Guys,
Check out this post from OH Law firm.....it appears that the rate of I-140 approvals might speed up....
Here is the source:
http://www.immigration-law.com/
08/12/2007: I-140 Backlog and Anticipated Improvement in the Future
The USCIS I-140 case load is not related to the immigrant visa number availability as the I-140 petitions could be filed even during the period of visa number retrogression. The record reflects that the USCIS had witnessed a growing volume of I-140 petitions just before they faced the July 2007 Visa Bulletin fiasco. The immigration statistics reflected that the growing I-140 cases had culminated in 103,563 cases pending at the end of June 2007, creating a crisis for the USCIS. The agency has yet to release the exact causes for the backlogs. However, it is obvious that there were a few factors that had led to such surge of I-140 petitions. One was the continuing reduction of backlogs in the DOL Backlog Elimination Centers and the improvement of processing times of PERM applications. We reported earlier the statistics of DOL permanent labor certification approvals as of June 2007. The second factor could have been the DOL decision to eliminate the substitution of alien beneficiaries for the labor certification applications by middle of July 2007. This must have created a tremendous surge in the number of I-140 petitions for substitutions by the employers before the deadline of July 16, 2007.
Out of these two factors, one factor of substitution I-140 has already disappeared as of July 16, 2007. Additionally, DOL has already eliminated most of 360,000 backlog cases and there are a very few number of TR cases which will be completely eliminated by the end of September 2007. Accordingly, the only factor that will affect the USCIS I-140 case loads may turn out to be the number of PERM applications that will be produced by the DOL annually. The record reflects that these numbers are not that large. However, there were four other factors that could have contributed to the backlogs. One is the USCIS increased denials of I-140 petitions by adopting narrow standards in the aliens' educational degree issues and the employers' financial ability to pay issues. The second factor was the flaws in Phase II Bi-Specialization Program adopting a single window of filing and shipping around files between the Service Centers. The third factor was expansion of I-140 premium processing services that had led to a surge of I-140 PPS filing by the aliens to take advante of H-1B three-year increment extensions beyond the H-1B six-year limit. The temporary suspension of I-140 PPS may have halped the agency to even out the I-140 petition workloads over time. The fourth factor could have been the reinforced name check and security clearance backlogs. As for the flaws in the Phase II Bi-Specialization Program, the agency has just moved in part into the Phase III program adopting a "direct filing" system that would eliminate the need for shipping around of files among Service Centers. The just released White House initiatives promises the security clearance improvement. The only factor that currently creates the backlog of I-140 remains the Service Centers' too restrictive and narrow reading of the legal standards that creates massive RFEs, denials, and delays. Improvement in the current practice in this area is expected to further help the agency to achieve reduction of I-140 backlogs.
All in all, the foregoing analysis leads us to believe that the I-140 processing times should improve substantially in the future. We just hope that the USCIS exerts added efforts to loosen up the restrictive and narrow reading of the I-140 standards such that the backlogs be eliminated in the accelerated manner.
