GreenCard | EB-3 | Concurrent Filling | Education Evaluation

D

DeveloperTR

New Member
Hi all,

We are on the employment base EB-3 GC process in CA and we are on the PERM phase and waiting for it.

While preparing for next steps I just would like to clarify some questions for us.

We would like to apply with concurrent filling to be able to get EAD (working permission) for my wife as soon as possible. But our lawyers let us know that we are not in a situation that we can apply via concurrent filling because of not having a degree and having an education evaluation etc.

Question:

* Are there any resources that indicates all these kind of situations which blocks for applying concurrent filling? It is still not clear for us.

Here is what our lawyer shares with us:
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Concurrent filing is not possible in your case since you have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree based on work experience. When we need to use equivalence, rather than the degree itself, the application cannot be filed in the EB2 category. It needs to be filed in the EB3 category, which does not allow for concurrent filing.
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Is that true?

* Are there any relationship between education evaluation and concurrent filling?

* How can we detect that whether I am eligible for concurrent filling or not?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.
 
You can only do (as far as I know) concurrent filing if the visa dates for that category are current (check the visa bulletin). For EB3 they are not current so you can't file AOS until they become so. For some (not all) EB2 categories they are current so concurrent filing can be done in those situations. To file under EB2 you would need : A U.S. advanced degree (MS or higher) or a foreign equivalent degree, or an official academic record showing that the alien has a U.S. baccalaureate degree or a foreign equivalent degree and letters from current or former employers showing that the alien has at least 5 years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience in the specialty.
If this is not the case then your attorney is right. The only reason for being able to file concurrent or not, is the visa availability, it has in and of itself nothing to do with your degree.
 
Wow! You are fast and thanks for your answer! :)


I have 2 years attendance for a BS program for Computer Science and Engineering in Turkey and more than 15 years professional experience on my field IT with all reference/employment letters etc.

The education evaluation that we got says as "Evaluation Report of Education Credentials and Work Experience" and it indicates also "Education Equivalence in the US as Bachelor's Degree in Computer Information Systems" and I am base on H1B with same evaluation.

I am ok that we are not capable to submit in EB-2 status. But I am just trying to understand the reason why we can not do a concurrent filling in EB-3 status that we are going to apply.

The explanation that our lawyer provides does not mention any detail except being on EB-3 status and being not capable of applying concurrent filling because of being this status. This does not sound clear enough for me.

Thanks again for your inputs.
 
Here is the latest response from our lawyer:

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An application for adjustment of status (I-485) may be submitted concurrently with an I-140 petition in any employment category that has a CURRENT priority date. See 8 C.F.R. 245.2(a)(2)(i). The EB-3 category does not have a current priority date, as indicated in the State Department’s visa bulletin (available at travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4659.html). Only the EB-1 and EB-2 categories care current right now. Thus, unless there’s some change and the EB-3 category becomes current, we cannot submit I-485 at the same time with I-140.

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The mindset changed now and a different clarification than the one before.

It looks like now I need to figure out the proper status for available priority dates etc.

Still your advice would be helpful on these comments.
 
.What your lawyer is telling you is the same thing I wrote. But you seem not to understand what he or I mean

Let me try to explain differently.

1) You can only apply under EB3 because of your education. So that cannot be changed
2) In order to get a green card 2 things need to happen 1: your I 140 needs to be approved. 2: you need to file I 485 (adjustment of status).
3) There are in many cases a limited number of green cards available (visa). If the amount of visa available for a specific category are used up, you have to wait until new visa become available. This is the reason two situations can happen 1) You apply in a category where there are visa (greencards) available if you file, this is called being current . 2) there are no visa numbers (green cards) available and you have to wait in line so to speak until there are more available. This is called backlogged or retrogressed.
4) You can only file your I 485 at the same time as your I 140 (concurrent filing) if there are enough visa available, i.e they are 'current'. At the moment this is only the case for EB1 and certain EB2 categories.
5) you cannot file your I 485 until a visa number (greencard) becomes available in your category. So if you fall in a retrogressed category you cannot do concurrent filing but you have to wait in line to do so until the date your 140 was approved (priority date) is the same as the date mentioned in the visa bulletin.
6) So if you would look at the visa bulletin for February http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_4611.html you would see that if you go to the 2nd table (employment based greencards) and you look at the 3rd preference (EB3) you can see that the priority date for that category for most people is 22 sept 2002. This means that people who had their I 140 approved on or before 22 sept 2002 can ONLY NOW file their I 485. This is the category you fall into

In Short it seems that you lawyer is correct, you can not do concurrent filing and you have to wait to file your I 485 until your priority date comes up. Assuming you are not from China, India, the Phillipines or Mexico that would mean you would have to wait approximately 4 years for that to happen.
 
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