I 485 filing question - Date of Filing Chart


rgsiva_it3

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Hello,

My priority date is March 15, 2010 in EB-3. If my priority date is before the I 485 Adjustment of Status FILING CHART and if DOS allows to use the filing date, then can i assemble my documents to submit the 485 documents or is there any other conditions that needs to be met before i file?

Appreciate your response! 

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@rgsiva_it3 assuming that you are filing as an Indian.

Date of filing chart: October 1, 2009 (Usable chart for October 2018)

Date of final action chart: January 1, 2009

Your PD = March 15, 2010. This is 4.5 months behind "Date of Filing" chart and 14.5 months behind "Date of Final action" chart.

That means you are NOT eligible to file now. When any of the above BOLD date surpasses your date then you can file. Also, if you are using "Date of filing chart', that chart needs to be usable too. You are in good position and expected to be eligible within about next few months. You may start preparing for documents. 

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To tell you the truth there is lot of chaos going on. So let me explain to you in two different time frames. First time frame is Before October 2015 and second time frame is after that.

Before October 2015 USCIS used to publish single chart known to be Priority date lookup. This was simple: If in your category, the date surpassed you PD then only you are qualified otherwise you just have to wait.

After October 2015, they with help of Obama administration, introduced new two-chart system. You may read that in following link. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-october-2015.html

With this, in second chart, if you see the date surpassing, as you know, you can apply and no action will be taken at their end but you will be relieved as application is complete from your end. The benefit was that if your status remain pending for 180 days, you get EAD and can port job - This was huge relief for many candidates, who were looking to change jobs but got stuck.

Now, going back to before October 2015 period, where retrogression was periodical toward end of fiscal year (near October) and there was bouncing back of PD. This continued for many years. But as years progressed, the situation became worse as there were many applicants and lot of them were jumping from EB-3 to EB-2. Still because of excessive increase in EB-3 applicants, the situation was so bad that EB-3 could have estimated to become current for 50-100 years (Beyond lifetime!).

So, after second chart system there was relief for many candidates. After October 2015 another change was that retrogression did not happen for about 3 years and PD moved slowly over the period. But then again PD movement slowed down and in April 2018, it moved zero days. That suggested that retrogression is coming. However it did not come until last month. And fortunately it overcame all of that this month 🙂

So, there is lot of erratic behavior seen for PD movement. Please understand that all this is for India EB-2 and EB-3 only. Because, that's where most candidates exist for many years.

Coming back to your question, Yes you are in good shape as you are just few months behind. Keep in mind that "Date of filing chart" does not move in pattern like other chart. It has stayed at one point for more than six months. And also it has to be activated (or useful) - I call it as a door with two locks 🙂 If I have to make a wild guess, you will become eligible to apply within next fiscal year. Normally, I would have advised to upgrade to EB-2 if at all that is possible. But, looking at where we are now (EB-3 running faster than EB-2), you may be getting lucky to enjoy being ahead of EB-2 guys. So get in the phase of gathering documents. If you them it is easy but some documents like birth certificate is very time consuming if you have to apply to Indian Government. You make wait for 2-3 months to see how PD moves and go for doctor's form I-693 as that form is good for six months after checkup...

Good luck buddy!

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  • 2 months later...
On 12/14/2018 at 7:12 PM, rgsiva_it3 said:

Hello @care_candidate My EB-3 India PD 15-MAR-2010 is surpassed in dates of filing chart in Employment based category. I also verified that USCIS is asking to use Dates of Filing chart for Jan 2019 visa bulletin.

Pls confirm if i can start assembling the documents to file with USCIS.

Appreciating your response.

Yes, you are correct. You can file you I-485 (along with I-765 and I-131 if you want) starting January 2019. Please understand following two important items.

  1. You Date of final action is almost a year behind. That means, after filing, they will not process your application for almost a year. After filing, they will make sure that the application is complete and that how far they will go. And then you just have to wait till Date of Final action becomes current for you.
  2. January 2019 is the first month you are eligible to file your application. However do not assume that it will be active hereafter too. There is always dark cloud of retrogression and dates can move back as much as 5-6 years. So, make sure your application reaches USCIS before end of January.

If you are looking to port job, consider filing I-765; It is free form that goes with original application.

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@care_candidate: Thank you very much for your response. I am mainly looking to get I 485 EAD for myself and my wife(mainly for my wife, since I will still be extending my H1-B visa till I-485 is approved). Pls confirm whether we both will get EAD after 90 days of filing I 485 packages along with I 765(EAD) and I 131? (Advance Parole).

My employer said they will take 4 weeks from today to process I 485 J supplement document which am not sure whether I will receive on time before end of January 2019. Worst case, if I didn't receive it from them before end of January 2019, can I send my documents with out it and later send it after we receive RFE for it?

Also, we didn't go for the medical exam yet. Because of its limited validity of 12 months, in order to avoid taking the medical exams again(since our priority dates in the final action dates are one year back ), we plan to go for medical check and send it when we receive RFE to share the medical exam results.

Appreciating your response for the above questions. 

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You become eligible for EAD after 180 days after filing I-485.

