Concurrent I140-I485 for Labor substitution

[TwilightZone]

I am 4.5 years into H1 and working for California office of a company with HQ in Chicago. Getting married in end 2003. Planning on I-140 using labor substitution from above company in NSC. Meet and exceed the labor requirements. Lawyer has advised separate I-140 application to ensure approval of labor substitution, followed by I-485/EAD/AP. Pls. clarify the following:

1) Is it better to apply I-140 now or wait for year end and apply I-140/I-485 concurrently after marriage so that spouse is included? (mainly from the point of processing times). Seems like concurrent application is faster, but waiting time till year end can be used for I-140 processing.

2) If I apply for I-140 now, can I apply for I-485 at year end using concurrent option. Does the filing also have to be done simultaneously?

3) Do I have the flexibility to apply for I-140 from NSC and I-485/EAD/AP from Chicago or California? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[sp29201]

1) Is it better to apply I-140 now or wait for year end and apply I-140/I-485 concurrently after marriage so that spouse is included? (mainly from the point of processing times). Seems like concurrent application is faster, but waiting time till year end can be used for I-140 processing.
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I was in somewhat similar position. My lawyer advised to apply for I 140 and wait till its approval as we are using a labor substitution. I agreed with her and we applied for I 140 and later after a week i met her personally and convinced her how applying 485 will help me( if my company lays off or etc...). She agreed and we applied for 485 in Mar 2003 after a month of applying we came to know that my company is filing for Bankruptcy. we were lucky in applying for 485 and if we waited till 140 approval we could have had some problems.


so i advise you to apply for both and after your wife come to US then include her in your 485. dont trust these companies these days dont know when they will close the shop.
I still have one month to go to complete 6 months

140 ND Feb 18 2003
140 AD may 1st 2003
485 ND Mar 6th 2003
EAD applied on may 7th and got it approved on July 15th

hope this helps and good luck