Hi there, my company is trying to get a PERM approved for me and we are waiting on the prevailing wage certification from the DOL. We've been waiting now since early October. Normally this process takes about 2 months. Anyone know what the current waittime is on this, and if the DOL is affected by the government shutdown?

Thanks!

Sounds to me like your new EAD is on its way but the I131 has been denied. 

Hi Sailor1, sorry I am only seeing this now. This looks to me like a further RFE. What did you end up getting from them in the mail?

My notice was a NOID unless we can produce RFE. So basically an RFE. Our attorneys are working on that now with us. My NOID is on an I140 though, my I485 remains untouched until after a decision is made on the I140. 

Congrats! And this is a very helpful thread. I just got the same notice you did, my first contact from USCIS since my case was opened in March 2015. I am terrified that it's a NOID but we've never had an RFE and I'm hoping that they are just using that notice to request more info. Apparently that notice is being used a lot more these days. 

Hi all. Yesterday we received our first status change on our case since we sent our application in, receipt date March 2015. I received an email notifying me of the following:

Notice Explaining USCIS' Actions Was Mailed

On October 25, 2017, we began reviewing your Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker , Receipt Number SRCxxxxxxxxxx. We mailed you a notice informing you of the action we intend to take on your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice and submit any requested materials. If you do not receive your notice by November 8, 2017, please call Customer Service at 1-800-375-5283. If you move, go to www.uscis.gov/addresschange to give us your new mailing address.

So, finally an update. I would have preferred to receive a notice of "Case Was Approved" or "Request for Further Evidence Issued" but apparently they don't do RFE's very much anymore, this notice has replaced them. 

I kind of stopped opening inquiries etc because there was just no point. Every year our EADs get renewed, every year our drivers licenses get renewed... I gave up waiting and watching. So this email was out of the blue. I don't know what this could mean. But both my employer and I are on high alert, waiting for this letter to see what it says. 

Anyone receive a notice like this followed by a decision? (Hoping to hear lots of positive stories!) 

@Prospect, sorry to read this post, must be as frustrating as ...... fingers crossed you get a lucky break soon and some movement.

Thank you! I appreciate that. Yes it is beyond frustrating at this point. We can't plan ahead for anything - buying a home, even high schools for our kids, and we are getting close to that point. The knock on effect impacts every aspect of our day to day lives. It's really hard to see beyond this. We could use a break now, for sure!

Try posting on britishexpats.com

I will! Thank you!

You are EB1C and, as I mentioned above, this category is expected to be under extended review. Indian EB2/EB3 are filing in this category to overcome the backlog. These forums seem more concentrated on I-130's than I-140's. But see if you can answer these:

1) Is Ireland...

a) ... both, the country of your citizenship and birth?

b) ... country of your only citizenship?

​c) ... country of changeability and not your citizenship?

2) If you didn't answer YES to 1a...

a) Roots in India?

b) Roots in Pakistan?

The "extended review" seems to me to have a lot to do with the above.

Thank you Randomstairs - Ireland is my only country of citizenship, and my country of birth. I have never lived anywhere else and my parents and family are all Irish. We don't have any other connections with any other country.

I know people on a L and have adjusted but always has been something the Employer/Lawyer has dealt with. As was mentioned earlier a competent lawyer would exam the totality of the case, may be more than one option.

Now the Lawyer's responsibility is to the Employer, not you, this can be an issue.

Thank you Boiler. We are going to meet with a new immigration lawyer to get a fresh opinion on things and will update after that. I appreciate the answers. So many people on these forums but my case seems to be quite different and so far I haven't come across anyone who is waiting like this in recent times.

Seems that the issue may be in the strategy being used and the competency of the Employers Lawyer.

We are referring to another immigration attorney and I should hear back on that by end of this week. So a new legal opinion will be most welcome.

What do you mean by strategy being used, can you elaborate on this? I appreciate any advice or information! Other than opening case enquiries I just don't know what else my employer can do - there doesn't appear to be another way to break through the wall? We've tried both calling and online enquiries. The last phonecall was transferred to a Tier 2 officer and I was most hopeful that finally something was being done. But, the response came back with the exact same wording:

“We have received your service request and researched the status of your case. Our system indicates that your case is currently under extended review and this has caused a delay in processing time. We do not require any actions from you at this time.”

In March my husband and I will apply to renew our EAD's (I765s), again. Right now we are good to work through June 2017. We will renew in the spring to extend for another year. Drivers licenses etc will all expire next summer but when we have the new EAD's we will get those renewed too. I just never thought we would ever be waiting this long or that renewing again could be a possibility.

TSC are showing a 4 month processing time for my visa type on the USCIS website. I read on another forum of someone who had to wait 4 years for I140 approval and it transpired their file was in a storage unit in TSC, untouched. Like me, this person was opening case enquiries periodically and getting same response as I am. Then suddenly one day, without so much as an RFE, his I140 was approved, after 4 years pending! How can this happen? I would welcome an RFE at this point, because it would show that someone actually looked at my case.

