I was working in the US on an H-1B, with a company who had filed an I-140 for me.
The company was acquired in 2017 and my role was restructured out. My H-1B expiry date was in August 2017 so I elected to return to New Zealand with my NZ fianc (now wife).
Fast-forward to now, we want to return to the US to be near family. I ve filed an I-130 and tracked down the immigration attorney that filed the I-140 to check the status in case it came up, assuming it was abandoned when the company was acquired/I was made redundant.
Surprisingly, their reply was that the I-140 was filed by the acquiring company, and was approved in Feb 2018 (6 months after redundancy and leaving the US) but that I never filed the I-485 (makes sense). I didn t get any notification about the approval, I assume it was sent to my old work email (that s on me).
I have two questions:
1. Is that I-140 approval likely to have any impact on my current I-130 application.
2. Is there any chance that I-140 approval might still be able to be used if I file the I-485 for it? I m guessing the answer is an obvious no after 5 years in New Zealand, but can t hurt to ask. I m not employed by that company any more, but saw various things about if the I-140 hadn t been withdrawn by the company after 180 days there were some special cases.
Thanks for any help!