Form I-140 establishes your position in the visa queue for an employment-based green card. In most cases, your employer submits this petition on your behalf, though two visa categories allow you to file independently.
This guide explains where to send your application, breaks down required filing fees and payment responsibilities, and outlines how an employer change affects your petition status.
At Beyond Border, our attorneys have filed over 4,000 cases across O-1, EB-1A, EB-2 NIW, and L-1 with a 98% approval rate, and a one-month filing guarantee once documentation is complete. This article draws on practical experience assisting clients with this process.
Form I-140, officially called the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, is a petition filed with USCIS to request an employment-based immigrant visa (green card) for a foreign national worker.
It establishes that the worker meets the eligibility requirements for a specific employment-based visa category and fixes their priority date in the green card queue. Form I-140 is commonly confused with other similar forms, but they all have different functions;
Our guide covers who can file, which category fits, and what evidence each one requires. This guide starts with the filing itself.
You can file Form I-140 at any time, as long as your evidence is complete and you meet the requirements for your chosen visa category. Eligibility depends on the employment-based category.
Where you mail your package depends on the specific mix of forms you are submitting together, not your green card category. For example, an EB-1A filing and an EB-3 filing that contain the exact same forms go to the same location.
USCIS organizes all Form I-140 filings into five main filing scenarios, which are listed on its official direct filing addresses page:
Find the scenario that matches your package to get the correct mailing address.
Important Note on Addresses: USCIS updates its filing addresses periodically. Always check the official website directly before mailing your application, rather than relying on cached or older online guides.
Avoid Common Form Edition Errors: USCIS requires every page of a submitted form to belong to the exact same form edition. If you mix pages downloaded at different times, USCIS could reject your entire application.
To prevent this, verify the edition date at the bottom of each page against the current edition listed on the USCIS website prior to sending your package.
As of September 2026, the filing fee for Form I-140 is US$715. In addition, most petitioners pay the Asylum Program Fee, which is US$600 as standard, US$300 for a small employer, and US$0 for a nonprofit.
For this purpose, a small employer has 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees in the United States, including affiliates and subsidiaries.
Standard processing time for Form I-140 is between 3 and 32 months for 80% of I-140 petitions, depending on your visa category and the service centre handling your application. Petitions that require an approved PERM labor certification move fastest, while self-petitioned and executive categories take the longest.
Because processing speeds can vary widely between service centers, even for the same category, what someone else experienced might not apply to you.
Premium processing is available for Form I-140 and requires USCIS to issue a decision in 15 business days for most categories. But for EB-1C (multinational manager or executive) or EB-2 with a national interest waiver, USCIS responds in 45 business days.
Check your receipt notice (Form I-797C) to find your assigned service center. You can enter that center and category into the USCIS processing times tool to track your timeline. For current timeline ranges across categories, check out our full guide to I-140 approval times.
If your job ends, two separate rules determine what happens to your petition and your place in line.
A third rule, job portability under section 204(j), governs changing employers once an adjustment application has been pending 180 days. That one is in the I-485 stage, and our guide to what happens after I-140 approval covers it.
USCIS automatically revokes your I-140 approval if your employer withdraws it within 180 days of approval, unless your adjustment of status application (I-485) has already been pending for at least 180 days.
Once you cross that threshold, your protection kicks in. If your employer withdraws the petition after it has been approved for 180 days (or after your I-485 has been pending for 180 days), the petition remains approved unless USCIS revokes it for cause, such as fraud.
This gives you two ways to protect your approved petition: reaching the 180-day mark after I-140 approval, or reaching 180 days after filing your I-485. Whichever milestone comes first protects your petition from automatic revocation.
The same 180-day rule applies if your employer goes out of business. EB-1A self-petitioners don't have to worry about this, as self-petitioned cases do not depend on an employer.
Priority date retention works a bit differently, and it catches many people off guard: there is no waiting period at all.
Under 8 CFR 204.5(e)(1), once your petition is approved, you can keep its priority date for any future employment-based petition you file. If you have multiple approved petitions, you get to use the earliest date.
You don't need to wait 180 days for this benefit; your priority date locks in the day your petition is approved.
You only lose your priority date in a few specific situations:
How these rules apply depends entirely on your specific dates and paperwork. For instance, being laid off 150 days after approval is very different from being laid off at day 200. If a new employer is filing a second petition for you, review your approval notice with an immigration attorney to understand your options.
Once your I-140 is approved, your next steps depend on whether your priority date is current in the monthly Visa Bulletin. When your date becomes active, you can apply for your actual green card through either adjustment of status or consular processing.
To see a complete breakdown of visa backlogs and cutoffs by country, check out our I-140 priority date backlog country comparison.
If you'd like more flexibility with your application without being tied to an employer's rules, consider the EB-1A and EB-2 NIW categories.
You serve as your own petitioner, so no employer needs to sponsor you or file on your behalf, and no one else can withdraw your case. Many engineers, researchers, physicians, founders, and senior tech professionals qualify for these options without realizing it.
The attorneys at Beyond Border prepare and file these self-petitioned cases. We will evaluate your background against the criteria and provide honest guidance on what qualifications you might still need to build strong eligibility. Request a case assessment to learn which route best fits your profile.
The petitioner does; in an employer-sponsored case, that's the employer. Where you file for yourself under EB-1A or EB-2 NIW, you are the petitioner, and you pay the fees.
Yes, at the reduced rate. USCIS's published chart puts an individual self-petitioner at US$300 rather than US$600, for a total of US$1,015 with the filing fee. Having no employees reduces the fee; it doesn't remove it.
That depends on what you file alongside it, not on your category. USCIS sorts filings into five situations on its Direct Filing Addresses page. Find your situation there and use the address shown on the current page.
Check the form's own page on the USCIS website before assuming either way, because the list of forms available for online filing changes. The direct filing addresses page lists paper filing addresses.
With premium processing, 15 business days for most classifications and 45 business days for EB-1C and EB-2 NIW. Standard processing varies by category and by service centre, and USCIS publishes those figures on its processing times tool.
Often, yes. Once it has been approved for 180 days, or once your I-485 has been on file for 180 days, a withdrawal by your employer no longer revokes it automatically. Your priority date is retained separately and has no waiting period.
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