USCIS APPROVES I-129 TN PETITION DESPITE APPROVED I-140

The applicant was a citizen of Mexico and the beneficiary of an approved I-140 immigrant petition under the EB-3 category. He had reached his fifth and final year of L-1B authorization. Due to the unavailability of immigrant visas under the EB-3 category, he could not complete the final stage of the green card process before his L-1B time expired.

In order to allow the applicant to continue his employment, we filed an I-129 petition with USCIS requesting a change to TN status. While the applicant qualified for an L-1 based on “specialized knowledge,” he could also qualify for TN status under the Computer Systems Analyst category based on his post-secondary certificate and over three years of experience.

In order to overcome the issue of immigrant intent, we indicated in the I-129 petition that the applicant planned to pursue his green card through immigrant visa processing and that he could not complete the process due to the significant immigrant visa backlog under the EB-3 category.

USCIS approved the I-129 petition and issued a TN valid for a three year period.