This site summarizes my Green Card process under the Employment-based, the second preference, National Interest Waiver (EB2-NIW) category in 2022-2024. The major contents include my profile, cost, the actual myUSCIS case history, timeline, and summary. Please be reminded that this process was done in 2022-2024 and things can change in the future.
Nationality: Japan
Education: Received Bachelor's degree and Master's degree from Japanese universities, and Ph.D. degree from a US university.
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Occupation: Engineer in the major-related field at a US company
Visa status when applied: Switched from F1-STEM-OPT to H1B during the process
Total citation: 600+ when requested the Free Evaluation and ~700 when submitted the documents to USCIS
Papers: A few 1st-authored journal papers and a few 1st-authored conference papers, for the representative journals and conferences in my field, respectively. The total number of journal papers and conference papers is 20+ including co-authored papers
Review experience: 12 journal papers
Awards: There are several awards but none of them were considered as significant by my attorney. Only one award used was an National Science Foundation (NSF) funding I contributed to the research output and my name can be found on the NSF award page, while I did not get the funding by myself.
Media coverage: None
I-140 Attorney Fee: $4,250
I-140 Filing Fee: $700
I-485 Attorney Fee: $1,500
I-485 Filing Fee: $1,225
I-693 (Medical Exam): $295
Total cost: $7,970
I-131 Case history:
April 4, 2023 Advance Parole Document Was Produced
April 4, 2023 We approved your Form I-131, Application for Travel Document. November 22, 2022 We received your Form I-131, Application for Travel Document.
I-765 Case history:
February 2, 2023 Card Was Delivered To Me By The Post Office
February 2, 2023 We mailed your new card your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, directly to the address you gave us.
January 31, 2023 We approved your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.
January 30, 2023 We ordered your new card.
December 29, 2022 The fingerprints relating to your Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, were taken.
November 22, 2022 We received your Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.
I-140 Case history:
December 8, 2022 Case Was Approved
November 22, 2022 We received your Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.
I-485 Case history:
May 29, 2024 Card Was Mailed To Me
May 22, 2024 We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust
Status.
May 21, 2024 We ordered your new card.
June 28, 2023 We are temporarily pausing work on your application because an immigrant visa number is not immediately available to you.
February 21, 2023 We transferred your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, to another USCIS office that now has jurisdiction over your case.
February 17, 2023 Your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, was transferred to another office for processing.
Total processing time: ~2 years (from May 9, 2022 to May 31, 2024)
Contracted with the attorney - Submitted the documents to the USCIS: ~7 months
I-140 processing time by USCIS: 17 days(~11 business days)
I-485 processing time by USCIS: ~1 year and 6 months
May 11, 2022
North America Immigration Law Group (NAmILG) replied and said that they can work for me on "Approval or Refund-basis" for the EB2-NIW application process. I soon then signed the documents online to start the contract for the I-140.
October 21, 2022
I-140 documents arrived at my address.
November 22, 2022
USCIS received my I-140 and I-485, hence, this date became my Priority date.
December 12, 2022
The I-140 Approval notice from the USCIS arrived.
February 2, 2023
The I-765（EAD) from the USCIS arrived.
April 12?, 2023
The I-131/Advance Parole Approval Notice from the USCIS arrived.
May 22, 2024
I had been checking the myUSCIS every ~3 days since April and finally saw update:
May 22, 2024 We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.
May 21, 2024 We ordered your new card.
Finally my I-485 was approved, the end of the long tunnel was approaching. I searched how long it takes to receive the Green Card after the approval. The average time seems somewhere between a few days to 2 weeks. The 2 weeks is negligibly short compared with the time already spent, however, I still felt the 2 weeks is very long.
May 29, 2024
The myUSCIS was updated. It turned out that this was the last update.
May 29, 2024 Card Was Mailed To Me
It seems that the Green Cards are usually mailed by the Priority Mail. If you signed up for the USPS's Informed Delivery, you receive the delivery information of the Priority Mail along with the tracking number to the registered email. You can also receive the information via text. So from this point, you can continuously monitor the delivery status through the USPS's website. As of May 2024, the Priority Mail does not require signature, and the mail will be left at your post. So you do not have to stay at home. You will receive the completion notification via email/text.
May 31, 2024
Received the completion of the delivery for the Green Card around noon via the email and text. Secured the Green Card after the work. At this point, the entire process, which started on May 9, 2022 when I requested for my EB2-NIW Free Evaluation to North America Immigration Law Group, completed.
May 7, 2022
Decided to apply for the Green Card under the Employment-based, the second preference, National Interest Waiver (EB2-NIW) category, after knowing that my Diversity Visa Program (DV-2023) application was not selected again.
