EB-1A Reapproval 20 Years Later

• Getting an EB-1A reapproved is often seen as difficult, which is why many individuals give up on it
• Prior approval was in 2000, 20 years ago
• Trying to show how outstanding he is now compared to 20 years ago
• Normal green card waiting process takes around 5 years

BACKGROUND

The process of getting a green card for even the most qualified candidates can be long and stressful, but for most people the benefits of getting a green card outweigh the negatives. However, our client Mr. Chang was in a very unique situation. His wife and child were going to go from China to the United States within the year in order to get an education. Mr. Chang wanted to come with them, but he had already been through the green card process in the past, and he knew that it was likely to take so long and be so costly that he’d just end up losing a bunch of money and wouldn’t likely receive his green card before his wife and child were ready to go back to China. While he was discouraged, Mr. Chang decided to come to our firm for answers.

His initial thought process was that he would attempt to come to the U.S. on a different type of visa. He wanted to be able to work and earn an income to support his family, so that limited his options. When he gave us his paperwork to review, we noticed that he had actually gone through an immigration process in the distant past. Way back in the 2000, Mr. Chang had successfully secured an EB-1A extraordinary ability green card visa. Even though he had been successful in securing the visa in the past, he never actually came to the U.S., he had never used the visa and thus was still required to go through the process again. However, this is where our firm was able to help where most firms would have shrugged their shoulders.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

“Because our attorneys are so well versed in immigration issues, this tiny detail that would have slipped past many other offices was something that we were able to recognize and use to Mr. Chang’s advantage. Instead of taking a lesser visa or giving up entirely, he instead got the visa he deserved, as fast as possible, and he got to come to the U.S. with his family.” Shiloh, Paralegal

The United States government only gives out a limited amount of each visa type per year, and they schedule out the distributions of that yearly total throughout the year. This is why, even if you are qualified for whatever visa you wish to apply for and you get approved for the visa, sometimes you have to wait an extraordinary amount of time. Where you’re from can also affect how quickly you receive a visa. However, the U.S. Government also has policies in place to justify immediate action, if your case was filed before a certain date, which the government calls a priority date. If your case was submitted in full before a certain date, immigration officers then have the authority to give your case priority, to make sure your case is handled in a timely manner. These dates are always moving, but United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) always releases a bulletin to keep everyone in the know as to what the current dates are.

At the time we handled his case, the priority date for a Chinese mainlander filing for an EB-1A visa was November 1, 2016. A poor attorney would not have realized that Mr. Chang was a possible candidate for priority in the immigration system, they might not even know about priority dates. A professional attorney would know of the priority date, but would have opened a brand new case for Mr. Chang in 2018, making his filing date beyond the priority date. However, because our firm specializes in immigration and our leading attorney, Joseph Tsang, knows the ins and outs of USCIS regulations, we knew that USCIS has a regulation in place that would allow for Mr. Change to use his 2000 case as his date, putting him well ahead of the 2016 November 1^st priority date. In order to do that, we put a note in the cover letter of Mr. Chang’s case indicating he wished to keep his year 2000 date as his official date of submission.

OUTCOME

We gathered Mr. Chang’s documentation and provided our strong brand of argumentation to go with it, while also allowing him to keep his 2000 case as his official date of record. Because we did so, Mr. Chang’s case was prioritized by USCIS. He was in disbelief that we were able to get his case approved so quickly and efficiently. Mr. Chang was also grateful that this firm did not give up on his case like he had. Because of them, he was able to come to the United States with his family.

*Name has been changed for client privacy.