Texas Service Center show my application type as running at 4 months processing time. Which is laughable, considering my application was received on March 30th 2015 (yes, 2015!!!) and as of today we still have not had so much as an RFE since the initial receipt was mailed to us!

8 case enquiries later and we are still stuck at the same stage as we were on March 30th 2015. Processing times mean nothing I'm afraid.

Why don't you upgrade to premium processing and get a decision within 15 days?

We've been advised that USCIS that will not make any difference, the case is now stuck at extended review status and upgrading to premium processing would not change that. We've been told that on least two separate occasions by USCIS unfortunately.

October 4th and still no word. Nothing. No change of any kind.

Updating to say that there is still no change. I140 still stuck at "Case received" after 18 months and after 7 service requests (5 at Tier 1, 2 at Tier 2) we are still being told the case is under extended review. Seems to be the case is permanently stuck at extended review and there is nothing more we can do to escalate it / expedite it.

My personal fear is that my application has been lost. The Tier 2 officer yesterday assured us this was not the case but how else can we explain the complete lack of movement? No RFE's. no nothing. Just everytime "Your case is under extended review and we do not require any further action from you at this time".

The Texas Service Center is currently processing my category of visa in 4 months. I've been waiting 18.

Attorney advising not to contact senators but I don't think we have a choice? Any thoughts on this?

My I140 case is pending now since March 30th 2015. Yes, that's right, 2015. So even though the Texas Service Center processing time for my category indicates 4 months, my own case has not changed from Case has been Received in almost 18 months.

To date, we have launched 7 service requests - 5 at Tier 1 level and 2 at Tier 2 level. Every single one has come back to say "Case is under extended review". They can tell us nothing else about the status of the case. No RFE's, no appointments, nothing.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty desperate. My I485 filed concurrently is also stuck at NOA status, as in they have received it. Case enquiries on that one come back saying "extended review" as well. Our medicals have all expired. When they finally look at our application those will all have to be done again.

Spoke with a Tier 2 officer yesterday who confirmed that there is nothing more I can do. Other than open case enquiries.

Counting days now until I can open another case enquiry. Which won't do anything but at least I will keep trying....

Where is your company's immigration lawyer in all of this?

Not particularly helpful I'm afraid. Advising us to be patient. Which I respect, but also feel that's easier said than done. I feel like our lives are on hold until this gets resolved, very hard to plan ahead and we are in a limbo. I guess I could ask if we could talk to another attorney.

The immigration lawyer we have worked with to prepare our applications is not employed with us, we are not big enough to have someone working on this full time. The arrangement was on a consultancy basis only.

Thank you Teeak! I think it is time to go down that route for sure. The case enquiries are going nowhere.

Was also thinking about setting up an Infopass appointment. But is that just a glorified case enquiry? Don't want to drag my boss and I all the way down to San Francisco for an appointment if it's not going to do anything more than open a new case enquiry which I already know can be done over the phone.

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice as to what I can do next. My situation - L1 visa holder, my company applied for I140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (multinational exec level) for me in March 2015. We also filed I485 applications to file them concurrently, for myself and my spouse and 2 x Irish born dependant children (L2 holders).

I140 Application Timeline:

March 30^th2015 – Case received in Texas Service Center (TSC)

Case enquiries / service requests:

January 20^th 2016 - Under extended review. Enquiry closed. +296 days

March 18^th 2016 – Not applicant so no info given (we used my name instead of my bosses, our mistake). Enquiry closed. +354 days.

April 22^nd 2016 – Under extended review. Enquiry closed. +389 days.

May 26^th 2016 – Under extended review. Enquiry closed. +423 days.

June 16^th 2016 – Request for expedition refused. Request closed. +444 days.

July 14^th 2016 – Under extended review. Enquiry closed. +472 days.

The processing times for my type of case are running at just a few months. Every time we call, the representative expresses huge shock at the fact that we are waiting so long without so much as an RFE to show that the case is actively being looked at. They open a new enquiry and several days later, I receive a notice indicating that "We have received your service request and researched the status of your case. Our system indicates that your case is currently under extended review and this has caused a delay in processing time. We do not require any actions from you at this time."

What can I do at this point? I feel like we are going around in circles. My colleague's file, exact same situation, went to Nebraska at same time and she has had a green card since March of this year, a one year turn around. I can't even get past the I140 barrier. Our I485 applications must be out of date now, our medicals are more than 18 months old, we did Biometrics back in April 2015.

Our EAD's have been renewed in June and are valid through June 2017 so we are both legally working away, thank goodness. Drivers licenses all good through July 2017. We recently changed the addresses on our I485 applications as we moved house. We've had another child since moving here, but she does not require any paperwork.

I feel that my case has been forgotten about / put aside and I don't know how to go about triggering an action on it - obviously case enquiries do not make any difference. Yet someone is opening it, deciding it's under "extended review" and closing my enquiry without any other action. Someone updated all our addresses on our I485's. Someone issued us with new EAD's. So why is the I140 stuck and not moving? No RFE. No change in status since "Your Case Was Received".

Thanks in advance for any insight / advice.