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Can I change employers after I-140?

Can I change employers after I-140?

The Green card process is divided into three stages Perm (or Labor), I-140 and I-485. The initial receipt date of your Perm is your priority date or cutoff date in the green card queue which is determined by a monthly visa bulletin. The visa bulletin is published by Department of State between 08th and 13th of every month.

Once the I-140 is approved the priority date of the employee or the green card cutoff date remains the same for the employee if he changes employers, changes professions (programmer to lawyer) or moves from Eb3 to Eb2 category etc.

The old employer withdrawing the I-140 will not impact the employee’s priority date or green card cut-off date unless USCIS revokes the I-140 for fraud or misrepresentation.

The new employer has to file the Perm and I-140 once again but the old priority date will be rolled over to the new I-140 petition.

The employee needs to understand that the priority date is not retained if he / she leaves the employer before the I-140 is approved even if the Perm is approved.

Once the I-140 is approved the employee will get unlimited 3 year extensions after his / her 6th year of H1-B. However, if the old employer withdraws the I-140 the employee is no longer eligible for unlimited extensions. Hence an employee should carefully plan his move to a new employer.

If the position is a full time position with an end client the employee will get a 3 year H1-B approval. The employee should negotiate with the new full time employer to file the PERM and I-140 once again after H1-B is approved by the new employer without any waiting periods. This will enable the candidate to get unlimited H1-B extensions with his new employer.

Hence an employee can move from a consulting job to a full time job opportunity without any issues.

We request candidates whose employers refuse to file their green card stating changes in company policy or layoffs or length of employment before becoming eligible to file for green card to send their resumes to [email protected] or call us at (813) 944-0216.

Press note released by: Indian Clicks, LLC

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