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Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker

I-140 · Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker

Employer-sponsored or self-petitioned immigrant petition for an alien worker (EB-1 / EB-2 / EB-3 / NIW / EB-1A).

Processing time varies by case

USCIS processing time depends on the form, the category you filed under, the office or service center handling it, and the specific facts of your case — and it changes over time. MyCases does not publish averaged processing-day or approval-rate estimates across cases.

Check official USCIS Processing Times

Always rely on the official USCIS page and the written notices you receive.

Purpose and process
Approval of I-140 establishes the priority date. The beneficiary must then wait for the Visa Bulletin to become current before filing I-485 or consular processing. EB-1A and EB-2 NIW may be self-petitioned when the applicable requirements are met; EB-1B (outstanding professor or researcher) requires a qualifying U.S. employer as the petitioner and cannot be self-petitioned. This is public information only, not legal advice.
Who files it
Employer-sponsored and self-petitioning employment-based immigrants.
Official references
Common USCIS statuses for this form
Case Was Received
USCIS has accepted delivery of your filing, logged it, and generated a receipt number beginning with a three-letter service center code. The status confirms that your package and fee were received; it does not mean an officer has read a single page. It also fixes two things that matter later: the received date (which is normally your priority date in preference categories) and the office responsible for the case.
Case Was Approved
USCIS approved the application. This is a decision status and the outcome is favorable, but approval is not the same as having the document in hand: most categories still go through card production, notice mailing, or transfer to another agency, each with its own status. The legally operative item is the written I-797 approval notice that follows; the online status is only a signal that it is coming.
Request For Additional Evidence Was Sent
USCIS decided the record is not sufficient to decide the case and mailed a Request for Evidence. An RFE is not a denial and often asks for something ordinary, such as a missing form page, a certified translation, or additional proof of income. What is genuinely dangerous is missing the deadline: once it passes, USCIS decides on the existing record, which typically goes badly.
Case Was Denied
USCIS issued a denial. The written notice sets out the legal and factual grounds, and it is the only reliable basis for deciding what to do next; never infer the reason from the one-line online status. A denial does not necessarily end the road either, since appeals, motions to reopen or reconsider, and refiling may be available depending on the category.
Case Was Upgraded To Premium Processing
The case has been upgraded to Premium Processing.
Frequently asked questions
How fast is I-140 with Premium Processing?
USCIS sets Premium Processing timeframes per classification; they are not the same for every I-140 category and USCIS revises them from time to time. Rely on the official Form I-907 guidance at https://www.uscis.gov/i-907 . The clock pauses on an RFE and resumes after you respond. This is not legal advice.
How long after I-140 approval until I can file I-485?
Depends on your priority date and country of birth, and the cut-off dates move every month, so check the current Visa Bulletin. According to the official September 2026 Visa Bulletin, the EB-1 Final Action Date for mainland-China-born applicants was 2023-07-01 (that is, not current that month). Official source: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2026/visa-bulletin-for-september-2026.html
Can I refile after an I-140 denial?
Yes. If the issue is documentary, refile with stronger evidence. If it is an eligibility problem, address the root cause first.
Track your I-140 case

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About this information
  • · MyCases is an independent product and is not affiliated with USCIS or any US government agency.
  • · Information comes from publicly available USCIS channels.
  • · It is informational only — not legal advice, and not a prediction of approval or timing.
  • · Official written notices and USCIS records control.