Plan to change foreign nationality to shorten US Green Card timeline

[kvusgc]

I am an Indian citizen and a Canadian permanent resident living and working in the US on H1-B. My US employer started my green card processing(EB2) and my I-140 is expected sometime in mid-2023.

Given how long it would take for priority date to be current, I am considering the following path to be a permanent resident of the US sooner:

1. Once the I-140 step is completed, I work for at least 6 more months with the same employer so that my petition is not easily withdrawable.

2. I move to Canada and live there for 3-5 years to work towards Canadian citizenship. Since India doesn't support dual citizenship, I'll have to surrender it to hold a Canadian passport.

3. I find US employer and have them apply for an H1-B transfer using my existing I-140 (Question: Is green card petition transferable across nationality change?)

4. Since there's no waitlist for Canadian applicants, my priority date would be current quite soon.

 

It is a complicated detour, but this still sounds too good to be true to me. Are there any assumptions I'm making in the above plan not valid?

Thanks in advance!!

[JoeF]

The PD is based on country of birth.

[pontevecchio]

The country of birth is controlling. So, the PD will not change if you do this.

[newacct]

You'll be chargeable to India because you were born in India. Your citizenship is irrelevant.

[JoeF]

The bottom line: there is NO shortcut. If some shortcut existed it would have been known long ago and would be all over the Internet. Don't think you are the first one to come up with something. There is NO shortcut. Period.

[JoeF]

The only "shortcut" that exists is if your spouse was born in another country both can use her country's PD.

And under certain, limited circumstances you can use your parents country of birth for the PD.

Edited August 31, 2022 by JoeF