CASE: I-485 Adjustment of Status / I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A
EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office
APPLICANT: Taiwanese Nurse Practitioner
LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY
Our client is a certified nurse practitioner. Her prospective employer was willing to petition her for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since she was a certified nurse practitioner, she was eligible for “Schedule A” classification.
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 first going to the DOL for a labor certification. 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. The position of Nurse Practitioner is included in Schedule A.
Our client has a Bachelors and Masters degree in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Our office was retained on August 27, 2021 and the we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination.
We filed the I-140 application on March 15, 2022 via premium processing. We included the job offer letter, the notice of filing, employment letter, and other supporting documents.
In our cover brief, we included the “ability to pay” argument and why nurse practitioners must fall under the Schedule A designation. However, the USCIS issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for our client’s notice of job filing. Our office filed the response to RFE on March 31, 2022. On April 12, 2022, the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition.
Once the I-140 petition was approved, our client retained our office again for her I-485 adjustment of status application. Our office filed the I-485 adjustment of status application on April 26, 2022. Everything went smoothly and the receipt notices and fingerprint appointment came on time. On November 30, 2022, the USCIS approved our client’s adjustment of status application without an interview. She is finally a green card holder.