- Filed my PERM ( for GC under EB2) 6 months back by my current employer. I am permanent employee. I have master's in IT and am from NEPAL
- few days back, dolstat shows it is certified.
- my company's attorney mentioned it's approved and it will take a week or two to get the certified documents from DOL

- planning for filing of I140 and I485 concurrently

-Is it good idea to expedite the process?
-Is premium processing for concurrent filing of I140 and 1485 is a decent idea as
I want to get GC approved ASAP.
- Do I need to apply for EAD when GC is approved?

Very much thankful and a warm hug for a kind relevant reply.

Congras for perm approval. The expedite service is only for i140 and not for i485. Since u r concurrently applying for i140 n i485, there is no need for expedited application, since i485 processing is not affected by expedited service. Both i140 n i485 have similar processing timeframe and they are processed concurrently, its not like they will wait for i140 approval before processing i485, so no need for expedite service.

EAD and AP can be applied concurrently for free with i485 and not after GC approval, so doesn't hurt to apply.

ark,
appreciated your response.
Just out of curiosity,

-If I filed i140 and i485 concurrently do I need to do a premium for i140?
-how long regular process gonna take?
-How long it will take to get approved under EB2 for Nepal which I believe has the current priority date for i485.
-BTW, What is AP?

average processing time for i140 is 4 months and for i485 is 4-6 months. Even if you expedite i140 and got approval result in 15 days, you have to wait couple of months for i485 approval to get GC anyway. Unless your employer pays for expedited service for i140, there is no reason to pay by yourself for expedited service.

EB2 categorly allows you to file i485 along with i140 because of current priority. Time to process i485 once applied is same for EB2 or EB3.

AP is an advance parole document people can use to travel out of US and come back while i485 is pending. a person in valid h1 doesn't necessarily need AP for travelling with pending i485. With AP, a person in h1 can use h1 visa or AP (with some merits/demerits) while reentering US with pending i485.

ark,
thank you so much for all your precious information.
From you reply I understand,
I140 and I485 concurrent filing == max time of any one of the process i.e 4-6 months

if i do premium for i140 and go for concurrent filing of i140 and 1485 == still max time of any one of the filing process i.e 4-6 months

so, no need to go for premium process with i140 if one is planing for concurrent filing of i140 and 1485 as the time process would be same in both cases.

correct me If i understood incorrectly.

Thank you once again.

You save some $. sure.

But do you really want to wait for 6 months to know your I140 is approved? And then wait for I485 to get approved?

My case:
I140 and 485 premium processing concurrent.
I140 approved in 12th day.
I485 approved in 42nd day,
got Green Card in 49th day. ( yes calendar days )

from my experience, i could hardly wait for those 12 days to find out I140 got approved. Although my case was solid, I have heard of I140 rejected and RFEs so its not over till I140 is approved. There is a lot of validation and I think, FBI background checking stuff that goes on for I140 processing and 485.

If you are 100% sure that your I140 will be approved and you are one of those people who would not waste time checking status of your I140 in the USCIS portal every day or think of it, then NOT doing premium for I140 makes sense. Everything's got time and it will come someday , hopefully. But if this thing worries you as hell and you would be thinking about it every single day, don't you think that peace of mind ( for 6 long months ) is worth more than the PP free $1250ish.

In my opinion, Premium processing is a no brainer. I've seen people doing this mistake of not doing PP and waiting in desperation for I140 to approve. Especially if you have plans to do things within a certain duration.

It all depends on what you care much some few $$ OR waiting 6 months in desperation.

I also feel if you get GC faster you make up that money in no time.

Only if your case is weak I suggest not to do PP and get RFE.

My $0.2.

-birey,
thank you very much for your reply and advise.

i was in the impression
concurrent i140 and i485 == premium concurrent i140 and i485
which is going to take same amount of time for i140 and i485.

So, going with premium concurrent i140 and i485, would take a short period of time if everything goes smoothly than just concurrent i140 and i1485!!

BTW how would i know if my case is solid or weak?
my master's degree in computer science from US, permanent employment in same field I believe is what
the focal point.

All I know is my company's immigration attorney has filed the perm under eb2.
I do not have any other information apart from it.

Thank you once again.

concurrent i140 and i485 != premium concurrent i140 and i485

so there is cost factor and time factor.

in PP, your I140 will get some decision within 2 weeks. ( approval or RFE ) or rejection in worst case (rarely happens, but it does). If it is approved your I485 has nothing to wait on and can go for approval. You get green card directly, no EAD or AP is required if you get green card first.

