Subsidiary of company was acquired - not sure if AC21 applies

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havefaith

Registered Users (C)
AC21 Gurus -- Pls. advice.

I work for X Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company.

Effective Jan. 18, 2005, X Inc. was acquired by another company. Only thing that changed is that we have a new name. All aspects of payroll, job responsibilties etc. was transferred to the new company.

I'm still sitting in the same office, doing the same job.

I have 140 approved and 485 pending for >180 days with original company.

My questions are:

1) Since I volunteerly did not switch employers, and this was an acquisition, do I have to do anything to inform BCIS? Is this classified as AC21?

2) New company will give EVL if needed with exact job description, so do I do nothing now and wait and notify only if there is a 485 RFE?

3) Old company lawyer recommends notifying BCIS, but she is also asking $1000 for doing it! so, I'm just not sure if this is absolutely necessary since my job desciption and location has not changed at all.

Thanks in advance.
 
Actually, employer has changed because new company has acquired the company I was with.

Only difference is I did not change employers by myself, so not sure if AC21 applies.
 
havefaith said:
Actually, employer has changed because new company has acquired the company I was with.
Click to expand...

Are you still working for the same company? Who happens to own that company is irrelevant.

Let's say I work for Company X, that is owned by Company Y. Company Y sells X to Company Z. I'm still employed by X. That's all USCIS cares about. They never cared about Y, and they don't care about Z.
 
RealCanadian - thanks for your prompt replies.

I'll try to be clearer. This is how the acquisition worked:

I was terminated by Company A (who was the petitioner of my green card) and was re-employed by Company B.

So, I'm no longer working for the same company who filed my paperwork, although physically I'm in the same work environment with company B.
 
you must use Ac21 or file amended 140 petition.
If you can explain chronological order and give some more details I can suggest which is better.
 
I am not sure whether you need to do anything. I can give you my case as example which is slightly different.
After my labor was applied, my company sold off the part of the business. The lawyers didnt do anything since they considered the new company as "successor in interest". There was an RFE on my labor checking whether I was still employed, the lawyers replied with new company info. Before I filed my 140, the new company merged with another and they filed with the new companys name.
The lawyers stance always was, we will tell them when they ask us. It has worked for me so far...
 
havefaith said:
I was terminated by Company A (who was the petitioner of my green card) and was re-employed by Company B. So, I'm no longer working for the same company who filed my paperwork, although physically I'm in the same work environment with company B.
Click to expand...

Ah, then yes, that's clear AC21 and one of the situations the law was designed to support. You can proactively provide a new EVL to USCIS, but I'd just wait for the RFE. You should be fine.
 
First of all, thanks to all for your kind advice.

I don't know if this makes a difference, but I did not file LC, as mine was under EB1 category.

My scenario is similar to gcjoe i.e.

Petitioner of my GC sold off my division to another company. So, my job was literally transferred to the new company.

140 was approved Dec.03
485 applied Feb.04
Have been under H1 with original petitioner, but now I guess I have EAD in hand.

Confusion is whether or not AC21 applies and whether need to take any proactive steps or just wait when there's any RFE for 485. Just don't want to take too much risks after so long in the process though ...
 
what are they doing with H1's(yours or other H1's in your company)? I was going through my old emails, and there is some technicality in the merger details (or buying) which makes it a "successor in interest". I dont know whether it is applicable to you. Whether you should file AC21 or no is probably dependant on the same issue.

If you have decided to use AC21, it is best to notify USCIS ( per attorney Murthy at Murthy.com). In this forum, I have seen several folks doing it themselves.
 
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