CASE: I-485 / I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A
EMPLOYER: Nursing Care Facility
BENEFICIARY: Filipina
LOCATION: Beneficiary: Philippines / Petitioner: Houston, TX
Our client came from the Philippines. Her prospective employer-sponsor was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she has a registered nurse license and the proffered position for her 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 Bachelor’s degree in nursing and 5 years of experience as a staff nurse. She 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 30, 2015 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.
However, on August 7, 2015, the USCIS Texas Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s I-140 petition. In the RFE letter, the USCIS requested our client to demonstrate her past experience and Petitioner’s new tax records. In response to RFE, our office prepared and filed the Response to RFE on August 25, 2015 including our client’s past experience letter from the Philippines and the Petitioner’s tax documents. Eventually, on August 31, 2015, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition.
Once her I-140 petition was approved, our client retained our office again for her I-485 adjustment of status application. On September 4, 2015, our office filed an I-485 adjustment of status application for our client. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time.
As a result, on December 30, 2015, the USCIS approved our client’s I-485 adjustment of status application. Now, she is a green card holder.