Nurse Practitioner EB-2 Schedule A I-140 Approval for Indian Beneficiary and Physician’s Office Petitioner in Florida

CASE: I-140 (EB-2 Category) / Schedule A / Premium Processing

EMPLOYER: Physician’s Office

BENEFICIARY: Indian

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 in October 2014 and we filed a Prevailing Wage Determination Request immediately.

We filed the I-140 application on December 5, 2014 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 December 12, 2014, the USCIS Texas Service Center requested our client’s employer’s federal tax record to determine its “ability to pay.” Our client’s employer provided a copy of its federal tax record, and our office submitted the Response to RFE to the USCIS on December 14, 2014.

Eventually, on December 18, 2014, the USCIS Texas Service Center approved her EB-2 I-140 petition. Our client can file her adjustment of status application when her priority date becomes current.

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