本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Overview: TN -> PERM -> I-140 -> I-485+EAD+AP -> GC ->
US Citizen
1) File PERM. Keep renewing your TN as you normally
would. You can continue to travel and work using your
TN.

PERM -> I-140

2) After the PERM gets approved, file your I-140. Do
not file your I-485 concurrently. (Only avoid
concurrent application if you are unsure of your I-140
getting approved easily. See below on my opinion this
point). Renew your TN via mail if necessary (not at
the POE/PFI). The reason for this is that some less
experienced officers at the POE/PFI may incorrectly
deny you entry in TN status when you attempt to renew
and they see that you have a pending I-140, so to
avoid this error, renew by mail at this point. You can
continue to travel and work using your TN.

3) After your I-140 is approved, and your priority
date is current, verify that you have at least 6
months left on your TN. If so, proceed to step 4. If
not, apply for a new TN now. If your priority date is
not current, keep renewing your TN until your priority
date becomes current. Once it is current, make sure
you have 6 months left on your TN and proceed to step
4.

PERM -> I-140 -> I-485+EAD+AP

4) Check the priority dates for your employment-based
category on the Department of State website. The
priority date (PD) for your I-485 is the filing date
of your Labor Certification, and this will determine
if you can file your I-485 today or not. The country
of chargeability is determined by your birth country,
regardless of any other citizenships you may have
received via naturalization. Once your I-140 is
approved, and your priority date is current, and you
have a TN that is good for at least 6 months apply for
your I-485. Apply for your Employment Authorization
Document (EAD), and your Advance Parole (AP) at the
same time. Your TD dependants should also apply for
their I-485, EAD and AP now. For your EAD use form
I-765, and AP use form I-131. You would also need to
file an affidavit of support (form I-134) for each of
your dependants.

5) Do not leave the United States between step 4 and
step 7. You can continue work using your TN, but you
cannot travel using your TN. Never apply for a new TN
ever again. If you leave between steps 4 and 7, your
I-485 will be considered abandoned, and you won't be
eligible for a new TN. Basically if you leave, you
can't come back, unless you get some other kind of
visa, (H1, L1, etc) and you'll have to re-file your
I-485. Bad...bad...bad…

6) If your EAD does not arrive within 90 days after
the application was filed, schedule an appointment at
the local office using InfoPass and apply for an
interim EAD. (this is why you needed to have at least
6 months left on your TN as mentioned in step 3.) I
say 6 months, because the 90 days starts ticking after
USCIS "receives" your EAD application. If it takes
them a while to get it into their system that may be a
delay. It may take a few weeks for your InfoPass
appointment, even after you schedule it, depending on
availability, plus, once you go get the Interim EAD,
you may not be issued it on the spot, as they may want
to do some background checks first. There may be an
additional delay of a week or so before you actually
get it. So although you can "apply" for an I-EAD in 90
days, its better to leave a buffer of a few months on
your TN in step 3. Otherwise if your TN expires, and
you don’t have a valid EAD in your hand yet, then you
must take a leave of absence from work and ensure that
this leave is well documented.

7) Once your Advance Parole is approved, you can
travel abroad. If you travel using your Advance
Parole, upon re-entry to the US, you will be in I-485
pending status, not in TN status. Upon using your AP,
your TN status will be voided, and you'll have to
provide your EAD to your employer to update the I-9.
If you are traveling with your dependants, they will
also need an AP (as mentioned in step 4). As an aside
note, the law states that you must have a valid
Advance Parole before departure from the United
States, not upon re-entry into the United States, so
don’t forget to allow time for approval before your
trip, to ensure the AP is in your hand, otherwise your
I-485 will be considered abandoned, and since you’ve
shown immigrant intent by filing an I-485, you’re no
longer eligible for anther TN, so don’t allow this to
happen.

