who owns the greencard..you or your job?

[bermuda02]

just wondering,

If you have been sponsored by a hospital for a greencard and approved etc and then by some miracle retrogression gets to your priority date.....who owns the greencard if you have already worked at the hospital then had to leave because the visa you were on expired before the greencard became current. Is it yours and then you can work wherever or does it belong to the hospital and if they don't have work or whatever can deny you your greencard even though you already worked for them intially?

I would appreciate any responses.

[Daigorot]

just wondering,

If you have been sponsored by a hospital for a greencard and approved etc and then by some miracle retrogression gets to your priority date.....who owns the greencard if you have already worked at the hospital then had to leave because the visa you were on expired before the greencard became current. Is it yours and then you can work wherever or does it belong to the hospital and if they don't have work or whatever can deny you your greencard even though you already worked for them intially?

I would appreciate any responses.

Do you have your greencard with you? If you have the greencard then you can keep it because it's yours however if your application is still on going (due to retrogression) and you parted ways with your petitioner (your employer) then your case will be voided because you are not connected with your petitioner anymore.

It is best to consult your employer and an immigration lawyer with this situation. Good luck.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

The Green Card or Permanent Resident Card is yours once it is issued. You're the only one who will need to show up at the Immigration office to have your passport stamped as a Permanent Resident. The actual card will arrive in your home address a few months later. However, it is extremely important that you maintain contact (and a good relationship) with the institution that is signing your petition for a Green Card. The immigration service will ask for a statememt of support from this institution to ensure that they are indeed offering you a position in that institution.

[RNGrad2006]

There is such a thing as AC21 which makes your original employment portable to a new employer. The new employer takes over the initial petition while you are still waiting to obtain the green card due to the long retrogression process. There is some worry about the original petitioner reporting to USCIS to withdraw the I140 even though it is already approved but I was told this is unlikely to happen. But I would consult an attorney to make sure there are no glitches prior to changing employment as your previous employer may have an attorney that processed the original petititon but would not be able to help you with changing employment as that would be viewed as a conflict of interest since they represent the employer more than they represent you.