Time for AC21-Please advise

A

advani

Registered Users (C)
Hi
My 180 days post 485 filing are coming up in end jan. I have received an offer and want to change. I am getting over 20000$ raise, same job description and my 140 is approved.
I-485 was applied through my employer's lawyer. Can my employer or lawyer flex their muscle and try to force me to stay. Can the lawyer withdraw I-485 petition? I had only signed a document with my employer which stated that I will pay them 50% of the filing costs they paid if I leave prior to approval of GC.

please help
 
Same situation here

My 180 days also is coming up in mid Jan (180 days since the date of recieve).Planning to invoke AC-21.
 
Requiring reimbursement because you leave prior to GC approval is likely to be ruled invalid in court, because it does not specify a fixed time period, nor a specific event that is reasonably within your control (e.g. completion of a certain assigment). They might have a case if the wording said "until one year or green card approval, whichever comes first", but until green card approval can be a very long and unpredictable length of time. Also, the employer presumably isn't guaranteeing to employ you until the GC is approved; they lose much of their power to penalize you for leaving before a specified time, if they aren't guaranteeing employment for the same time.

In addition, it is illegal for some GC-related fees to be paid by the employee ("paid by employee" includes reimbursement to the employer).

Contact a lawyer for details on the above points (the applicability of the first one will depend on the laws of your state).

Although they are not supposed to, the employer's lawyer can withdraw your I-485 if you have authorized them to represent you by signing a G-28, so you may want to revoke the G-28 upon leaving the job.
 
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Hi GUys,
I used AC-21 and i am successful.

Please follow these instructions when using AC-21, job description should be same, also make sure the salary should be almost equal to the one mentioned on ETA form when applying labor, Even if its more make sure only the required amount be run as salary and remaining as bonus with the new employer.

ETA part B information is required while applying for AC-21, so have a copy of ETA from your labor ceritification.

If you have any questions, reply back.
 
Kishore, How can we make sure that the new employer pays the same salary as on the labor.How can we ask for the same salary as mentioned in our labor in 2001.I am trying to join an big fortune 500 company.Can we ask for low salary.I am not sure how this works.Let us know ur thoughts
 
kishorev1 said:
Hi GUys,
I used AC-21 and i am successful.

Please follow these instructions when using AC-21, job description should be same, also make sure the salary should be almost equal to the one mentioned on ETA form when applying labor, Even if its more make sure only the required amount be run as salary and remaining as bonus with the new employer.

ETA part B information is required while applying for AC-21, so have a copy of ETA from your labor ceritification.

If you have any questions, reply back.
Click to expand...

It is ideal to have the description of new job duties similar to the old one. But in the case of salary is not required for the new to be the same or even similar to the old one.

This is because every company has its own payscale as determined by the industry it is operating in and the zip code of its location. Of course, the salary should be reasonable for the job duties you perform - for example if you perform the job of an IT director (or similar senior management role) and declare a $40,000 salary, or perform the job of an SQL developer (or similar tech role) and declare a $300,000 salary - both these examples will obviously invite scrutiny from USCIS with subsequent RFEs.

Also, I'm not clear when you say "ETA part B information is required while applying for AC-21 ....." As far as I know, there is no "application" for AC-21. AC-21 is simply a part of immigration law that allows you to change jobs without affecting your LPR process. There is no form to be filled nor is there any need to inform USCIS of your job change. Just ensure you follow the provisions of AC-21 when you change your job ie. job change should be done 180 days after I-485 filing, both jobs whould have same or similar job duties, new employer must give confirmed offer of permanent employment in writing etc.

Cheers !!
 
Gee!See? said:
This is because every company has its own payscale as determined by the industry it is operating in and the zip code of its location. Of course, the salary should be reasonable for the job duties you perform - for example if you perform the job of an IT director (or similar senior management role) and declare a $40,000 salary, or perform the job of an SQL developer (or similar tech role) and declare a $300,000 salary - both these examples will obviously invite scrutiny from USCIS with subsequent RFEs.
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Yes, the new salary can be different, but it should still be within a reasonable range for the industry and job responsbilities.
Gee!See? said:
As far as I know, there is no "application" for AC-21. AC-21 is simply a part of immigration law that allows you to change jobs without affecting your LPR process. There is no form to be filled nor is there any need to inform USCIS of your job change. Just ensure you follow the provisions of AC-21 when you change your job ie. job change should be done 180 days after I-485 filing, both jobs whould have same or similar job duties, new employer must give confirmed offer of permanent employment in writing etc.
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Although there is no requirement to inform USCIS of the AC21 job change, proactively informing them protects you if the employer tries to revoke the I-140. If you haven't informed the USCIS about the job change, they may revoke the I-140 at the employer's request. Before revoking it, USCIS is supposed to send an RFE or NOID and give you a chance to respond, but sometimes those notices don't arrive until it is already too late.
 
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Does the former emplyer have to continue the application

I am fairly new to this forum so pardon my ignorance. But after changing the job, doesn't the former employer need to continue the appliaction? That seems very counter productive because the former employer may not want to continue the application just to spite the person leaving. Any truth to that??
 
When do we inform USCIS about AC21?

Jackolantern said:
Yes, the new salary can be different, but it should still be within a reasonable range for the industry and job responsbilities.
Although there is no requirement to inform USCIS of the AC21 job change, proactively informing them protects you if the employer tries to revoke the I-140. If you haven't informed the USCIS about the job change, they may revoke the I-140 at the employer's request. Before revoking it, USCIS is supposed to send an RFE or NOID and give you a chance to respond, but sometimes those notices don't arrive until it is already too late.
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Jackolantern,

In my case the employer has clearly mentioned that if someone exercises AC-21 then they will revoke the I-140. In such a scenario how do we exercise AC-21 so as to reduce the chances of I-140 revocation? Do we inform the USCIS the very day we switch jobs?
 
Does invoking AC21 involve you not to restart the GC process?

If someone filed 485 and left the employer (got another similar job position with the same employer) 180 days afterwards, they would not be needed to restart the GC process.

However, if this happens before filing 485 but after 140 approval, the employee would be restarting the GC process with the PD retained.

Why can't the latter group of employees leave the employer (same or similar job with the same employer), without having to restart the GC?
 
tusharvk said:
However, if this happens before filing 485 but after 140 approval, the employee would be restarting the GC process with the PD retained.

Why can't the latter group of employees leave the employer (same or similar job with the same employer), without having to restart the GC?
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From what I remember of the debates that were going on when that bill was being voted on, they said the "sense of Congress" was that the I-485 should be completed in 180 days or less. If USCIS processed fast enough meet that 180 day deadline, you would have a GC within 180 days and thus be free to change jobs without revocation of the I-140 affecting you. So their apparent intent was to give you most of the freedom to change jobs that you would have if USCIS actually met the 180-day deadline.

If you haven't filed the I-485, you wouldn't have a green card anyway no matter how fast USCIS was processing the I-485s. So they didn't see a reason to extend that benefit to those who didn't file I-485. However, if you have an approved I-140 it is not a total restart, because you can still maintain the priority date.
 
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yagacho said:
Jackolantern,

In my case the employer has clearly mentioned that if someone exercises AC-21 then they will revoke the I-140. In such a scenario how do we exercise AC-21 so as to reduce the chances of I-140 revocation? Do we inform the USCIS the very day we switch jobs?
Click to expand...
A job offer is sufficient to inform USCIS of AC21, no need to wait until you actually start working in the new job. So don't wait to actually change jobs; send the job offer details to USCIS (along with a copy of your I-485 receipt to show it has been pending for over 180 days) before the current employer has a chance to tell USCIS anything.
 
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