USCIS Form I-140: Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers

Edition date

06/07/24. You can find the edition date at the bottom of the page on the form and instructions.

Where to file

You have 2 options for filing your Form I-140 petition with USCIS: By mail (paper); or Online. Filing Your Form I-140 by Mail The filing address depends on whether you are filing Form I-140 by itself or with another form.

Check the Direct Filing Addresses for Form I-140 for instructions on where to mail your form. Filing Your Form I-140 Online First create a USCIS online account or login if you already have an account.

To learn more, visit our How to Create a USCIS Online Account page. Visit the Forms Available to File Online webpage for information about when you or your representative can file Form I-140 online.

If you are submitting Form I-140 together with Form I-907 to request premium processing, you must file by mail. However, if you have a pending Form I-140 (with a receipt number that begins with IOE), you may file a standalone Form I-907 via PDF upload in the online account or you may file standalone Form I-907 by mail.

When to file

Form I-140 may be filed at any time. However, effective July 16, 2007, all labor certifications expire 180 days from the date of certification.

We must receive any Form I-140 based on an approved labor certification before the 180-day validity period has elapsed. We will reject a petition that contains an expired labor certification.

In instances where the ending date of the labor certification’s validity period expires on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, we will accept the petition if we receive it by the next business day. We will reject petitions with expired labor certifications filed after the next business day.

You can find further guidance on the Form I-140 instructions and on the Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers webpage.

Filing fee

You can find the filing fee for Form I-140 by visiting our Fee Schedule page.

Initial evidence

View the checklist of required initial evidence. For more details on requirements of each classification, please see Volume 6, Parts E and F of the USCIS Policy Manual.

USCIS filing tips

Filing Tips for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers Complete all sections of the form. We will reject the form if the following fields are missing: Part 1 – Information About the Person or Organization Filing This Petition Family Name OR Company or Organization Name; Mailing Address; IRS Employer Identification Number or Social Security number (does not apply to Part 2.

Petition Type 1.a., alien of extraordinary ability or 1.h., national interest waiver); Question 5 must have a selection of either Yes or No regarding your organization’s non-profit/government research status; Self-petitioners should select No when answering question 5. Question 6 must have a selection of either Yes or No regarding your organization’s number of full-time employees; Self-petitioners should select Yes when answering question 6.

Note: Responses to questions 5 and 6 are used to determine whether the petitioner qualifies to file with a reduced Asylum Program Fee. If you provide the full $600 Asylum Program Fee with your petition, and do not indicate that you qualify for a reduced Asylum Program Fee, we will accept the full payment provided.

Special instructions

E-Notification: If you want to receive an email and/or a text that we have accepted your form at a USCIS lockbox, complete Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance, and clip it to the first page of your form. Professional Athletes: Labor certifications for professional athletes issued by the U.S.

DOL’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system do not contain the minimum job requirements for the offered position. USCIS needs this information to determine whether the offered job is eligible for the requested immigrant visa classification.

If a labor certification-based Form I-140 petition for a professional athlete does not state the minimum job requirements and they are not provided by the petitioner through other means, USCIS may issue a request for additional evidence to obtain this information. To facilitate timely processing, petitioners filing I-140 petitions for alien professional athletes should proactively include the minimum job requirements with their petitions if they are not already contained within the athlete’s contract that is submitted with the petition.