Can an Employer Revoke an I-140? The 180-Day Rule and AC21

Yes, an employer can revoke an I-140 at any time by sending a written withdrawal request to USCIS, but whether that withdrawal actually derails your green card depends almost entirely on timing. If the petition was approved for at least 180 days before the withdrawal, or if your I-485 adjustment application has been pending for at least 180 days, the approved petition stays valid and you keep the benefits that matter most: your priority date, your ability to change jobs under AC21, and your eligibility for H-1B extensions past the six-year cap.¹ Before that 180-day mark, an employer’s withdrawal triggers automatic revocation and can unwind your case.

How an Employer Withdraws the Petition

Your employer is the petitioner on the I-140, so the choice to keep it active belongs to them during the early stages. Withdrawal takes a signed letter to the USCIS service center that handled the case, listing the receipt number, the petitioner’s name and contact information, the beneficiary’s name and A-Number if known, and the petitioner’s signature or that of a Form G-28 representative.² No special form is required. Employers usually do this after a worker resigns, is laid off, or moves to a different position, and no law requires a former employer to keep the petition on file.

Withdrawal Before 180 Days: Automatic Revocation

If the withdrawal comes less than 180 days after I-140 approval, and your I-485 has not been pending for 180 days or more, the petition is automatically revoked under 8 CFR 205.1.¹ USCIS treats the petition as though it had never been approved for ongoing immigration purposes. The consequences reach several parts of your case at once:

A pending I-485 will likely be denied, because the underlying petition no longer supports it.
AC21 job portability is unavailable, because portability requires 180 days of petition approval or 180 days of I-485 pendency.
You lose the ability to extend H-1B status past six years based on that petition.
Your priority date may still survive for use with a future petition, because priority date retention is a separate protection.

If the I-140 had not yet been approved when the employer withdrew, the petition is simply canceled. The 180-day clock never started.

Withdrawal at 180 Days or Later: The Petition Stays Approved

Once the petition has been approved for at least 180 days, 8 CFR 205.1(a)(3)(iii)(C) protects it from automatic revocation on withdrawal. The same protection applies if your I-485 has been pending for 180 days or more, even when the I-140 approval is more recent than that.¹

When the protection applies, USCIS treats the job offer as withdrawn but keeps the petition itself approved.² That preserves your priority date, keeps your I-485 alive so you can move it to a new qualifying job through AC21, and keeps H-1B extensions past the six-year cap available on the strength of the approved I-140.

The employment authorization piece matters too. Once your I-485 has been pending 180 days, the EAD attached to it is not locked to any particular employer or job classification, so you can keep working while you line up a new qualifying offer and file the portability paperwork.³

Your Priority Date Survives Almost Anything

The priority date, which determines your place in the green card queue, is protected by a separate rule. Under 8 CFR 204.5(e), an approved I-140 gives you a priority date you can carry to any future employment-based petition filed by a different employer in a first, second, or third preference category. If you have more than one approved petition, you keep the earliest date.⁴

An employer’s withdrawal does not take the priority date away, even on day one after approval. You lose it only if USCIS strips it because the approval rested on fraud or willful misrepresentation of a material fact, the labor certification was revoked by the Department of Labor, the labor certification was invalidated by USCIS or the State Department, or USCIS determines the petition was approved based on a material error. For workers from countries with long backlogs, a retained priority date can save years.

Changing Employers Under AC21

The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act is the main reason the 180-day threshold matters. Under INA 204(j), your pending I-485 remains valid if you switch to a new job in the same or a similar occupational classification, provided the adjustment application has been pending at least 180 days.⁵ You do not need a new I-140 from the new employer; the original petition continues to support the case. To port the case, you file Form I-485 Supplement J describing the new position, its duties, and its salary so USCIS can confirm it qualifies.⁶

H-1B Status Past the Six-Year Cap

An approved I-140 is what allows most H-1B workers to stay past six years, and this is another place the 180-day rule bites. If you have an approved I-140 and cannot file for adjustment because a visa number is unavailable, AC21 Section 104(c) lets you extend H-1B in up to three-year increments until you can file or adjust.⁷ That benefit depends on the I-140 remaining approved, so if the employer withdraws before day 180, the extensions dry up. If they withdraw after, the petition stays approved and the extensions continue.

A separate AC21 provision, Section 106(a), allows one-year H-1B extensions once 365 days have passed since the filing of a PERM labor certification or an I-140 on your behalf, even before the I-140 is approved. Those extensions continue unless the underlying labor certification or petition is denied.

The 180-day threshold also shapes work authorization for the family. H-4 spouses qualify for an H-4 EAD when the H-1B worker has an approved I-140 with no immediately available visa number, or when the H-1B worker holds a seventh-year or later extension under AC21. If the I-140 is withdrawn before it clears the 180 days and is automatically revoked, the H-4 EAD eligibility goes with it.

USCIS Revocation for Cause Is Different

An employer’s voluntary withdrawal is not the same as USCIS revoking a petition on its own. If USCIS finds fraud, willful misrepresentation of a material fact, or a determination that the approval was based on significant error, it can revoke an approved I-140 regardless of how long ago it was approved.⁴ The 180-day rule offers no shield here. A revocation for cause voids the petition, wipes out the priority date, ends portability rights, and can take a pending I-485 down with it. Before revoking, USCIS typically issues a Notice of Intent to Revoke giving the petitioner and beneficiary 30 days to respond with evidence.⁸ A fraud finding also carries consequences well beyond the petition, including a possible inadmissibility bar to future entry.

Mergers and Acquisitions Do Not Automatically Kill the Petition

If your employer is acquired, merges, or restructures, the I-140 does not automatically fall. The new or reorganized company can step in as a successor in interest and take over the petition by filing an amended I-140, so long as the job opportunity remains the same, the successor documents both the predecessor’s and its own ability to pay the offered wage, and the transfer of ownership qualifies.⁹ You do not restart the green card process, but the successor has to affirmatively file the paperwork; it does not happen on its own.

1
eCFR. 8 CFR 205.1 – Automatic Revocation
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Adjustment of Status FAQs
4
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5 – Petitions for Employment-Based Immigrants
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1154 – Procedure for Granting Immigrant Status
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How USCIS Determines Same or Similar Occupational Classifications for Job Portability Under AC21
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Supplemental Guidance Relating to Processing Forms I-140, I-129, and I-485
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 10 – Post-Decision Actions
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Successor-in-Interest in Permanent Labor Certification Cases