8) Once your EAD is approved, you can find a second
job if you so wish. In fact if your I-485 has been
pending for more than 6 months, and you have an
approved I-140, then you can invoke AC-21, and leave
your sponsoring company for different job that matches
the description in your PERM application. Upon using
your EAD, your TN is voided. All of your employers
would need a new I-9 with your EAD on it, and you
would be in I-485 pending status, not in TN status. If
you voided your TN, you will need to use your Advance
Parole when you travel for re-entering the US. On the
same token your dependants can also use their own
respective EAD to find jobs if your TN is voided. A
privilege they were not entitled to under their TD
status. If your dependants only have an ITIN number,
then now they can get Social Security cards. Be
cognizant that by voiding your TN status, you are also
voiding your dependants’ TD status, so if they need to
travel, they will need their own respective Advance
Paroles at this point, as suggested in step 4.

9) If you don't travel in step 7, and you don't get a
second job, or switch jobs in step 8, then you'll be
in TN status until your TN expires at which point
you'll be in I-485 pending status. You should notify
your employer and file a new I-9 with your EAD
information. In any case, once you are in I-485
pending status due to any of the steps outlined above,
then your TD dependants are by default in I-485
pending status, and they would also need an AP for
traveling at that point.

10) Keep renewing your EAD every year at least 4-6
months before it expires so that you can take
advantage of step 6 if necessary. Make sure it doesn’t
expire since although you'd still be in a legal status
of I-485 pending, you would not be able to work until
the new EAD arrives in the mail, and if you don’t
possess a valid EAD, then you’ll need to take a leave
of absence as mentioned in step 6. If your travel
patterns are unpredictable, make sure that you keep
renewing your AP at least 3-4 months before it expires
as well. There is no such thing as an interim Advance
Parole, so if you suddenly have to travel out of the
United States and you don’t have a current Advance
Parole, then you’ll have to delay your trip until you
get your Advance Parole in your hand.

11) Sometime between steps 4 and 13, you will
undoubtedly be instructed to go to the local office or
an application support center (ASC) to get your
fingerprints done. Fingerprints are only valid for 15
months, as the FBI needs to revalidate them. If they
“expire” before step 14, you’ll be instructed to go
get your fingerprints again. There is no way to
systematically gauge how much longer you need to wait
for your file to be adjudicated after you did your
fingerprints, so don’t try to guess at this point. In
addition, the USCIS will issue an FBI name check,
without any involvement or knowledge of the event on
your part, to be completed prior to your I-485 being
adjudicated. This is a separate process from the
fingerprints, and can happen before or after you had
your fingerprints done. Fingerprint results generally
are available in a day or two, and you can check with
the FBI to verify that they sent the response back to
USCIS. A name check however can take a few months.
Some unlucky individuals can get stuck in this process
for a year or more. You can verify the status of your
“name check” by emailing the FBI. If they confirm that
they have sent the results back to the USCIS, and your
case has been pending for an inordinate amount of
time, but when asked, the USCIS denies ever having
received them, then you should contact a congressman,
to help move this through the wonderfully bureaucratic
system. This situation often happens to people from
special registration countries, but can unfortunately
affect others as well.

12) As you are anxiously awaiting your case to get
approved, you might be surprised to get a Request for
Evidence (RFE) asking you to provide updated
documentation or even possibly missing information
that may or may not have been initially requested in
the original application. An RFE is not necessarily a
bad thing, if you have the documentation to provide.
Make sure you send back your reply ASAP, since if the
evidence is not received in a timely fashion, your
case will get denied. 13) In the rare instance that
your I-485 gets denied you would be out of status
immediately, and so will your dependants. At this
point your EAD and AP are also invalid, and you should
stop working, and cancel any trips abroad. You would
need to apply for a motion to reopen as soon as
possible. Once your MTR is accepted, you can work
using your EAD again. (This situation is very very
rare, so don’t worry about this one, and this is not
at all specific to TN cases, since the same situation
happen if your H1b had expired, never to be extended
afterwards, and your I-485 were to get denied).

