I140 after priority date is current

[Giri26]

Hello All,

I have I140 from an employer approved in 2008 with a priority date of 2007. I left US due to personal reasons in 2016 and was working for the same employer till then. I had to resign and move out in 2016 and have not gone back since then. If I wanted to go back I understand that my priority date still sticks and I can use the same but what happens with the I140? Can I use it to apply H1 with out having to go through lottery? Please let me know.

Thanks.

[Uranium243]

This is so weird. Why did your employers attorney/legal team not file your I-485 and go through your final action interview etc to collect your GC if your priority date was 2007?? 2007 became current years ago and became qualifying for GC even before you left the US in 2016 while you were still here in the US. So before you left the US, you could have obtained your Green Card regardless of your future reason to leave the US. *(Anyhow, in order to maintain the status of your residency/green card you had to have shown that you were in the US at-least 6 months a year, which you couldn't have and as such your GC would've expired/ due to failure for maintenance of permanent residency). I am afraid if you left the US and has not maintained any US visa status, then they might consider your petition by your employer as abandoned. Besides, if you obtain an H1B once, I believe you likely won't have to go through H1B lottery again i believe. You become cap exempt if you obtain H1B once as far as I know.