May 9, 2022
Requested the Free evaluation for EB2-NIW to North America Immigration Law Group (NAmILG）
May 11, 2022
NAmILG replied and said that they can work for me on "Approval or Refund-basis" for the EB2-NIW application process. I soon then signed the documents online to start the contract for the I-140.
May 13, 2022
My access to the NAmILG's online system was established. An attorney counter-signed the contract. The I-140 Attorney Fee, $4,250 was invoiced and I opted for the one-time payment.
May 15, 2022
Sent the I-140 Attorney Fee to NAmILG via Zelle in two times due to the maximum limit of the transfer.
May 16, 2022
An access to massive volume of instructional documents was granted. Started reading them and working on the actual paperwork. Decided Concurrent filing of I-140 and I-485. I spent most of the weekends for the paperwork from this day until I submitted the paperwork to the USCIS (Concurrent filing of I-140 and I-485) on November 18, 2022.
June 12, 2022
Uploaded the 1st version of the Summary of Contributions which would be used for the draft of the the recommendation letters and the petition letter. Spent 6 days in total over weekends: May 28-29, June 4-5, and June 11-12.
June 15, 2022
Received feedback for the Summary of Contributions from NAmILG.
June 19, 2022
Uploaded the 2nd version of the Summary of Contributions and other revised documents.
June 21, 2022
Received feedback for the Summary of Contributions from NAmILG. NAmILG selected 4 recommenders (1 Dependent, 3 Independent) from 9 candidates and gave me the green light to start contacting with the candidates.
June 25, 2022
Uploaded the 3rd version of the Summary of Contributions. Sent email to the 4 recommender candidates to request for the recommendation letters. The dates I confirmed their approval are following:
Recommender 1: June 25, 2022
Recommender 2: June 25, 2022
Recommender 3: June 26, 2022
Recommender 4: August 6, 2022 (Changed the candidates many times as there was no response)
June 28, 2022
Received feedback for the Summary of Contributions from NAmILG.
July 1, 2022
Uploaded the 4th version of the Summary of Contributions. Found a new candidate for the recommender 4 and reported to NAmILG as there was no response from the original candidate.
July 4, 2022
NAmILG approved and finalized the Summary of Contributions. On the other hand, I was still struggling to find the recommender 4 and it took another 1 month after all. It turned out that this 1 month was the most stressful period in the entire process.
August 6, 2022
Finally secured the recommender 4. The 4 recommenders were finalized.
August 10, 2022
NAmILG started drafting the recommendation letters. The 10 business days countdown started.
August 23, 2022
NAmILG completed the 1st version of the recommendation letters. I reviewed the letters and precautions on how to communicate with the recommenders.
August 27, 2022
Sent out the drafts of the recommendation letters to the recommenders. The dates I received the signed recommendation letters (PDFs) are following:
Recommender 1: August 31, 2022
Recommender 2: August 27, 2022
Recommender 3: August 30, 2022
Recommender 4: September 8, 2022 (Upset because there was no response for 1 week. Received the letter after my remind email.)
Uploaded the 1st version of the Proposed Endeavor & Future Plans in the Field.
August 31, 2022
Received feedback for the Proposed Endeavor & Future Plans in the Field from NAmILG.
September 10, 2022
Uploaded all the recommendation letters along with the CVs/online profiles.
September 13, 2022
NAmILG started drafting the I-140 Petition Letter. The 10 business days countdown started.
September 21, 2022
Started filling out online forms to automatically generate Form I-140, G-28, and ETA-750B.
September 25, 2022
Completed the online forms to automatically generate Form I-140, G-28, and ETA-750B.
September 26, 2022
Received feedback for the Form I-140 from NAmILG. Realized that the I-485 process had not started yet. I thought that NAmILG initiates the process at the earliest possible timing as I had already made it clear that I would contract with NAmILG for the I-485 process along with the I-140; however, it seemed like I have to initiate the I-485 process from my side. I'm still not sure about this process. Nonetheless, it seemed the delay, if there was any, was small as some of the documents for the Form I-485 would expire in a relatively short period of time, and the paperwork cannot be started until the Form I-140 is mostly done.
I then initiated the contract with NAmILG for the I-485 and asked for the required paperwork.
September 27, 2022
NAmILG completed the 1st version of the I-140 Petition Letter. I first focused on reviewing the 21 pages of contents and finalize it while there were many support documents to be prepared.
Meanwhile, the I-485 contract was initiated. Completed the required paperwork and paid the I-485 Attorney Fee, $1,500.