PERM -> I-140 -> I-485+EAD+AP -> GC

14) Eventually your I-485 will get approved, either
directly from the service center, or if you’re one of
the rare few, you might get an interview like me at
the local office. It might be a long wait, so be ready
to be patient. If you had your biometrics (photo,
digital signature and index finger print) taken at the
same time that you had your fingerprints taken in step
11 then your card should arrive in the mail within a
matter of weeks or months. If you didn’t get your
biometrics done, then you would get a letter telling
you to go to the local office and bring a passport
photo to get your temporary I-551 stamp in you
passport, at which time they would take your
biometrics. If you got scheduled for an interview at
the local office, and all goes well and you’ll get
your approval right then and there. If you’re not
approved on the spot then the officer probably wants
to see some additional info and you may need to return
or fax it to the officer. The adjudicating officer
will order your card to be made for you at that time
also. Your status will change from I-485 pending to
permanent resident status. You might get an I-181
Welcome Notice, welcoming you into the United States
as a permanent resident. For some random reason not
everyone gets the welcome letter, but its not
required. If you or your dependants have a social
security card that says "VALID ONLY WITH WORK
AUTHORIZATION" then you might want to consider getting
an updated card, to reduce confusion from any future
employers. If your card does not say this, then there
is no need to update it. Either way, your SS number
will remain the same. Congrats! You've completed the
process!

15) If your card shows up with errors, you’ll have to
file an I-90 to correct it. It should be free of
charge if your I-485 application has the correct
information, and the error is by fault of USCIS.

16) If your card never shows up, and a year has
elapsed since your I-485 was approved, then you’ll
need to file a G-731 to find out what ever happened to
the card. Also you should get another I-551 passport
stamp in the interim.

17) Once you have a green card, or a I-551 passport
stamp, do not leave the US for more than 12 months at
a time without first getting a reentry permit by
filing an N-470. This will allow you to be out of the
US for up to 2 years without losing your green card.
If you leave without filing an N-470 then your only
chance to get back is to apply for an SB-1 at the
local US consulate. An SB-1 is risky since you will
need to prove that your extended leave was not
intentional. Note that if you leave for more than 6
months, but less than 12, you don’t need a reentry
permit, but this will disrupt your continuous stay
requirement for the purposes of citizenship as
mentioned in step 19 below.

18) If you lose your card, you’ll need to file an I-90
to get a replacement. Beware that they are VERY
expensive, unlike a driver’s license, so try not to
lose it, and you can’t leave the US without one,
unless you get another temporary I-551 stamp.

PERM -> I-140 -> I-485+EAD+AP -> GC -> US Citizen

19) Fifty-Seven months after your I-485 approval date,
you can mail the application for US citizenship by
filing an N-400 if you were present in the US for a
total of 30 months within the last 5 years, without
any trips abroad longer than 6 months. Remember to
keep track of all your travel dates when you left and
entered the US, and also all your employment start and
end dates. You’ll need this for the N-400. You can
keep an other citizenship(s) when you get your US
citizenship, if those countries allow you to have
multiple citizenships. Canada for example allows you
to have both, so you would be a dual citizen in this
case.

Notes on NOT filing concurrently in Step 2:

If your I-140 is clear cut and straight forward, then
ignore the following. My I-140 was "on the edge", so
the following advice is what I would recommend for
anyone in my situation. This point is moot these days
for many people these days with the retrogression of
priority dates, but its still something to consider
for people applying with a current priority date.

An I-140 is filed by your company, not YOU so simply
filing an I-140 does not show clear immigrant intent,
since it’s the company filing in your name. There was
a USCIS memo that was issued that clarified that
simply filing an I-140 does NOT show immigrant intent.
The company "could" file it without your consent, so
therefore it’s not your fault that "they" want you to
immigrate, eventually. It doesn’t necessarily mean you
want to immigrate. By filing an I-485 you are clearly
expressing YOUR choice to immigrate, not anyone
else's, YOU are the one that consciously made the
decision to immigrate by filing an I-485, and that is
clear immigrant intent.

