CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A / Premium Processing
EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office
BENEFICIARY: Hong Kong
LOCATION: Brooklyn, NY
Our client is a family nurse practitioner. His current employer was willing to petition him for a second-preference employment immigrant visa petition (I-140). Since he was a family nurse practitioner, he 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 Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in nursing and is a certified Nurse Practitioner. Our office was retained on September 21, 2015 and we filed the Prevailing Wage Determination immediately.
We filed the I-140 application on January 13, 2016 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. On January 22, 2016, without any Request for Evidence (RFE), the USCIS Nebraska Service Center approved his EB-2 I-140 petition. Since the priority date for Hong Kong nationals are current for the EB-2 category, he is eligible to file his adjustment of status application now.