At this point, a lot of tasks were added to the list. I was depressed a little bit as the amount of the paperwork for the I-485 was more than I expected. In fact, it took 1 month and a half to complete the paperwork.
October 1, 2022
My visa status changed from F1-STEM-OPT to H1B.
October 5, 2022
NAmILG finalized the I-140 Petition Letter.
October 6, 2022
I-485 contract was closed.
October 7, 2022
Paid for the I-140 Filing Fee, $700
October 9, 2022
Uploaded the exhibits including the papers for the I-140 Petition Letter.
October 20, 2022
NAmILG shipped all the documents for I-140 to my address. I was confused because I had an impression that the documents are supposed to be shipped by NAmILG to USCIS even for Concurrent filing. It turned out that the I-140 documents were kept at my home until the I-485 documents were prepared and I submitted both documents to USCIS at the same time.
October 21, 2022
I-140 documents arrived at my address.
October 26, 2022
Other than I-693(Medical Exam), all the I-485 documents were prepared. Attached a check for the I-485 Filing Fee, $1,225 ($1,140 for Filing Fee, $85 for Biometrics) to the documents. NAmILG started drafting the I-485 cover letter. The I-485 must be received by the USCIS within 60 days after the Civil Surgeon signed the I-693, and in addition, since the I-693 is valid only for 2 years, it is common practice that the Medical Exam is taken only after most of the documents are prepared. On the other hand, it is possible that the entire EB2-NIW processing takes more than 2 years, and therefore the application can be submitted without I-693 to avoid paying for the Medical Exam twice in case it is expired. In that case, the Request for Evidence (RFE) will be issued as the I-485 processing progresses, and the Medical Exam can be submitted at that point. Or the I-693 can be directly brought if an interview is scheduled for the I-485.
Whether to submit the I-693 upon the application or not depends on the personal preference. NAmILG does not recommend to submit the I-693 along with the other I-485 documents considering the 2 years validity; however, I decided to submit the I-693 upon the application. The reasons are:
- It is considered rare that the EB2-NIW process takes more than 2 years for Japanese nationality (Rest of the World).
- The risk of possible delay due to the RFE when the process is smooth was felt larger than the risk of financial loss when the process takes more than 2 years.
November 8, 2022
Took the Medical Exam from a Civil Surgeon nearby. The cost was $295. A few days later, based on the blood test results, the Civil Surgeon asked me to receive the following vaccines:
- Influenza
- Hepatitis B
- Tdap
The Covid-19's vaccine was also included but I had already got vaccinated for 3 times, so no further actions were needed for Covid-19.
I scheduled the vaccinations at another hospital where the vaccinations can be done with no cost as they are covered by insurance.
November 9, 2022
NAmILG completed the I-485 cover letter. Received feedback for other documents.
November 10, 2022
NAmILG uploaded the forms, I-485, I-765, and I-131 for my signatures.
November 11, 2022
Received the Influenza vaccine. Uploaded signed forms, I-485, I-765, and I-131. NAmILG uploaded scans of all the documents for I-485.
November 15, 2022
Received the Hepatitis B and Tdap vaccines. Sent the vaccination records (PDF) to the Civil Surgeon. NAmILG completed the final review of the I-485. The remaining documents were the latest pay stub and the I-693. NAmILG instructed how to organize the I-140 and I-485 (order of the documents, how to bundle) and how to ship.
November 16, 2022
Civil Surgeon signed I-693. Received the signed I-693 at the hospital. At this point, all the documents were prepared, but next pay stub would be issued 2 days later, therefore I decided to wait for it.
November 17, 2022
Organized the documents except the last pay stub as NAmILG instructed. I purchased clips, prong fasteners, and rubber bands from Amazon in advance to bundle the documents.
November 18, 2022
Shipped all the I-140 and I-485 documents to the USCIS including the last pay stub. Finally all the process on my end was done! It was about 7 months since the contract started. Finally relieved. On the other hand, however, I found that the EB2 (Rest of the World)'s Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing retrogressed from Current to November 1, 2022 and December 1, 2022, respectively on the December's Visa Bulletin. It was just published on November 2022. It was surprising because the EB2 (Rest of the World) had been Current for several years straight until this point. It was still lucky that the cut-off date for the Dates for Filing was before my submission.
December 2022 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 01NOV22 (Day, Month, Year)
Dates for Filing: 01DEC22
November 22, 2022
USCIS received my I-140 and I-485, hence, this date became my Priority date.
November 28, 2022
Received the Receipt Numbers for I-140, I-485, I-765, and I-131 via text from the USCIS. The I-797 was mailed from the USCIS. Signed up for the myUSCIS to monitor the application process. At this point, the receipt of the application documents was updated.