In regular procession, if your I140 takes longer than above mentioned process for I485, your I485 gets stuck. You would get EAD and AP in time whatever it takes 40-50 days. So you will most probably end up with EAD and AP if you have applied.

if your I140 is pending and you have applied your EAD , that's again a risky situation coz once your EAD comes, your h1b is out. So you probably might not want to apply for EAD until your I140 is approved, logically. Assuming you agree this, so your EAD is not filed because I140 is pending, I485 does not move ahead coz your I140 is pending ..... what is really the point of making I140 pending...... just to save $1250. Just imgine how much mental pain you will go through in this situation. After you have GC you're good to go for rest of your life, will you ever look back for this money you would probably make in less than a week in some part of your life.
If saving that much money is so damn important, you have probably not struggled enough in US for visa status.


I see it as its a no brainer that it is a good opportunity to do PP when you have concurrent filing. For non ROW it does not make sense for PP for I140 eb2 coz it does not make any difference, but for us it does.

As for strong case, you know it. If you have all the things your labor tells and your resume says you have, if you have all experience letters of your skills in company letter head etc and all those formalities, if your company is not shady and is actually doing good financially so that they can actually sponser an alien for GC... your case is strong. If you are good, your skills are good, your company is good and your lawyer is good your case is good.

Good Luck.

thank you once again for all the reliable information.
this helps a lot.

much admired.

Yes, PP is only for i140 to get result in 2 weeks. Therafter u have to wait for i485 result per normal processing. If finance is not a concern do premium processing. The reason i said no need to do PP is since average processing time of i140 is less than i485, by the time ur i485 result comes out, ur i140 result will have already come out. As i said earlier, it's not like they will wait for i140 approval to start processing i485, both will be processed separately n concurrently.

Btw, getting EAD does not cancel h1b. H1b is cancelled only if EAD is used ( only if u update ur h1b info witb EAD info in i-9 employment form in ur office, which is not required) A person in h1 does not need to use EAD. Since EAD/AP can be applied for free if filed along with i485, having EAD/AP can be a backup for any unforseen circumstances but may never be used.

thanks for putting more information about EAD and H1b related stuff.
Processing time for i140 and i485 is really debatable. People wait for months to get I140 approved which they could have avoided for some money.
I485 is not going to be approved and you are not getting GC until I140 is approved.

Doing Premium processing is a good option. I got approved in 12 days, I have friends who got approved in 7-8 days. I can tell you from my experience, life is relaxed and worry free after I140 is approved. All you do is wait for the green card to arrive :).

thank you birey and ark.

I have a question about experience letters while submitting 140. Should originals be included or copy is fine. I have heard they require originals but I want to retain it for future use.

Copies of experience letters should be fine, make sure the originals are on company letterhead. Uscis might ask for originals through RFE if they see something odd. If you think you can get another certificate whenever you need from ur employers u can send originals. I submitted copies only and had no issues.

GUESS WHAT?
I just tracked my PERM status details and i have found my country of birth and citizenship has been mentioned as INDIA, though I have mentioned my attorney several times that I am from NEPAL. I am from NEPAL
PERM IS ALREADY approved. Now what?
DO I have to start everything from scratch or it can be corrected during filing of I140
I googled it. On trackitt, it does mention, probably it can be corrected during filing of I140.

very sorry to hear about that.
Be very careful, your I140 can be rejected because on any incorrect information.

May be you can correct in I140 process but I guess you might have to do labor all over again if anything goes wrong.

-birey
i hope i do not have to start labor all again.
If i would have access to any information filed for labor and for I140 later on, such mistakes would have never happened. The attorney of my company even don't respond to the email query. That's a terrific obligation I am going through right now.

Anyways, thank you for your reply.

It sounds like a very bad deal.

I had access to every single document and information. After confirming correctness of all my information only then lawer filed anything.

It is your future in line here.

take care man. Good luck!

What is done is done and cannot be changed on approved perm at least, so the only way to rectify is on i140 n hope for the best. N seems like people who have made mistakes on perm had corrected mistakes during i140 and got through per diff forums. Just tell ur lawyer to make sure everything is right in i140 n i485 and let u see the finsl paperwork before he files just to confirm all information.

Then now you should definitely go for premium processing on i140 so that u will know within 2 weeks.