CASE: Immigrant Visa / I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A
EMPLOYER: Nursing Care Facility
BENEFICIARY: Filipino Nurse Manager in the Philippines
LOCATION: Manila, Philippines
Our client is in the Philippines. His prospective employer-sponsor was willing to petition him for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since he has a registered nurse license and the proffered position for him is a nurse manager at the nursing care facility, the petitioner wanted to try going for a “Schedule A” classification. They also wanted to do EB2 (requiring at least a Masters degree or Bachelors degree + 5 yrs experience).
The Department of Labor (DOL) maintains a schedule of occupations in its regulations, Schedule A included, for which the individual permanent labor certification procedure is not required. The schedule of pre-certified occupations is referred to as Schedule A, and is included in DOL regulations at 20 CFR 656.10. Based on an occupation’s inclusion on Schedule A, an employer may file an immigrant visa petition (I-140) directly with the (USCIS) without having to file a Labor Certification with the Department of Labor. Usually, prior to filing I-140 petitions (EB-2 or EB-3 category), the employer must file a Labor Certification to the Department of Labor. However, for Schedule A cases, the employer does not have to go through the labor certification process. We argued that the position of Health Services Manager should be classified under Schedule A. We argued that it falls under the broad spectrum of “professional nurse” occupations. We also argued that the job description has excerpts that fall under “professional nurse” and that the description justifies the requirements also of Bachelor’s degree in nursing and five years of related experiences.
Our client has a master’s degree in nursing and years of experience as a registered nurse. He also has a registered nursing license in the state of Texas. Our office was retained and we started on the Prevailing Wage Determination filing and other related matters.
Once the prevailing wage was determined, we filed the I-140 application on July 6, 2017 via premium processing. We included a job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other necessary supporting documents. In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why the nurse manager position falls under a Schedule A and EB2 designation.
Eventually, on July 17, 2017, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved his EB-2 I-140 petition.
After the approval of the I-140 petition, our client retained us again for his immigrant visa processing. Once we were retained, our office filed the immigrant visa packets to the National Visa Center on September 13, 2017, who in turn forwarded the client’s materials to the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. An interview notice was set for the client at the U.S. Embassy in Philippines. On February 6, 2018, our client appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines. Eventually, after the interview, the Immigrant Visa was issued for our client.
With the approved Immigrant Visa, our client can come to the United States immediately, and he will get his green card within two months of entry.