prodigy_max4
06-14-2019, 02:17 AM
Hi folks - just posting our story to show there is light at the end of the tunnel...even if it turns out to be very long and winding :)
Rough timeline:
- I had an EB-3 approved I-140 with priority date of October 2008 (India).
- My wife had an EB-2 approved I-140 with priority date of July 2009 (India).
- In 2012, we were able to apply for AOS and get EAD/APs under her application when the priority date for EB-2 India *briefly* moved past 2009 and before it retrogressed.
- From 2012 through 2018, we basically kept renewing our EAD/AP cards and refreshed medical RFEs for the pending AOS as needed. As well known in this forum, the EB-2 India priority date made very slooooooow progress over this period, especially in the last couple years.
- I moved to a different employer in 2018 and they applied for a new I-140 under EB-2 and got my original priority date ported over. I had not been able to switch from EB-3 to EB-2 at my previous employer..
- The new I-140 got approved earlier this year and the lawyers recommended applying for a new AOS under my own application, and also requesting USCIS to apply cross-chargeability on my wife's pending AOS. i.e.- I would become the primary applicant on my wife's pending AOS, she would become secondary and my October 2008 priority date could be applied to her application. Even though my own (new) AOS application would have eventually gotten approved since the priority date was current, it would have likely taken another 6-8+ months based on the mandatory interview requirement and getting this scheduled. So another benefit of using cross-chargeability on my wife's pending application was that because she had filed for AOS in 2012, there was no mandatory interview requirement.
- I had initially thought cross-chargeability was only an option when the applicants were of different nationalities, but that's apparently not the case. Our case is probably pretty niche though since it had: one pending application that had moved to the AOS phase but on hold due to retrogression and another application that involved EB3-to-EB2 porting with an earlier priority date than the first application.
- Either way, we have finally received the approval and card production notices for our GC applications concluding a process that started back in ~2008. I guess these days a wait time of 11 years is probably not that bad...
Good luck to you all as well :)
Rough timeline:
- I had an EB-3 approved I-140 with priority date of October 2008 (India).
- My wife had an EB-2 approved I-140 with priority date of July 2009 (India).
- In 2012, we were able to apply for AOS and get EAD/APs under her application when the priority date for EB-2 India *briefly* moved past 2009 and before it retrogressed.
- From 2012 through 2018, we basically kept renewing our EAD/AP cards and refreshed medical RFEs for the pending AOS as needed. As well known in this forum, the EB-2 India priority date made very slooooooow progress over this period, especially in the last couple years.
- I moved to a different employer in 2018 and they applied for a new I-140 under EB-2 and got my original priority date ported over. I had not been able to switch from EB-3 to EB-2 at my previous employer..
- The new I-140 got approved earlier this year and the lawyers recommended applying for a new AOS under my own application, and also requesting USCIS to apply cross-chargeability on my wife's pending AOS. i.e.- I would become the primary applicant on my wife's pending AOS, she would become secondary and my October 2008 priority date could be applied to her application. Even though my own (new) AOS application would have eventually gotten approved since the priority date was current, it would have likely taken another 6-8+ months based on the mandatory interview requirement and getting this scheduled. So another benefit of using cross-chargeability on my wife's pending application was that because she had filed for AOS in 2012, there was no mandatory interview requirement.
- I had initially thought cross-chargeability was only an option when the applicants were of different nationalities, but that's apparently not the case. Our case is probably pretty niche though since it had: one pending application that had moved to the AOS phase but on hold due to retrogression and another application that involved EB3-to-EB2 porting with an earlier priority date than the first application.
- Either way, we have finally received the approval and card production notices for our GC applications concluding a process that started back in ~2008. I guess these days a wait time of 11 years is probably not that bad...
Good luck to you all as well :)