I-140 Priority Date Retention After a Job or Employer Change

An approved Form I-140 can be valuable even when the worker later changes jobs, employers, or immigrant visa categories. In many employment-based cases, an earlier priority date may be used in a later petition, which can preserve years of waiting in the visa bulletin.

Priority date retention is different from job portability. Portability focuses on a pending I-485 and same-or-similar work. Priority date retention focuses on whether a later petition can use the date from an earlier approved immigrant petition.

Workers should keep copies of every I-140 approval notice, labor certification, receipt, withdrawal notice, and employer communication. Problems can arise if the earlier approval is revoked for fraud, willful misrepresentation, invalid labor certification, or material error.

New Horizons Legal helps workers review old I-140 approvals, compare new case options, and protect priority-date strategy before changing employers.