Hi, I work for a company that was originally based in Texas. I am currently working remotely from Georgia and received my PERM approval in January 2025. Recently, my company underwent a merger, and as a result, the headquarters moved from Texas location to California.
Since my PERM was filed with Texas location listed as the work location (back when Texas was the HQ), my company is now giving below options
1.Relocate permanently to Texas and proceed with I-140 application with the existing green card application.
Continue to stay in my current location which is in Georgia and apply new perm.
I am planning to choose first option to move to Texas to file I -140 with existing perm application in premium processing.
Could you please advise on below questions
After my I-140 is approved, can I move back to Georgia without needing to file a new PERM?
If I move back to Georgia with the same employer, will there be any post-filing audits or other issues with my green card process?
Note: My birth country is subject to a visa backlog, so I will not be able to file my I-485 (Adjustment of Status) any time soon.
My employer informed me that, according to the rules, the PERM application must reflect either the company’s HQ location or the employee’s work location.
My PERM application was originally filed with the company’s HQ location in Texas.
Following the merger, the company’s HQ has now moved to California. So in order to proceed with filing I-140 using the existing PERM, the location listed in the PERM - Texas - must now be my work location. Therefore, they have requested that I relocate to Texas.
They also mentioned that if the original PERM application had been filed with my location in Georgia, there would be no issue with HQ change. However, since we would be using a location different from the one originally filed, the PERM process would need to be restarted.
So If I can get my I-140 approved with Texas by temporarily staying there and move back to Georgia after approval, will there be any audit issues or problem with my green card process.
As I shared earlier, your current work location has no effect on PERM or i140 work location.
If you move to Texas now temporarily and then come back to Georgia 6 months later, is going to have no effect.
So, in a nutshell, there is no need to move to Texas temporarily.
Your employer can still file i140 with Texas headquarters address as that job exists there and they need to hire you in Texas when you get your GC in hand.