I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
ALERT: The Department of Labor has begun issuing permanent labor certifications using a new edition of the Form ETA-9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification, which is required for several of the Form I-140 classifications. The Form ETA-9089 consists of a primary form, four appendices, and a Final Determination. The specific documents that a petitioner must submit to USCIS with the Form I-140 will depend upon whether the I-140 classification requires a certified or uncertified Form ETA-9089. Please refer to the Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers webpage for more information.
ALERT: If you are concurrently filing a Form I-140 and Form I-485, do not combine your supporting documents. For more information, see the Form Filing Tips section below.
ALERT: At intake, we determine whether the payment you submitted matches the correct fees due. If you do not submit the correct fee, we must reject your form, even if you have submitted an overpayment.
The required fees for Form I-140 depend on how you answer the form’s questions about your status as a nonprofit or small employer. See our Web Alert, Guidance on Paying Fees and Completing Information for Form I-140, for more information.
You can find additional filing fee information by visiting our Filing Fees page, our G-1055, Fee Schedule, and our Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule page.
ALERT: We expanded premium processing services to include certain previously filed and newly filed Form I-140 petitions requesting E13 classification for multinational executives and managers and E21 national interest waiver (NIW) classification. Please see the How Do I Request Premium Processing page for additional information.
Use this form to petition for a noncitizen worker to become a lawful permanent resident in the United States.
Form Details
Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format.
If you complete and print this form to mail it, make sure that the form edition date and page numbers are visible at the bottom of all pages and that all pages are from the same form edition. If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form.
If you need help downloading and printing forms, read our instructions.
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.
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.
You can find the filing fee for Form I-140 by visiting our Fee Schedule page.
You can pay the fee with a money order, personal check, cashier’s check, or pay by credit card or debit card using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
When you send a payment, you agree to pay for a government service. Filing fees are final and non-refundable, regardless of any action we take on your application, petition, or request, or if you withdraw your request. If you pay by credit card or debit card, you cannot later dispute the payment. Use our Fee Calculator to help determine your fee.
If you are submitting multiple forms, pay each filing fee separately. We are transitioning to electronically processing immigration benefit requests, which requires us to use multiple systems to process your package. We may reject your entire package if you submit a single, combined payment for multiple forms.
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.
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.
- Part 2 – Petition Type
- Part 3 – Information About the Person for Whom You Are Filing
- Date of Birth
- Part 8 – Contact Information, Certification, and Signature of the Petitioner or Authorized Signatory
- Petitioner’s or Authorized Signatory’s Signature
When filing a Form I-140 and Form I-485 together, do not combine your supporting documents. We recommend assembling each form package in the following order:
- Form I-140
- Check or money order or Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions;
- Form G-1145, Request for e-Notification (if applicable);
- Form G-28 (if applicable);
- Form I-140; and
- Supporting documentation.
- Form I-485
- Check or money order or Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions;
- Form G-1145, Request for e-Notification (if applicable);
- Form G-28 (if applicable);
- Form I-485; and
- Supporting documentation.
Filing Tips: Review our Tips for Filing Forms by Mail page for information on how to ensure we will accept your form.
Don’t forget to sign your form. We will reject any unsigned form.
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.