December 1, 2022
Received the I-797 mailed from the USCIS.
December 9, 2022
I just wanted to make sure that I can log in to the myUSCIS and checked if there is any minor updates. I then found a message in the I-140 section that says "Case was Approved." Initially I couldn't understand what does that mean; however, I eventually realized that the I-140 was approved. The Notice date was December 8/2022. I gradually understand the situation and felt joy. It was much earlier than my estimation, 2-3 months at the earliest. In fact, it was just about 11 business days considering that there was thanksgiving holidays. I became even nervous as I thought this could be something wrong. I just waited for the Approval notice.
December 12, 2022
The I-140 Approval notice from the USCIS arrived.
December 14, 2022
Asked NAmILG to check the I-140 Approval notice.
December 15, 2022
NAmILG confirmed that my I-140 was indeed approved. I finally became confident. It was just 2 weeks and a few days. The remaining is only to wait for the I-485.
December 16, 2022
ASC Appointment Notice(Biometrics) from the USCIS arrived. The notice date was December 10, 2022. There was no update on the myUSCIS. The appointment date was December 29, 2022.
December 29, 2022
Completed the Biometrics at the specified USCIS. Everything was smooth and finished in 15 minutes.
January 31, 2023
The I-765 was approved.
February 2, 2023
The I-765（EAD) from the USCIS arrived.
February 3, 2023
The I-765 Approval notice from the USCIS arrived.
February 27, 2023
The I-797C, I-485 Transfer Notice from the USCIS arrived. It says,
"In order to speed up processing, we transferred the application or petition ("your case") listed above to the following USCIS office for processing:
National Benefits Center, P.O. BOX 648005, Lee's Summit, MO 64064"
April 12?, 2023
The I-131/Advance Parole Approval Notice from the USCIS arrived.
April 2023 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 01JUL22 (Retrogressed by 4 months since the application)
Dates for Filing: 01DEC22
Until this point, the applications had been approved one after another, and the remaining was I-485 only; however, as mentioned above, the Final Action Dates was further retrogressed, therefore, the situation became unforeseeable. I felt I'm unlucky as the retrogression started right at the month I submitted the applications. At this point the EB1 (Rest of the World) still remained Current, so I often regretted that I did not opt for EB1 even there might be higher risk of rejection. However, at least until I applied, the EB2 had been Current for several years, and therefore I did not see much advantage to opt for EB1. That is why I did not even consider EB1.
June 28, 2023
The status was updated on the myUSCIS as follows:
"We are temporarily pausing work on your application because an immigrant visa number is not immediately available to you."
The reality set in. At this point, the Final Action Dates was further retrogressed.
June 2023 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 15FEB22 (Retrogressed by 9 months since the application)
Dates for Filing: 01DEC22
This completely unexpected further retrogression made the future even more unclear.
July 2023
Visited Japan for my vacation. Received the H1B at the US Embassy in Japan. Reenter the US with the H1B without any issue.
September 2023
Some progress in the Visa Bulletin
September 2023 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 01JUL22
Dates for Filing: 01DEC22
October 2023
In spite of the first month of the Fiscal Year 2024, the progress was minute, and it made me very nervous. On the other hand, the USCIS started a new policy in which the cut-off date is updated based on the quarter-based forecast instead of the annual-based forecast. So my hope was carried over to January 2024, the first month of next quarter.
October 2023 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 08JUL22
Dates for Filing: 01JAN23
January 2024
This was the 2nd quarter of the FY2024. There was significant progress as I expected.
January 2024 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 01NOV22
Dates for Filing: 15FEB23
March 2024
The cut-off date for the Final Action Dates became November 22, 2022, which is coincidently my Priority date. Unfortunately, after some research, I learned that the Priority date must be prior to the cut-off date more than 1 day. It was very close, but I still had to wait more.
April 2024
This was the 3rd quarter of the FY2024. Finally my Priority date became current. Started seeing the end of the long tunnel. At this point, it was 1 year and 4 months since the I-140 was approved.
April 2024 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 15JAN23
Dates for Filing: 15FEB23
The actual publication of the April 2024 Visa Bulletin was March. Much awaited April came and I frequently checked the myUSCIS. No change at all. Even at this point, the remaining waiting time was unforeseeable. The situation was getting better, however, it was still frustrating about the fact that I did now know how much I have to wait further.
May 22, 2024
I had been checking the myUSCIS every ~3 days since April and finally saw update:
May 22, 2024 We approved your Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.
May 21, 2024 We ordered your new card.
Finally my I-485 was approved, the end of the long tunnel was approaching. I searched how long it takes to receive the Green Card after the approval. The average time seems somewhere between a few days to 2 weeks. The 2 weeks is negligibly short compared with the time already spent, however, I still felt the 2 weeks is very long.
