Family Based I130 (F4B)Approval and Adjustment of Status

[jasmeet_singh_hundal]

Greetings Members /Experts,

My case is as follows
I am an Indian citizen, currently residing in the US under an H1B visa via my employer (American express) valid till May 2024 and they extend my visa 6 months before expiry as I have my I140 petition approved ( priority date Feb-2020) as well. I live in Salt Lake City Utah along with my wife (Indian citizen, married in 2016) who is on an H4 visa.

In 2019 my brother who is a US citizen filed the I130 petition under (F4B) category for my green card process and finally on 2nd July 2022, the petition got approved and in the approval notice, it says that I can either apply for an immigrant Visa as it becomes available in any of the US consulates outside of the U.S or I can apply for adjustment of status while here in the US.

I don’t have any immediate plans to go to India or outside of the US, furthermore AFAIK based on reading on US department of state website, I have to wait for a visa to become available at NVC even before applying to a consulate. My priority date as per the approval notice is December 2019.
However, as per the notice, I can file the adjustment of status as per the approval notice and that’s where I have some concerns if I do that and I seek your advice.

1. Am I eligible to file an adjustment of status myself or via an attorney or do I have to wait till the priority date becomes current? I see the current priority date for Indian nationals in the visa bulletin as Feb 2006? What is the downside of applying for adjustment of status now than waiting for the next 15 years?
2. If I file an adjustment of status now will it impact my current H1B visa and my wife’s H4 visa in any way?
3. Can I include my wife also while filing the adjustment of status along with my approved I130?
4. If I cannot include my wife as part of #2, what are my options as she is currently my dependent?

Bottom line is that my employer has filed an I140 which was approved but for that, I can only file for adjustment of status once my priority date becomes current (6 years wait) and I want to know if it’s worth proceeding to file the adjustment of status for the I130 petition, I want to follow the route whichever is faster for the path to permanent residency.

I have attached the approval notice with some redacted information - for your reference.

[Kalpesh_Dalwadi]

@jasmeet_singh_hundal

Am I eligible to file an adjustment of status myself or via an attorney or do I have to wait till the priority date becomes current? I see the current priority date for Indian nationals in the visa bulletin as Feb 2006? What is the downside of applying for adjustment of status now than waiting for the next 15 years?

You can only file AOS when your PD becomes current. Based on your PD, it may take decades for your PD to get current. Also the PD doesn’t move every month so its not really a 15 year wait, rather maybe 2, 3 or even 5 decades depending on the pending I-485 inventory for India.

@jasmeet_singh_hundal

If I file an adjustment of status now will it impact my current H1B visa and my wife’s H4 visa in any way?

No, but refer abive for when you can file AOS.

@jasmeet_singh_hundal

Can I include my wife also while filing the adjustment of status along with my approved I130?

Yes.

@jasmeet_singh_hundal

Bottom line is that my employer has filed an I140 which was approved but for that, I can only file for adjustment of status once my priority date becomes current (6 years wait)

Again the PD movement is not 1 to 1. It moves few days every few months in the EB category, exception being last two years where due to COVID, consulates were closed causing no processing for family based green cards and so the unused numbers from family spilledover to employment based categories making the PD movement faster then it was in past.
Your EB PD of 2020 may not get current for decades so just keep that in mind.
As a backup plan you should start thinking of applying for Canadian or Australian PR.