You need to be deciding if you want to stay on H1b or move to EAD. As long as you are in US, you have choice. Once you decide to leave for International trip, while returning, if you use EAD, then you cannot go back to H1b. Hiring an attorney or using one from your company is good way to proceed now.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello Care_candiate:

We have applied for I 485 AOS along with EAD and Advance parole for both myself and my spouse. We also received I 485, EAD and Advance Parole receipt notices from USCIS along with the Bio-metrics appointment scheduled on Feb 19, 2018. Our priority date was current on January 2019 as per the date of filing chart due to which we filed our AOS.

My question is whether we will receive the I 485 interview notice only when the priority date of India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 becokes current in the final action date? OR the I 485 interview will be scheduled EVEN BEFORE the India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 becomes current?

Thanks in advance for your response.

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@care_candidate

We have applied for I 485 AOS along with EAD and Advance parole for both myself and my spouse. We also received I 485, EAD and Advance Parole receipt notices from USCIS along with the Bio-metrics appointment scheduled on Feb 19, 2018. Our priority date was current on January 2019 as per the date of filing chart due to which we filed our AOS.

My question is whether we will receive the I 485 interview notice only when the priority date of India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 become current in the final action date category? OR the I 485 interview will be scheduled EVEN BEFORE the India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 becomes current in the final action chart?

Thanks in advance for your response.

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2 hours ago, rgsiva_it3 said:

@care_candidate

We have applied for I 485 AOS along with EAD and Advance parole for both myself and my spouse. We also received I 485, EAD and Advance Parole receipt notices from USCIS along with the Bio-metrics appointment scheduled on Feb 19, 2018. Our priority date was current on January 2019 as per the date of filing chart due to which we filed our AOS.

My question is whether we will receive the I 485 interview notice only when the priority date of India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 become current in the final action date category? OR the I 485 interview will be scheduled EVEN BEFORE the India EB-3 ==> 16-March-2010 becomes current in the final action chart?

Thanks in advance for your response.

They will keep processing your application no matter what. They will also call you for an interview when your number comes in line. They will also take decision to approve/reject or ask for more information during interview. However, if they decide to approve it at the time of interview, they will look to see if "Final action chart date"has surpassed your priority date. If it has surpassed you will get it quickly within days. If it has not surpassed, they will wait for it and once it surpasses, you will automatically be eligible to get it without doing anything on your part.

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@care_candidate Thanks very much for the response. Pls help in answering the below question. Appreciating your help on this.

We didn't submit I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record in the initial I 485 Adjustment Of Status package because of its limited validity period of 1 year only and also we were really not sure when our EB-3 India (16-MAR-2010) priority date will become current in the final action date chart. We are yet to take the medical exam because of avoiding to re-take it again when it expires before we go to the interview or receiving RFE to submit the same.

But we also know that we can submit the medical report at the time of attending the interview or when USCIS issues RFE to submit the medical exam report.

My questions are:

1. Will USCIS issue an RFE to submit I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record before they schedule the I 485 interview?

2. Does this medical exam report submission RFE will be issued ONLY when the priority date becomes current in the final action date?

3. Usually, how many days in advance we will receive the I 485 interview notice letter? We are thinking to schedule the medical exam once we receive the I 485 interview notice. But wanted to know how many days in advance they usually let us know to come for the interview so that we have enough time to schedule and finish the medical test and to take the medical report with us for the interview.

Thanks in advance for your help in responding.

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On 2/14/2019 at 3:19 PM, rgsiva_it3 said:

@care_candidate Thanks very much for the response. Pls help in answering the below question. Appreciating your help on this.

We didn't submit I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record in the initial I 485 Adjustment Of Status package because of its limited validity period of 1 year only and also we were really not sure when our EB-3 India (16-MAR-2010) priority date will become current in the final action date chart. We are yet to take the medical exam because of avoiding to re-take it again when it expires before we go to the interview or receiving RFE to submit the same.

But we also know that we can submit the medical report at the time of attending the interview or when USCIS issues RFE to submit the medical exam report.

My questions are:

1. Will USCIS issue an RFE to submit I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record before they schedule the I 485 interview?

2. Does this medical exam report submission RFE will be issued ONLY when the priority date becomes current in the final action date?

3. Usually, how many days in advance we will receive the I 485 interview notice letter? We are thinking to schedule the medical exam once we receive the I 485 interview notice. But wanted to know how many days in advance they usually let us know to come for the interview so that we have enough time to schedule and finish the medical test and to take the medical report with us for the interview.

Thanks in advance for your help in responding.

1. Yes. It is common for them to RFE for that. It's nothing negative but for sure it will add additional time to process I-485.

My advice is that it's not just the I-693 form that takes time but there are many medical immunization requirements for doctor to check mark on your application to complete. Some of the shots if you haven't taken need to be taken in some intervals - If I remember correctly, at least two of them needed to be taken with gap of 6 months. You should better get to Doctor to make sure you have them. This will make you get prepared for when you want to submit. Also, if you do not have record of where/when immunizations are taken, doctor may ask you to take (again) to have it on the record. Some of them are in grey area but as your intention is to be 100% complete, make sure you have what you want.

2. That's when your file will be open and they will find a missing document that is absolutely necessary that that time.

3. I think they will not issue interview appointment before receiving all the documents. So, if they find it missing, just add the time to get that form, which in some cases more than a month too. When they get all the documents in order, they will issue invitation for interview that is at least a month after you receive invite.

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