GCW8 said:
Concern: My Labor is not approved. However my lawyer/employer is telling that they will file I-140 without labor ceritification.
I am 101% sure that I-140 cannot be filled without Labor certification.
Please Please advice, if it is legitimate to file I-140 in below situation.
Lawyer is accepting the rule that I-140 cannot be filled without Labor Certification.
However, reasoning given by lawyer is that I will be ahead in I-140 queue.
According to lawyer only 3 situation can occurr.
1. I-140 may get denied upfront for missing labor ceritification.
2. I-140 will be accepted initial LIN etc number will be given, but at time of adjudication, because of missing labor ceritification, RFE will be sent and hoping that by that time labor will be approved and copy of labor certification will be sent.
3. If labor is not approved by end of 12 weeks time period of responding to RFE then I-140 will be denied. According to lawyer, I-140 denial is not as serious as I-140 rejection. Or may be lawyer is making this story up.
Why employer wants this to be done ?
Here is reason that I can think of:
A. My labor is approved and they want to hide this information with me.
B. Mine is EB-2 category and I asked to file in consular processing.
But they want to file 1 step at a time (I-140 then 2nd step I-485) that way I am bonded labor for longer period of time.
Question: WILL USCIS accept I-140 without Labor Certification ?
1. I-140 may get denied upfront for missing labor ceritification.
This is very unlikely to happen, since it takes too long to go thru everyones documents and make sure that all the papers are in order. So, all they might do is send you a receipt stating that they received your application.
2. I-140 will be accepted initial LIN etc number will be given, but at time of adjudication, because of missing labor ceritification, RFE will be sent and hoping that by that time labor will be approved and copy of labor certification will be sent.
- What makes you think that they might send you an RFE? What if they look at the I140 receipt date and LC approval date (after you responded to the RFE) and the dates don't match up (LC date is later than I140 receipt date).
3. If labor is not approved by end of 12 weeks time period of responding to RFE then I-140 will be denied. According to lawyer, I-140 denial is not as serious as I-140 rejection. Or may be lawyer is making this story up.
- He could be right on the terminology. But how can he know weather it is a deniel or rejection.
Let's say they denied you application........., what was the reason for it - You didnot have approved LC with your application. But how do you appeal it - you still didnot have the approved LC at the time of application.
So, you might have to start allover again (apply I140 application).
Let's say they rejected...........you can reapply for the I140 with the actual approved LC.
So, you still start all over again.
What I don't understand is why your company want to file I140 without LC approval.
Does the lawyer work for your company or did you hire the lawyer yourself?
LC and I140 is employer's responsibility(Needs company's info). I485 is your responsibility(Need personel info). If they hide the LC approval from you, then they won't have you for longer time. They will have to use it for you or just give ($$$$$) it to someone else and lay you off (if you donot have valid visa)
And, yes you are right..........they are using you.
My suggestions:
1) Talk to another lawyer (or goto
www.murthy.com chatroom which is scheduled for every monday and ask about this issue) to figureout worst case scenario.
2) If the employer is nice enough and gives you the LC, let them apply I140. Then, you can, without them knowing apply I485 (CP process). You won't need any company info for this. Remember, applying concurrently doesn't mean that I140 and I485 applications have to be together. As long as you apply for I485 before I140 is approved, it is considered concurency. For the I485 application, you won't need any LC or I140 application.
So after you get the I140 approval, hopefully 6 months after you apply I485, you can use AC21 portability and leave to a different company.
Hope this helps...............................Talk to another attorney just to get their opinion.
I have seen too many employers that are doing this to lot of employees.