An October Surprise for Employment-Based Workers
By: Rishi P. Oza, Esq.
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The October Visa Bulletin was welcome good news for an otherwise bleak 2020, as the priority dates moved significantly for EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 category workers from both India and China. The dramatic jump forward holds the promise of unlocking thousands of foreign workers from their current job positions and giving them flexibility of moving around within the US economy. Greater f lexibility usually spurs more innovation and ingenuity, which given the current economic conditions,
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can only be considered a good thing. For purposes of background, foreign workers in the United States must go through a two or three step process to obtain permanent residency status, depending upon their expertise and type of job. This process requires capturing a “priority date” and thereafter applying to adjust status to that of a lawful permanent resident. A priority date is captured by either filing a Labor Certification Application with the US Department of Labor
or an I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker with USCIS. The priority date is essentially one’s place in line when waiting for a green card, with some lines stretching to be in excess of 10 years. How long the line is depends upon his/her country of birth, as well as the type of job that he/she possesses. Those with the most sophisticated jobs are considered priority workers (EB-1), which includes individuals of extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers/ professors or intra-company executives/managers.
NOVEMBER 2020 - WWW.DESHVIDESH.COM
