One Step Processing is Back

by Samuel G. McTyre Wednesday, August 07, 2002

An BCIS (a.k.a. INS) interim rule permits the adjustment of status application to be filed at the same time as the immigrant visa in employment based cases.

At the end of July the Service announced that the Service Centers would begin processing immigrant petitions jointly with the corresponding adjustment of status applications. The process which was once known as one step processing was abandoned by the district offices in the mid-nineties, in favor of Service Center processing of the adjustment of status application only after the immigrant petition had been approved.

The separate adjudication of the immigrant petition and the adjustment of status application was probably one of the more wasteful and inefficient procedures ever undertaken by the BCIS (a.k.a. INS). The return of one step processing begs the question, what took them so long?

The new procedure is authorized through an interim rule that allows the application for permanent residence (I-485) and the visa petition (I-140) to be filed concurrently when a visa is immediately available. Those whose visa petitions were filed separately and were pending on July 31, 2002, may benefit from this interim rule by filing and adjustment of status application with a copy of the visa petition receipt notice on form I-797.

As with the past procedure, upon filing the I-485 an applicant may also file for permission to travel (advance parole) and work (employment authorization) while the application is pending. The interim rule, however, does not cover employment based cases in the EB-4 special immigrants and religious workers and EB-5 the million dollar investors classifications.

The interim rule was especially welcome news for many undocumented aliens who despite qualifying for permanent residence under Section 245(i) last year, have been forced out of their jobs for not having a social security account number. Many of these foreign workers were facing lengthy periods of idleness because they could only apply for work authorization until their immigrant petitions were approved and an adjustment of status application was filed.

The new procedure merely combines the petition and application process. All supporting documentation required for each will still be required and all the filing fees other wise required for filing each are still required to be filed.

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