CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status
APPLICANT: Filipina Elementary School Teacher
LOCATION: Tucson, AZ
Our client has an employer willing to file an I-140 Petition for her. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, a valid Arizona Teaching license, and has worked for her current employer since July 2017. Based on our client’s education and work background, our office determined that she is eligible for EB-3 classification for her I-140 petition. Our client retained us in September 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 the PERM application could be filed at least 60 days from the job posting date or 30 days from the last ad. Within a week from our retention, the prevailing wage request was filed. After we obtained the PW determination, our office filed the job order on April 8, 2019. On August 7, 2019, we filed PERM.
On January 7, 2020, the Department of Labor issued an audit. The DOL requested documents from Petitioner to determine whether the recruitment process was done properly. In response to the Audit request, our office prepared the response to Audit brief along with Employer’s declaration, notice of filing, and recruitment documentation on January 23, 2020. Eventually, on June 16, 2020, the PERM Labor Certification was approved – an EB3 position for the Filipina 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 July 24, 2020 via regular processing service. We also filed her I-485 adjustment of status application simultaneously since her priority date was current. On January 22, 2021, the USCIS issued the Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s teaching license copy. Our office immediately filed the RFE response. On March 18, 2021, the I-140 EB3 Petition for our Filipina client was approved without any Request for Evidence (RFE). Eventually, on March 28, 2022, the USCIS approved our client’s I-485 adjustment of status application. Now she is a green card holder.