CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A / Premium Processing
EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office
BENEFICIARY: South Korean
LOCATION: Florida
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 May 5, 2015 and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.
We filed the I-140 application on July 20, 2015 via premium processing. We included the 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 nurse practitioners must fall under the Schedule A designation. However, on July 29, 2015, the USCIS Texas Service Center issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) and asked to submit Petitioner’s entire tax record and explanation regarding its place of employment. Our office prepared the Response to RFE and filed it to the USCIS on August 10, 2015. Eventually, on August 19, 2015, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for South Korean national is current for the EB-2 category, she is eligible to file her adjustment of status application now.