Once the application for labor certification is approved, the employer has to file a Petition For Immigrant Worker (Form I-140) ) with the INS Regional Service Center which has jurisdiction over the place of employment. In order to apply for I-140 in US, the applicant must have legal non-immigrant status. Otherwise applicant needs to go to his/her home country to apply for immigrant petition and most employers won't wait until the I-140 and Adjustment of Status(AOS, I-485) is approved.

Download fillable(type in) I-140 form.

If the application is labor certificate based, the priority date is the SESA first received the applicant. If the application is not labor certificate based(labor certificate is not required for some employment based categories), the priority date is date when INS receives I-140 application.

Visa category such as EB2, EB3 also has to be mentioned in this form. See instructions on this web site for the various employment based visa categories.

Filing fee for I-140 is $115 at present and payable to INS regional service center(such as INS-VSC) and it is payable by check/money order etc.

Sponsoring employer must be able to demonstrate that the company is capable of paying the salary advertised for the job. For that, employer would have to submit audited financial statement(For company with more than 100 employers, a statement from CFO(Chief Financial Officer) will do.) Employer also must submit a corporate income tax return.

The employer has to show that the beneficiary really meets the job requirements(education, job experience etc.) for which this petition is being filed. For that you have to submit degree certificates, job experience letters from your former employers on their business stationary. The experience letters don't necessarily have to be from your former bosses. Even your colleagues who know about your experience can write those letters. If your colleagues have moved to different jobs at present, they can use the business stationary of their current employer.Letters from HR department merely stating the duration of employment won't do.) Any other documents which would prove the credentials/qualifications for the job also should be submitted. Any document not in English must be translated into English. Foreign degree holders may have to get their degree evaluated with the approved degree evaluators.

Getting I-140 approved does not change the applicant's non-immigrant status. Applicant is still on the same non-immigrant status before I-140 was approved.

An I-140 petition approval is entirely contingent upon the employee remaining in the same job. If the job changes, then a new I-140 is required. This is true whether the I-140 is sponsored or self petitioned, though in the case of a self-petitioned I-140, a new job that is substantially similar would continue the validity of the petition.