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I-140/I-485 Filing
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I-140 and I-485 can be filed concurrently or in various different ways.
Concurrent: I-140 and I-485 filed concurrently.
Non-Concurrent: I-485 filed after I-140 was approved.
Semi-Concurrent: I-485 filed after I-140 was filed, but before I-140 was approved.
Consular Processing: I-485 was not filed. Instead consular processing was requested
at the time of filing I-140.
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AP
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Advance Parole.
More Information
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Category
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Employment based, family based or other such as lottery,asylum or refugee.
Employment based categories
Family based categories
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Country
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Country of Birth. It is NOT country of citizenship.
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EAD
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Employment Authorization Document.
Granted by the USCIS to temporary visa holders for permission to work
in the United States. There can be many different situations for a
work authorization such as adjustment of status applicants, F1 students
that want practical training, and spouses of L1 visa holders.
More Information
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Labor Certification
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Requirement for U.S. employers seeking to employ certain persons whose immigration to the United States is based on job skills or nonimmigrant temporary workers coming to perform services for which qualified authorized workers are unavailable in the United States. Labor certification is issued by the Secretary of Labor and contains attestations by U.S. employers as to the numbers of U.S. workers available to undertake the employment sought by an applicant, and the effect of the alien’s employment on the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed. Determination of labor availability in the United States is made at the time of a visa application and at the location where the applicant wishes to work.
For family based greencard applicants or with applicants with exceptional
abilities, labor certification is not required.
More Information
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NVC
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National Visa Center. It gets the applications from USCIS that in turn deals with US
embassies and consulates worldwide for consular processing.
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Notice Date
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After receiving an application, USCIS may take some time before sending the notice
that application was received, it is pending etc. The date when USCIS sends
such notice.
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Priority Date
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The date an immigrant visa petition is filed with immigration or in some cases
the date of a Labor Certification Application is first filed with a State
Labor Department. The priority date determines your place in line in an
immigrant preference category.
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Receipt Date
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The date when USCIS receives the application.
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Receipt Number
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When USCIS receives the application, it assigns a unique number to each case.
Receipt number includes the codes for service center, the day of the year
when the case was received and several more digits uniquely identifying each
case.
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RFE
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Request For Evidence. When an application is pending
with USCIS, many times they come back asking for further evidence. Such evidence could
be regarding anything such as applicant’s continued employment, company’s financial
position and ability to pay, applicant’s medical condition etc.
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Service Center
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There are four regional service centers (California, Nebraska, Texas and Vermont).
These centers process green card applications, adjustment of status applications,
and temporary visa applications. There are also many local USCIS offices
that handle naturalization, certain visa issues, and work authorizations.
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Status Date
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Date when the case was certified, denied, or withdrawn.
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