CASE: EB-2 I-485
EMPLOYER: Baptist Church
BENEFICIARY: Korean Assistant Pastor
LOCATION: Cary, NC
Our client is a Baptist church in Cary, NC. They were willing to petition a South Korean for an Assistant Pastor second-preference petition (I-140). Our client’s prospective employee has a master’s degree in Theology. After talking to our client, our firm concluded that this employer can petition him as an Assistant Pastor. Second preference petitions for Koreans are current, which means that if a PERM Labor Certification for a second preference position gets approved, the I-140 and I-485 could be filed simultaneously. Based on our client’s prospective employee’s education and work background, our office determined that he is eligible for EB-2 classification for his I-140 petition. Our client eventually retained us in on September 6, 2018.
Prior to filing PERM, our firm prepared the prevailing wage request, job order, advertisements, internal job posting, recruitment report, and all other steps which are important pre-PERM filing. Take note that PERM could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. On April 5, 2019, the prevailing wage request was filed. Then, our office filed the job order on January 6, 2020. On June 18, 2020, we filed PERM. Eventually, on December 22, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB2 position for the Korean beneficiary.
We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. We submitted the “ability to pay” letter for the I-140 petition application. We included the job offer letter, employer’s tax records, and other necessary supporting documents. The I-140 Petition was filed on March 29, 2021, via premium processing service. Eventually, on April 8, 2021, the I-140 EB-2 Petition for our Korean client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE).
Once the I-140 petition was approved, our client retained our office again for his I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client on May 12, 2021. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.
Eventually, on September 9, 2021, the USCIS approved our client’s adjustment of status application. Now, he finally is a green card holder.