May 29, 2024
The myUSCIS was updated. It turned out that this was the last update.
May 29, 2024 Card Was Mailed To Me
It seems that the Green Cards are usually mailed by the Priority Mail. If you signed up for the USPS's Informed Delivery, you receive the delivery information of the Priority Mail along with the tracking number to the registered email. You can also receive the information via text. So from this point, you can continuously monitor the delivery status through the USPS's website. As of May 2024, the Priority Mail does not require signature, and the mail will be left at your post. So you do not have to stay at home. You will receive the completion notification via email/text.
May 31, 2024
Received the completion of the delivery for the Green Card around noon via the email and text. Secured the Green Card after the work. At this point, the entire process, which started on May 9, 2022 when I requested for my EB2-NIW Free Evaluation to North America Immigration Law Group, completed.
After I decided to get my Green Card under the EB2-NIW category, I collected data for the probable processing time from the actual cases on the NAmILG's website and other internet information. As a result, I guessed that it would be somewhere between 3 months to 1.5 years. My actual processing time was 17 days for the I-140 and 1.5 years for the I-485. However, as I mentioned earlier, due to the retrogression of the Final Action Dates soon after my I-485 application, 1 year and 4 months out of the 1 year and 6 months was just waiting time for the backlog, hence, it could be said that the net processing time was 2 months for the I-485. In that sense, the total net processing time for the I-140 and I-485 was less than 3 months and thus my optimistic estimation at the beginning was not far off. Nonetheless, I have to admit that the unexpected delay is also a part of the process.
The July 2024 Visa Bulletin when this article is uploaded (June 2024) is following:
July 2024 Visa Bulletin
Employment-based 2nd, The Rest of the World
Final Action Dates: 15MAR23
Dates for Filing: 22MAR23
The EB2's Final Action Dates had been Current for quite a long time; however, I realized that it retrogressed, on the same day I submitted my applications to the USCIS. I felt how unlucky I am. Yet, it could have been worse as the backlog has been piling up further since then. If I started the process now, on June 2024, the processing time would probably be at least 2.5 years. Given the trend in the last few years, drastic improvement of the backlog situation will unlikely happen. Although it is different story if the immigration reform would be in effect, the future looks bleak seeing that such discussions have been around for decades and there has been almost no improvement.
I often referred to Reddit for the I-485 processing time. I am not sure how much I can trust the information due to the anonymity, yet there are some people analyzing the situation based on the published data and it was also simply fun to know people's honest thoughts. Those who analyzed the published data pointed out that the demand on the EB2-NIW increased around 2022, and especially there was substantial increase from a few specific countries among the Rest of the World. The EB2-NIW may not be an ideal option in the future due to the backlog issue. If you have a chance to be qualified for EB1, it would worth it to try.
As the EB3 was still Current when the EB2 retrogressed on November 2022 (December 2022 Visa Bulletin), there were some people downgraded from EB2 to EB3. Although I also considered about it a little bit, I soon excluded the option as I felt it is too risky. The EB3 eventually retrogressed later and since then it has been behind the EB2. It seems that there are people downgraded the category based on their attorney's advice; I believe they regretted the decision later.
My visa status switched to H1B just before the application, and so I had a maximum of 6 years. Therefore my situation was not desperate. However, since there was a huge risk to lose my job under H1B, I wanted to get my Green Card as soon as possible. As I mentioned earlier, the Diversity Visa Program's result came out on May 2022, and mine was not selected as always. The result made me think deeply about my situation and I decided to give up on the lottery-based Diversity Visa Program, and to pursue the EB2-NIW by spending time and money instead. I had known 2 people who were selected to the Diversity Visa Program. One of them was selected in the first attempt, and the other one was selected on the 7th attempt. Because of these people, I expected to be selected for the Diversity Visa Program, but I was eventually frustrated about the situation that I cannot control my life. In retrospect, I think I made a good decision at good timing. Yet I spent money and time, I learnt so many things throughout the process, even though the tough part was done by attorney. It was meaningful to evaluate my work objectively and document it. There is an item called "Category" with 3-digit code on the front side of the Green Card. The code represents the category in which the Green Card was granted. In my case it is E26 which represents EB2. If the Green Card is obtained through the Diversity Visa Program, the code would be DV1, DV6, etc. There won't be many situation to show one's Green Card to somebody else and not many people will understand the category code, and yet I feel proud of it as I earned it through my hard work.
I sincerely applicate my recommenders who kindly accepted my request and acted promptly.
I hope you find this article helpful.
June 2024