Using your old priority date on a new employment-based petition

If you were ever petitioned by an employer, and your employer’s I-140 petition was approved, it is possible to transfer or use that old priority date on a newly filed case. It does not matter that the jobs are different, or the petitions were filed by different employers. This could be a tremendous benefit for people, because if the priority date on the first petition is current, and you are still waiting for the priority date on your later-filed petition to be current, you could be eligible for a green card now!

In fact, my office just recently obtained a green card for a nurse, who was petitioned in 2008, even though green cards are now available for workers with 2005 priority dates. In that case, “Cherry” had originally been petitioned years ago as a CNA. After the petition was approved, the case did not push through, and Cherry thought the case was dead. 

Many years later, in 2008, Cherry was petitioned by a different employer as a nurse. She consulted with me, because she desperately wanted to go home to visit her parents, but was frustrated because she thought she would have to wait three or more years before she would be eligible to file for adjustment of status for her green card. 

We were able to transfer (or use) her original priority date (which was already “current”) for her 2008 petition, and in no time she received her work permit, and soon she received her green card in the mail. You can imagine how happy she was, after thinking that she would still have many more years to wait. 

If you were petitioned for a green card by an employer long ago, maybe you should consider if you may also be eligible to transfer the old priority date. It does not even need to be the same type of job or the same employer. For example, you might have been originally petitioned as a caregiver, and are now under petition as a mechanic, accountant, nurse, etc. 

However, I want to make clear the following:

— Both jobs must have been real and legitimate. The first job should not have been “fake”, or filed by a consultant, but there was no real job.

— The first case should not have been revoked or denied.

— While it is possible to transfer priority dates for employment petitions, it is not possible to do so for family petitions (i.e. your sister petitioned you in 1995, and you now want to transfer that priority date to a petition by your parent or spouse. You cannot transfer priority dates in family petitions). 

   However, you can see that if you meet the requirements, using your old employment-based priority date could save you years of waiting for your green card. 

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