 485 be rejected if I change my job either on H1b/EAD. In other words what care do I need to take so that I don't land into trouble later.
a) What are the pros and cons. EAD is relatively easy to get, just renew it in advance (120 days before expiration), you can move to any employer on EAD with no much hassle. For those who do not exhaust their H (less then 6 years) can save the time left in case their GC denied. On EAD you can work without certain wage limit which sometimes difficult to find an employer who can higher someone with that minimum.

b) Is one safer than other. If you exhausted the 6 years nothing safer than the other. sometimes if you extend your H because of pending I485 and the pending application denied, you may pretend that you have valid H till its expiration till you deal with the denied application by certain way or another

Also wanted to let you know that my employer doesn't share I 140 details.

3) Does it matter that I don't have 140 details in either case. If so, how? I-140 is the employer petition and up to him to share or not, I485 is your applicationSo when I fill in my AC21, do I not require any information which is on my Labor/I140. If so how do I know what to fill if I don't have I 140 details
4) What actions can my current employer take to either prevent me from changing jobs or hurting my GC Process. He can request from the USCIS to revoke the I140, the USCIS may grant his request.

If the employer withdraws the I 140 how does it negatively effect my GC process.

Any help/information is greatly appreicated.

Thanks

 

[Jackolantern]

Your employer won't even let you know if your I-140 is approved?

If you know the I-140 case number, you can check the status online. Otherwise, you can obtain a copy of it via the Freedom of Information Act. Search for those words and I-140 on this site.

If the employer withdraws your I-140, you need to quickly find another job that is "same or similar" to the one on the labor certification.

 

[mmed]

Dear friends/experts..


a) Does it help in any way to have I 140 details?
b) Is there a way to find out about the I 140 details. I have heard people mentioning Freedom of Information Act and some other options. Is there certain ways to find out this information.

.[/COLOR] Under what circumstances can my 485 be rejected if I change my job either on H1b/EAD. In other words what care do I need to take so that I don't land into trouble later.
b) Is one safer than other.
Also wanted to let you know that my employer doesn't share I 140 details.

3) Does it matter that I don't have 140 details in either case. If so, how? So when I fill in my AC21, do I not require any information which is on my Labor/I140. If so how do I know what to fill if I don't have I 140 details
4) What actions can my current employer take to either prevent me from changing jobs or hurting my GC Process.

If the employer withdraws the I 140 how does it negatively effect my GC process.

Thanks

1-To invoke AC21, you do not need I140, you need I485 information and you say, here I am working in the same or similar field and aready spent more than 180 days AFTER approval of I140
2- Having information on the I140, will not help that much, and to get this information is through your employer not through USCIS, acts .....etc
3- By changing jobs (on H or EAD) you definitely expose you GC to some sort of problems, the consequences of which could be nothing at all (just stress and writing in forums, asking lawyers.....etc), to RFE to the most extremes of denial. This is a complex issue and many factors affect that as mentioned, how close you are to the field metioned IN LC, how cooperative your employers (old and new)
4- The worst action your employer can do is to request denial of the I140 and the USCIS approve that. If so, every thing else will collapse (no EAD, no AP, no I485 will be valid)
5- Current employer can support your AC21 by providing you with supporting document, salary, ....etc in same or similar field
6- As, mentioned, if your employer withdraw your I140 and this is approved, no GC pending for you anymore, no EAD and even no H which suppose to be extended because of pending GC which will not be the case anymore at that time

 

[Jackolantern]

There is good and bad with using H1B to change jobs. Most employers don't hire H1B at all, or hire very rarely, as they hate the paperwork and costs. So the EAD makes more opportunities available. But if you have a noncitizen spouse or child who doesn't have an I-485 yet and your priority date is not current, the H1B has the advantage of allowing them to get H4 status to stay with you (once you lose the H1B status by using EAD, they would lose their H4 status).

 

[Jackolantern]

1-To invoke AC21, you do not need I140, you need I485 information and you say, here I am working in the same or similar field and aready spent more than 180 days AFTER approval of I140

It doesn't have to be 180 days after the approval of the I-140, it just has to be 180 days after the filing of the I-485. To be safe, the I-140 should have been approved, but it doesn't matter when it was approved.

 

[ishu_pd]

Thanks guys for taking the time to reply, but based on the replies, I am little confused. Since I don't have I 140 details as well as whether it's approved or not how do I know if It's been approved for more than 180 days as mmed indicated?


1) What happens if my employer withdraws 140 but it was already approved? How does it affect my GC Processing with the new employer?

2) If 140 is not approved but my employer withdraws it, will I still be able to work in US on EAD or do I go out of status immediately?

 

[lprkhoj]

1) What happens if my employer withdraws 140 but it was already approved? How does it affect my GC Processing with the new employer?

