I-140 wait times.

[blacksunrise]

Hi Suzanne,

Have you any idea of the current wait times for I-140 approval? My application was submitted in May 2005 and I am still waiting. I am a UK Registered Nurse currently living in the UK. How long after I-140 will it take to be issued with a Green Card. I dont fully understand priority dates, it just says current when I checked out the June 2006 visa bulletin. No one has really explained the process to me in simple terms. Am I right to assume that I-140 is just a precurser to the actual Green Card application? Please help shine some light on all this confusion.

Thanks

Gill

[Ethan_mike]

Current wait times for I-140 approval are available at the Nebraska Service Center (The only US Visa Center accepting I-140's). Just got to https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp

And yes and I-140 is only a precursor to a green card. There are a number of steps you go through to get a green card depending on which method you use...Consular Processing (packets 1 to 4) or (if you're physically already in the US holding a nonimmigrant visa), Adjustment of status (I-485,1-765,G28,etc..)

It says current there on the June '06 visa bulletin because there are a few Schedule A visas left (of the original 50,000 recaptured numbers released last year). These are predicted to run out by the last quarter of this year. (Normally, nurses fell under the category E3 visa, which has a 5 year backlog. The same category we're going back to when those 50K visas run out....I hope US CONGRESS grants an annual visa allotment category for nurses alone in that new law theyre still ironing out...

Hope this helps