8/1/2007

There are a large number of people who have stayed in the U.S. for a long period of time with some previous efforts to complete the labor certification process or I-140 or EB-485 but because of the changes in the employment, who became ineligible for the 7th-year H-1B extension since the one-year increment 7th-year H-1B extension beyond the six-year limit requires that the labor certification or I-140 or I-485 has been pending 365 days or longer before the alien reaches the 6th year limit. 

For these workers, the only means to extend the H-1B status beyond six year limit was the three-year increment H-1B extension opportunity under AC 21 Act when the alien has obtained "approval" of I-140 petition and the visa number was not available for him/her at the time of filing such H-1B extension. In August and September 2007, visa numbers will not be available and the visa numbers for the coming years appears to be not too promising. 

Accordingly, most of these people may not have an opportunity to file I-485 applications for a long time and need the continuing extension of H-1B petition at least until they file I-485 applications. For the reason, people used the I-140 Premium Processing in the past to survive and continue the immigration journey. 

The longer the suspension of I-140 Premium Processing lasts, the riskier these workers will face because of their inability to maintain a non-immigration status through the H-1B extension beyond the six-year limit.