If I140 has been approved and its been 180 days since you filed I485, a revoked I140 doesn't affect you at all - only as per USCIS mandate. However, in case you change job and invoke AC21 only to be informed that I485 has been denied due to revoked I140 (which can happen if IO doesnt know about the mandate), you would have to knock a few doors for uscis to make amends to its folly.

This is true even if your i140 hasnt been approved - only criteria is the I485 180 day rule but again this situation would be more risky than if I140 was approved. Look for my late 2007 post on this and I have a link to the USCIS memo that mentions this.

2) If 140 is not approved but my employer withdraws it, will I still be able to work in US on EAD or do I go out of status immediately?

Again if I485 has hit 180 days, which it has in your case, ideally you should be good. Depending upon how knowledgeable the IO handling your case is, you may or may not have problems but in the end you'd not be doing anything illegal (unless ofcourse I485 has some other issues) by using EAD.

But then if you have H1b extended, your preference should be to use it. In most cases, EAD is good only for dual jobs (if your H1b has a single employer on it) but down side is as indicated in previous post. EAD should only be used as a safety net - just my opinion. And since you already have the extension, the status of I485/I140 has no bearing on it. You may even forgo AOS process and still keep working on H1b until its valid - ofcourse if you do so, you'd not be able to extend it any further.

So in case you have to change jobs because of a sucky employer, you can. Just be prepared for some heartaches that might come along. I am assuming you do have your I485 details to invoke AC21.

 

[ishu_pd]

Thanks for the reply.

Based on what lpkhoj had written above, If I want to use my H1b on new job, I would have to do an H1b transfer, what I have to do get the GC processing transferred to the new employer and still maintain the priority date.

1) When my I 140 is approved.

2) when my I 140 is not approved.

I was reading at this place http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/2yrEAD_FAQ_061208.pdf where it mentions that if you have received 2 years of EAD it means you have I 140 approved. Anybody has any comments on this.

 

[mmed]

Thanks guys for taking the time to reply, but based on the replies, I am little confused. Since I don't have I 140 details as well as whether it's approved or not how do I know if It's been approved for more than 180 days as mmed indicated?


1) What happens if my employer withdraws 140 but it was already approved? How does it affect my GC Processing with the new employer? Your employer can request withdrawal of pending or already approved I-140. The USCIS is the one who can grant that request or not. If accept it, they are going to send you denial of the I485 because of the cancelled I-140.

2) If 140 is not approved but my employer withdraws it, will I still be able to work in US on EAD or do I go out of status immediately?

No as I mentioned in above post, if I-140 withdrawn or denied, every thing based on that will collapse; the EAD is not valid immediately, AP is not valid, extension of the H after you already exhausted all the 6-7 years is not working. All those are benefits for person with pending GC in good shape (not denied or withdrawn)
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[mmed]

Thanks for the reply.

Based on what lpkhoj had written above, If I want to use my H1b on new job, I would have to do an H1b transfer, what I have to do get the GC processing transferred to the new employer and still maintain the priority date.

1) When my I 140 is approved.

2) when my I 140 is not approved.

I was reading at this place http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/2yrEAD_FAQ_061208.pdf where it mentions that if you have received 2 years of EAD it means you have I 140 approved. Anybody has any comments on this.

In the ideal world, you have to stay with the employer who sponsored your GC.
If not, you suppose to go to salvage procedures trying to keep your GC active, this procedure may work or not. The procedure is the same if the I140 approved or not. To make the procedure stronger:
1- approved I140 is better than pending one (To know if it is approved or not, your employer is almost the only source for this information)
2- To move after 180 days after filling I485 not before that
3- To move to same job, if not similar job in the same field
4- To have same or higher pay than that mentioned in LC
5- To move on H visa not EAD (but in your case it does not mater for you because you already exhaused 7 years on H and any extension of H for you will based on pending GC)
6- Some people do AC21 when they moved, many others wait for RFE. If you have troubles with previous employer and you think he will create problems to your pending or even approved I140, just send to the immigration that you moved in similar job with copy of I485. It is easy for the immigration to link I485 to the pending I140 and keep the process active even if the employer request to withdraw it (this is provided that the USCIS convinced with your argument and grant your AC21 application)

 

[lprkhoj]

@ ishu_pd

Once I485 hits 180 days, a pending I140 may only be revoked due to mis-representation and not just because the person no longer works for the sponsoring employer. Since not many are aware of this including IOs, its considered risky to move before I140 is approved but is certainly possible without affecting pending I485. As mentioned earlier, the only down side is a possible RFE or even NOID because of an ignorant IO handling the case but that can be legitimately contested.

And because of this yes, you may change jobs, request H-1B transfer and invoke AC21.

Again, this is not highly recommended because of unnecessary hassles that it may bring along but is certainly doable/possible.

Check out Aytes Memo of 12/27/2005 on I140 portability, Section 1 Question 11 (b) http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/AC21Intrm122705.pdf

Check with a good lawyer and (s)he should be able to guide you or if you have a job offer, discuss your issue with the new employer's lawyer (though don't necessarily trust him - do your homework)