USCIS Announces Change in Filing Location for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition
for Alien Worker
Posted by Liu & Associates, PLLC on August 3, 2010
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, this morning, issued a new form
edition and filing instructions for Form I-140 effective immediately. The
new form and instructions dated 06/14/2010 transfer the initial intake and
receipting of most paper-filed Forms I-140 to the USCIS Lockbox facilities.
As we first explained in May (“Recent Updates by USCIS Officials at the
Texas Service Center Meeting”at http://bbs.tigtag.com/thread-697164-1-1.html), this is part of USCIS’s overall goal for centralized processing of all petitions and applications. USCIS aims to complete the transformation effort and have all petitions/applications filed at the Lockbox facilities by the end of this year.
Despite objections by officials at both the Texas and Nebraska Service
Centers as well as attorneys who have raised their concerns regarding the
Lockbox facilities’ ability to properly and timely process Form I-140
petitions (after witnessing the numerous improper rejections and delay in
receipting of Form I-485 applications since the beginning of this year),
USCIS has moved forward with its Phase 4 plans for Forms I-140 and other
petitions/applications (Form I-130, Form I-539, Form I-817, Form I-526, and
Form I-129F). All new forms and instructions must be read carefully to
ensure compliance with new procedures.
As of today, the majority of Forms I-140 filed alone or concurrently with
Forms I-485 must be filed at the USCIS Dallas Lockbox. It is unclear at
this time whether Form I-140 petitions will be adjudicated at the Texas
Service Center or whether the Dallas Lockbox will forward the petitions to
the Texas and Nebraska Service Centers based on jurisdiction or random
assignment.
For the next 45 days, until September 17, 2010, the Service Centers will
forward all Forms I-140 along with supporting documents and any other
petitions/applications contained in the same envelope to the USCIS Dallas
Lockbox. After this date, the Service Centers will reject Forms I-140 as
improperly filed.
There are certain exceptions to the Lockbox filing procedure, including:
- Electronic filing: E-filing is available for most Forms I-140 and
allows petitioners to submit Form I-140 online and receive a Receipt Number
immediately after payment of filing fee. Supporting Documents can then be
sent to Texas Service Center, which maintains exclusive jurisdiction over e-
filed I-140s. We highly recommend this approach for our clients.
- Premium Processing Requests: Forms I-140 filed concurrently with Forms
I-907 Request for Premium Processing Service should be sent to Nebraska
Service Center or Texas Service Center, following the Form I-907
instructions.
- Forms I-140 for classification as skilled workers (Part 2, Box “f”)
should be filed either at Nebraska Service Center or Texas Service Center,
depending on the jurisdiction in which the beneficiary will be permanently
employed as provided in the Form I-140 instructions.
What can we expect from this change?
From our experience with the continuing problems with Form I-485
applications, petitioners can anticipate several weeks of delay before a
Receipt Notice is issued, which in turn can result in delay and adjudication
of the actual petitions because the Service Centers do not receive the
petitions and supporting documents until after the Lockbox completes
processing. In addition, improperly rejected filings are possible.
For upgraded Premium Processing Service Requests (Forms I-907 filed after
Forms I-140 have been receipted), there may be a delay in matching the
Premium Processing Service Request to the already filed Form I-140. Form I-
907 must be filed with the Service Center where Form I-140 is pending. Thus
, it appears petitioners must wait until after Form I-140 has been receipted
before they can request premium processing in these cases. The Form I-140
Receipt Notice must be included with Form I-907 and all questions in the
form must be answered completely in order for USCIS to match up the premium
processing request with the pending petition. From our experience, if USCIS
cannot find the pending Form I-140 file, the USCIS adjudicator will issue a
Request For Evidence (RFE) to stop the premium processing clock.
In terms of actual adjudication, it is too early to tell how the Lockbox
intake procedure (removing tabs and scanning documents) will affect the
eventual adjudication of Form I-140 petitions. USCIS has acknowledged it is
impossible to scan all supporting documents for Forms I-140 because they
are often hundreds of pages. In May, Chief of the Lockbox Operations
Division proposed only scanning 50 pages. If this occurs, there is a great
possibility that certain supporting documents may be misplaced or lost in
the process. Likewise, if USCIS removes all tabs, it will affect the
organization of the supporting documents and will be more difficult for
adjudicators to review the materials. When supporting documents are
misplaced or not well-organized, there will be a greater chance of RFEs.
For now, we recommend that petitioners e-file Forms I-140, if possible. If
paper-filing is the only available option, petitioners and beneficiaries
should exercise patience during the upcoming months because this new filing
procedure is sure to face the same “challenges” as with other petitions/
applications currently filed at the Lockbox.
[ 本帖最后由 usembassy 于 2010-8-5 10:24 编辑 ] |
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