"Concurrent Filing," 90-day I-140/I-485 "Concurrent Adjudication"
Hey, Step Aside "Concurrent Filing," 90-day I-140/I-485 "Concurrent Adjudication" is Looming Up!
According to the AILA, the USCIS is launching two interesting pilot programs to complete adjudication of I-485 applications within 90 days of filing.
In family-based I-485 cases, Dallas Local District of USCIS will launch such program beginning from May 3, 2004. The I-485 applicant will be "interviewed at the time of filing" and adjudicated within 90days. FB-485, DV-485, Special Immigrants-485 will be covered, but Asylee/Refugee-485, EB-485, and LIFE Act-485 will not be covered. Wow, the families and DV lottery winners should move to Dallas! It is hoped that people in Dallas USCIS jurisdiction are not exploded with flock of married couples, the relatives of U.S. citizen, etc.
In Employment-based I-140/I-485 cases, California Service Center is reportedly about to launch such 90-day concurrent I-140/I-485 adjudication program for EB-2 concurrent-filing cases. NIW-based EB-2 will not be covered by the pilot progam. Remember that the eligible cases are non-NIW EB-2 cases of concurrent filing of I-140/I-485 only. In EB-2, if you file NIW case, you are out. If you file I-140 for non-NIW EB-2 but not concurrently with I-485, you are out too. Only currently filed cases will be covered by this 90-day I-485 adjudication pilot program. Since the concurrent-filing rule requires that the I-140/I-485 be filed at the jurisdiction of I-140 petition, meaning the job site or place of employment, the people who obtained a labor certification approval for the job sites outside of the California Service Center jurisdiction should not attempt to flock into the California Service Center by selling their homes in other jurisdictions and moving into the CSC jurisdiction. It ain't going to work! Interesting question which has yet to be answered by the California Service Center is "undetermined location" labor certification cases. These cases are filed not at the location of job or place of employment but the location of the main business office of the employer. Accordingly, should employer's main office be located in the California Service Center jurisdiction, no matter where the roving job will be located, such EB-2 filers are allowed to file at the California Service Center regardless of their job sites and location of residence, and theoretically, they should be eligible for such pilot program privilege. It Ain't Interesting?
What do they mean by "pilot program?" Common sense tells that it means a testing of certain program to test the water. Overall, pilot program will give a hope to all the I-485 filers, including family-based and employment-based, in that eventually, it will reduce the I-485 processing times tremendously throughout the country. Apparently, it is targetting at achieving reduction of processing times at one year across the board in the near future. Since it will include the time for I-140 and I-485 together, it ain't bad at all! Hold your breath!!!!!!!!