Anita

Hello My company has announced lay-offs this week and the office that I work in is
closing down. Some people have been asked to move to the HQ in a different city, but
I am not sure I am one of them. I have till Nov 2003 left on my H1-B, but my employer
had already started applied for Labor Certification process in July 2001. Apparently
the DOL is processing applications from Apr 2001 currently.

My Lawyer says that if they move my job to this HQ location, they will have to
reapply for Labor Certification and I'll have to go back and restart the process of
applying for Labor Certification. The problem is that considering that I have such a
short time left on my H1-B it may not come through in time for my H1-B expiry. Is
this correct ? Is there any other way I can keep my GC process going ?

Thanks Anita

skymour

I'm not an expert, But I have a question, did you extend your H1B?? you have 3 years extension after the first 3 years...
for re-applying the labor cert as of changing of city,, this sucks man!!! if it's true...hope not....

anyway, pray to be moved to the HQs, that's much better than being laid off and losing the H1 itself!!

aslo, just to be safe try looking for another job, or apply for a student visa...

mailmena

Yeap, I agree. This is a tough call. First, try not to get laid off, yeh I know . In addition to what skymour has wrote, even though you already extended it and this is your 6th year you can also extend for the 7th year because your labor cert has been pending over 365 days. I'm not an expert either but check on "interim guidance for the portability law".

Sylvia Ottemoeller

anita wrote:


    > My company has announced lay-offs this week and the office that I work in is
    > closing down. Some people have been asked to move to the HQ in a different city,
    > but I am not sure I am one of them. I have till Nov 2003 left on my H1-B, but my
    > employer had already started applied for Labor Certification process in July 2001.
    > Apparently the DOL is processing applications from Apr 2001 currently.
    > My Lawyer says that if they move my job to this HQ location, they will have to
    > reapply for Labor Certification and I'll have to go back and restart the process of
    > applying for Labor Certification. The problem is that considering that I have such
    > a short time left on my H1-B it may not come through in time for my H1-B expiry.


Are you aware that you have a total of 6 years in H-1B status available to you?

Is this correct ?


It is true that if you begin working in another location (that is not within
commuting distance of the previous location), and you will not go back to the old
location, the employer must submit a new application for labor certification.


    > Is there any other way I can keep my GC process going ?


There is no way to keep the original labor certification application going. It was
based on a labor market test for a certain geographic area.

Don't give up -- have the company file a new labor certification. Under certain
circumstances, the company can get your H-1B status extended beyond 6 years, one year
at a time, as long as the labor cert was filed at least one year before the
expiration of the 6 years of H-1B status.

Also, the new concurrent I-140/I-485 filing possibility may be able to help you. Be
sure you have a competent immigration attorney.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Mon, 12 Aug 2002 14:07:37 -0700, anita wrote:

    > Hello My company has announced lay-offs this week and the office that I work in is
    > closing down. Some people have been asked to move to the HQ in a different city,
    > but I am not sure I am one of them. I have till Nov 2003 left on my H1-B, but my
    > employer had already started applied for Labor Certification process in July 2001.
    > Apparently the DOL is processing applications from Apr 2001 currently.

Unfortunately, that's meaningless because they've been working on cases from April
for the last eight months or so. There was a huge surge in applications at that
point. My best guess is that they just now worked through the pile and would be
starting on May cases fairly soon, but it could also be another year. Who knows. For
you, that's moderately good news because it means that it may not matter too much to
abandon this LC.

    > My Lawyer says that if they move my job to this HQ location, they will have to
    > reapply for Labor Certification and I'll have to go back and restart the process of
    > applying for Labor Certification. The problem is that considering that I have such
    > a short time left on my H1-B it may not come through in time for my H1-B expiry. Is
    > this correct ? Is there any other way I can keep my GC process going ?

Generally, the lawyer is right. Incidentally, you'll probably also need a new H-1B
for the new location.

There are a few things you can do:

- ask your employer to file the new LC right now, or at least as soon as possible.
There is no need to wait until you are transferred.

- ask the employer to not abandon the old LC. Once the old one is approved, also ask
the employer to file an I-140 based on it. This is primarily a precaution. If a
quota backlog develops, having an approved I-140 based on the old LC will mean that
you will still be able to use the July 2001 priority date. Without that, you would
be stuck using the date whenever the new LC is filed.

- finally, if you can find an identical position in the old location, but with a new
employer, it MAY be possible to use your old LC with that new job. This rarely
works because jobs just aren't similar enough. You will need a very knowledgeable
attorney to pull this off, but it might be worth a try.

Ingo