Successor in interest

In plain terms: a successor in interest is a new company that buys or takes over an existing EB-3 sponsoring company, or the part of it where the sponsored job is, and continues the sponsorship in place of the original employer.

When a successor in interest takes over, the sponsored workers’ cases don’t have to start over. The new company can rely on the original employer’s PERM labor certification and file or continue the I-140 petition as the new petitioner. The workers keep their place in line, because the priority date stays the same.

To qualify as a successor in interest, the new company shows three things:

• Same job: the job opportunity is the same as the one described in the PERM labor certification, with the same duties, requirements and area of intended employment.
• A documented transfer: the new company fully describes and documents how it acquired ownership of all, or the relevant part, of the original employer’s business, for example through a purchase agreement or merger documents.
• Eligibility in all respects: the original employer had the ability to pay the offered wage from the priority date until the transfer, and the new company has the ability to pay from the date of the transfer until the workers get their green cards.

What it means for you: a company that buys an employer with EB-3 workers in process can continue those cases, as long as the sponsored jobs continue and the transfer is documented. Ability to pay then includes the new company’s financial records, and if the new company has its own sponsored workers, USCIS looks at its ability to pay all of them.