porkedpie

British citizen in the US on L-1A, married to a US citizen.
Filed I-765, I-130 and I-485 in August, had my biometrics done recently.
Today I saw on my online account that my EAD has been approved. I had thought that this now means I can change employers/work wherever I want. However, it says "If you have a pending or approved Form I-140 and a pending Form I-485, you may request to change employers if your Form I-485 has been pending for at least 180 days." (emphasis mine). This is slightly unclear. I don't have a pending I-140, does that mean it it sill only valid to change employers if my I-485 has been pending for 6 months or can I do so now?


I *think* that the 180 requirement is only for those applying for an employment-based adjustment, but just wanted to check.


Aside on timelines which might be useful information for others:
My EAD was approved incredibly quickly: about a month vs their posted processing times of around 10 months.
In recent months the anecdotal impression from colleagues and online forums is that 2023 filers are in general getting processed very quickly, at least in the straightforward cases. People in my situation concurrently filing getting their green cards in 2 or 3 months instead of 12-18 that had become the norm. Hopefully this is good news to folks out there. It is not good news [yet] for people who filed in 2022 as it's clear they are not processing in order. My guess is that to meet the new cycle time targets, they are simply processing newer applications first and leaving older ones to languish. I hope they have a plan to make it more equitable. It's also been speculated that they are on a big push the last couple of months to meet their accounting year end at the end of this month, so it's possible things drop off to the end of the year.

newacct

The text you are quoting is about what happens when an employer withdraws an I-140 employer petition. If you are immigrating based on an I-140 employment-based petition filed by an employer, and you leave the job and the employer doesn't plan to employ you anymore, they will usually withdraw the I-140 that they filed for you. So the question is whether you can continue to immigrate on the basis of that withdrawn I-140, without a new I-140 filed by a new employer. The rule is that if your I-485 has been pending for more than 180 days, and you continue to work in a similar job (whether on an EAD or on some work status), your withdrawn I-140 will not be revoked, and your I-140 and I-485 can continue to be adjudicated.

You have an I-130 relative petition, and your relative is not going to withdraw your I-130 because you stopped working, so this is irrelevant. (And if your relative did withdraw the I-130, there is no provision allowing you to continue immigrating on it.)

porkedpie

Perfect, thanks for your reply.

Rete

Surprised your didn't file the I-131 for Advance Parole so you could travel while your I-130/I-485 is pending. Once you chance employers you can no longer travel outside the US without the approved I-131 since your L1A is void.

porkedpie

I can still travel as my L-1A is currently valid and I don't have immediate plans to leave my employer - the I-765 is more of a "just in case".
I didn't file the I-131 since I need to leave the country in December and based on historical processing times there was zero chance it would be approved by then and I didn't want it cancelled and have to re-file. In fact things have sped up so maybe it would have come through by then, who knows.
Assuming my green card application hasn't been approved by then I will file for I-131 in Jan.

Rete

The I-131 is free when filed with your I-485 and is normally issued as part of the EAD when applied for. It doesn't hold up the EAD and you can have both the L1A and AP as long as the L1A is valid.

porkedpie

I understand but the I-131 application is cancelled if you leave the country while it's pending. Seeing as their processing times were saying 10 months, I didn't file it since I knew I needed to leave the country soon and I didn't want to have to file it twice. In the end it probably would have been done in a month, but I wasn't to know that and all the evidence was for much longer.
As I say, I'll file it once I return from my travel.