By filing an I-485, you show clear immigrant intent.
For this reason, once you've applied for an I-485 you
are no longer eligible for a new TN, since to qualify
for a new TN, you cannot have dual intent. Dual intent
is defined by having shown the intentions of wanting
to switch to a permanent status (i.e. Green Card),
while still in a temporary status (i.e. TN, H1b, L1,
F1, B1, etc). Only H1, and L1 visas explicitly allow
for dual intent, and so people can extend their H1 and
L1 visas while their I-485 is pending. TN, F1, and B1
statuses do not afford you the right you to extend
your status while your I-485 is pending. People in
statuses other than H1 and L1 that have a pending
I-485 must use an EAD to work once their status is
expired, or gets voided by leaving the country, since
statuses like TN do not allow you to renew once you’ve
applied for an I-485.

If you file the I-485 and the I-140 concurrently, and
the I-140 is DENIED for any reason, then once your TN
has expired, you are out of status, and you are no
longer eligible for a new TN because you've shown
immigrant intent. You can call it game over, and pack
up and go back to Canada. Although a good lawyer
should help to ensure that an I-140 does not get
denied, lost mail, disorganized USCIS practices, and
unskilled adjudication officers are just a few reasons
that are out of your control as to why your I-140 may
inadvertently get denied.

On the other hand, if all you filed is your I-140, and
it gets denied, you can still apply for a new TN, and
re-file the I-140. Life goes on, and you learn from
the mistakes you made on the I-140, and you try again.


Also, if you filed concurrently and the I-140 gets an
RFE (Request for Evidence), and then I-485 can be put
on "hold". With the I-485 on hold, this may cause a
delay in getting the EAD, and AP.. If the TN expires
during this time, you would not be able to work, since
you would not have an EAD yet. Examples of this is the
ability to pay RFE's for smaller companies, or
education issues for EB2 cases. These are common RFE’s
that are predicable, yet unavoidable in some cases,
even with a great lawyer. The delay due to this RFE on
the other hand is unpredictable, and this is where the
issues arise.

Next, you could get your not-yet-approved I-140
inadvertently transferred to a local office, because
the service center wanted to give you an interview for
your concurrently filed I-485, not realizing that the
you have a pending I-140. Although a local office does
have the capability to adjudicate an I-140, in
general, they will claim it is the responsibility of
the service center, and will not even touch the case.
If you were on a TN in this scenario, you would be
caught in the loop of trying to get your I-140 back to
the service center, all the while your EAD may not get
approved before your TN expires because nobody at
USCIS wants to admit to having your file. Again, bad
luck due to USCIS error, and its out of your control.
The risk is too high to take the chance.

The safe route in a TN scenario is NOT to file
concurrently. I still highly recommend this to all TN
holders reading this trying to adjust status (if your
priority date is even current in the first place).
Otherwise you may have to take a leave of absence for
an unforeseeable amount of time, or the worst case is
(as originally stated in less frequent cases these
days) you might be out of status, without the option
to renew your TN.

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms:

AC-21: The American Competitiveness in the
Twenty-first Century Act
AP: Advance Parole
AR-11: Alien's Change of Address Form
ASC: Application Support Center
CSC: California Service Center
EB: Employment-Based Immigration Category
EAD: Employment Authorization Document
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
GC: Green Card
G-731: Inquiry About Status of I-551, Alien
Registration Card
I-131: Application for Travel Document
I-140: Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker
I-485: Application To Register Permanent Residence or
Adjust Status
I-551: Green Card
I-765: Application for Employment Authorization
I-90: Application to Replace Permanent Residence Card
I-9: Employment Eligibility Verification
InfoPass: USCIS appointment system i-EAD: Interim EAD
KCC: Kentucky Consular Center
LC: Labor Certification
MSC: Missouri National Benefits Center
MTR: Motion to Reopen
NCSC: National Customer Service Center
NSC: Nebraska Service Center
N-400: Application for Naturalization
N-470: Application to Preserve Residence for
Naturalization Purposes
PD: Priority Date
PERM Processing: Program Electronic Review Management
PFI: Pre-Flight Inspection
POE: Point of Entry
RFE: Request for Evidence
SB-1: Returning Resident Alien
SS: Social Security
TSC: Texas Service Center
TD: NAFTA Professional Dependant visa
TN: NAFTA Professional visa
USCIS: United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services
VSC: Vermont Service Center更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net