Gurus,
Here is a synopsis of my situation:
I am on the 6th year of my H1-B. I filed for labor certification early this year, with priority date of Feb 2005; just in time before the end of 5th year of my H1-B and 365 days in advance of the end of my 6-year H1-B period, so that I would be able to file for 7th year extension when I needed to on the basis of my existing labor application.
My company filed for my labor in EB-3 RIR category, and the application is now in the Philadelphia Backlog center, and I have not yet received my 45-day letter.
I have a Masters degree in Computer Science from an U.S. university, and about 8 years of work experience, a little over 3 years of which are with my current company (I am not sure if the years with my current company can be shown as work experience on the application).
For various reasons, my company was not willing to file EB-2 at the time of filing for labor and the job requirements specified Bachelors+ 2 yrs work experience which qualifies as EB3.
With my very recent priority date and with the labor application languishing in the Backlog center, and also with EB3 retrogressed to as far back as June 2002(I am from India); I know that I am potentially looking at quite a few years (maybe 5-6 yrs???) for my green card process to complete. This also means that I will be stuck at my current company for all of that time and will have to keep getting 1-year H1-B extensions every year.
I am wondering if there is any way for me to get out of this situation, by asking my company to move my application from the Backlog center to PERM, and also upgrade the job requirements to reflect a change from EB-3 to EB-2. It is important for me to be able to retain the priority date on my current labor application so that I can get a 7th year extension based on it. I know that USCIS has recently suggested that they will not look favorably at more than one application for the same employee for the same company, so probably I cannot have my company file a second concurrent application in EB-2 in PERM.
In this situation, what are your suggestions if any:
a) Is there any way for an upgrade to the existing labor application from EB-3 to EB-2 and move the application from the Philly Backlog center to PERM, without losing the priority date?
b) In case it is not possible to do an EB-3 to EB-2 upgrade, are there any conditions under which my company can concurrently file a second labor application for EB-2 in PERM, without having to cancel my existing EB-3 application in the Backlog center (I need that priority date to extend my H1-B).
I don’t know if this will be of any use or make a difference, but I have received an appreciable pay raise since the time of filing of the existing EB-3 application, which is much more than what the existing application mentions as my pay rate.
Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions that you may be able to provide me. It is an extremely important situation for me and I will greatly appreciate any help/ suggestions in this regard.
Here is a synopsis of my situation:
I am on the 6th year of my H1-B. I filed for labor certification early this year, with priority date of Feb 2005; just in time before the end of 5th year of my H1-B and 365 days in advance of the end of my 6-year H1-B period, so that I would be able to file for 7th year extension when I needed to on the basis of my existing labor application.
My company filed for my labor in EB-3 RIR category, and the application is now in the Philadelphia Backlog center, and I have not yet received my 45-day letter.
I have a Masters degree in Computer Science from an U.S. university, and about 8 years of work experience, a little over 3 years of which are with my current company (I am not sure if the years with my current company can be shown as work experience on the application).
For various reasons, my company was not willing to file EB-2 at the time of filing for labor and the job requirements specified Bachelors+ 2 yrs work experience which qualifies as EB3.
With my very recent priority date and with the labor application languishing in the Backlog center, and also with EB3 retrogressed to as far back as June 2002(I am from India); I know that I am potentially looking at quite a few years (maybe 5-6 yrs???) for my green card process to complete. This also means that I will be stuck at my current company for all of that time and will have to keep getting 1-year H1-B extensions every year.
I am wondering if there is any way for me to get out of this situation, by asking my company to move my application from the Backlog center to PERM, and also upgrade the job requirements to reflect a change from EB-3 to EB-2. It is important for me to be able to retain the priority date on my current labor application so that I can get a 7th year extension based on it. I know that USCIS has recently suggested that they will not look favorably at more than one application for the same employee for the same company, so probably I cannot have my company file a second concurrent application in EB-2 in PERM.
In this situation, what are your suggestions if any:
a) Is there any way for an upgrade to the existing labor application from EB-3 to EB-2 and move the application from the Philly Backlog center to PERM, without losing the priority date?
b) In case it is not possible to do an EB-3 to EB-2 upgrade, are there any conditions under which my company can concurrently file a second labor application for EB-2 in PERM, without having to cancel my existing EB-3 application in the Backlog center (I need that priority date to extend my H1-B).
I don’t know if this will be of any use or make a difference, but I have received an appreciable pay raise since the time of filing of the existing EB-3 application, which is much more than what the existing application mentions as my pay rate.
Thanks in advance for any help, suggestions that you may be able to provide me. It is an extremely important situation for me and I will greatly appreciate any help/ suggestions in this regard.