Your question has been answered at
www.immigration-law.com ( advanced Q&A section). I am copy pasting :
Q-74 (04-15-2006): I had a pending RIR (EB-3) labor certification with priority date of October 2004. In November 2005, I filed PERM (EB-2) which was approved in February 2006. I filed I-140 (EB-2) right away. Now, my RIR was approved. I plan to file another I-140 based on RIR (EB-3). Can I carry over the priority date of October 2004 to EB-2? What should I do to carry over the October 2004 priority date?
A-74: The immigration regulation provides that when an alien has multiple "approved" I-140 petitions with different classifications, the alien can use the earliest priority date. This carry-over of the priority date is available regardless of difference in the occupational classifications, preference categories or employers. Unlike common misunderstanding, one cannot seek amendment of the approved I-140 petition to change the priority of a given petition. In your case, once your EB-2 I-140 petition is approved and the visa cut-off date for EB-2 for your country moves to October 2004, even if your EB-2 priority date is November 2005, you can file I-485/I-765/I-131. In filing I-485, you should attach EB-2 I-140 approval notice (original) as the underlying I-140 petition and submit a photocopy of the approved EB-3 I-140 approval notice as an evidence to prove the priority date of October 2004. Thus, EB-3 approval notice serves the sole purpose of proof of the priority date and nothing else. Once EB-3 approval notice is attached, the agency will pull out the EB-3 proceeding file to determine whether the EB-3 petition has been revoked for fraud or error. Unless such revocation is detected, the agency will keep processing your I-485, I-765, and I-131 based on the approved EB-2 I-140 petition and using the priority date of October 2004 for the purpose of determining availability of a visa number to approve I-485. This priority date transfer should not be confused with the rule of transfer of pending I-485 from one approved I-140 petition to another approved I-140 petition. Soon, the popular substitution of labor certification is expected to be eliminated, which provided a valuable means to pick up earlier priority dates. In its place, it is likely that more and more people may file multiple petitions with the same or different employers and for same or different occupations in different preference categories to take advantage of the current rule of transferability of earliest priority date among different classification of the approved I-140 petitions.
