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ACTA Helps Those Waiting for Priority Dates to Become Current
Posted
Nov 05, 2000
As mentioned in prior, recent issues of the MurthyBulletin, the American Competitiveness in the Twenty First Century Act
(ACTA), which became law on October 17, 2000, contains a provision (subsections 106(a) and (b)) to allow persons under certain circumstances to extend their H-1 stay beyond 6 years in one year increments.
The basic requirements under 106(a) of ACTA are:
a) I-140 (employment-based immigrant visa petition) or I-485 (application to adjust status) is currently pending.
AND
b) the labor certification application or the I-140 was filed at least one year ago.
Some of you have asked us at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy about the effect of ACTA on your ability to extend your H1B when the priority date is not current. Many of you may have observed that this subsection 106 (a) does not cover the situation where the I-140 is approved but the beneficiary is waiting for the priority date to become current. However, careful reading of the new law will lead one to subsection 104(c).
Section 104(c) of ACTA is designed specifically to help people file H1B extensions when the priority dates are not current. It allows the extension of a nonimmigrant status (not limited only to H1Bs) up to the time that the application for adjustment of status is completed. This helpful clause applies specifically only to employment-based applicants who are beneficiaries of I-140 petitions, not family-sponsored immigrants. It is not clear from this section if the H1B extension must be in one-year increments, or whether it can be for a longer time.
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