CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category)
EMPLOYER: Taekwondo (Martial Arts) School
BENEFICIARY: Korean
LOCATION: Erie, PA
Our client is a prominent Taekwondo master who is working as a Taekwondo coach. He had a Taekwondo school willing to do a second-preference petition (I-140) for him. Our client has a Bachelors and Masters degree in a related field and has coaching experience. Although he had maintained his status as an O-1 visa holder in the United States, his previous green card application (Based on the EB-11 category) was denied.
After talking to our client, our firm decided that his potential employer can petition him as a Taekwondo Head Coach. Second preference petitions for Koreans are current, which means that if a PERM Labor Certification for a second preference position gets approved, the I-140 and I-485 could be filed simultaneously. Based on our client’s educational, professional and working background, our office determined that he is clearly eligible for EB-2 classification. Our client eventually retained us for his PERM labor certification in January 2013.
As we stated in a previous success story, his PERM Labor Certification was approved on May 13, 2014 despite the issuance of Audit request. After the PERM approval, our client retained us again for the I-140 petition.
We then proceeded with the I-140 Petition filing. One of the main requirements for the I-140 is that the petitioning company must show that it has the ability to pay the proffered wage for the beneficiary’s position.
The adjusted gross income was not enough. The current wage of the beneficiary was not enough. The net current assets were also not enough.
Thus, we attached the tax return schedule that showed the net current assets of the Petitioner and combined it with his wage to argue that this combination establishes Petitioner’s ability to pay the prevailing wage. A combination of the net current assets and our client’s current salary was over and above the prevailing wage and the proffered wage.
We included the job offer letter, employment verification letters from our client’s previous employers, and other necessary supporting documents. The I-140 Petition was filed on June 2, 2014 via premium processing. Eventually, on June 17, 2014, the I-140 EB2 Petition for our Korean client was approved.