No, federal law does not let an employer revoke a green card after approval, because only the federal government grants and ends permanent resident status. Once USCIS approves your adjustment of status, the process of becoming a permanent resident from inside the United States, your employer has no power to cancel it.
The government can still act if you were never eligible. Within five years of approval, it can seek rescission, which undoes an adjustment of status. At any time, it can charge in removal proceedings that you were inadmissible when you adjusted, meaning legally barred from the green card in the first place. Faragalla Law represents permanent residents who receive these notices through its removal defense practice.
Can an Employer Revoke a Green Card After Approval if You Quit?
Quitting does not end your status. Federal regulations say a lawful permanent resident may work incident to that status. A green card holder can generally change jobs or employers, and the rules on how long you can stay unemployed with a green card cover gaps between jobs.
Intent at the time of approval still matters in employment cases. The regulations required a valid job offer when you filed and when USCIS decided your case, and they required you to intend to accept that job. Your employer also had to intend to employ you within a reasonable period after you became a permanent resident.
Consider an engineer in Dallas who adjusted through an employer petition and changed jobs eight months later for higher pay. A move after a genuine offer is ordinarily lawful. Evidence that the original job offer was never real, however, could support a fraud finding.
What Can an Employer Do Before the Green Card Is Approved?
Before approval, an employer controls its own petition. It can withdraw Form I-140, the immigrant petition for a foreign worker. A withdrawal filed less than 180 days after approval automatically revokes the petition, unless your adjustment application has been pending 180 days or more.
Later withdrawals work differently. A withdrawal 180 days or more after approval, or 180 days or more after you filed for adjustment, generally leaves the petition approved. USCIS can still revoke it on other grounds. The job offer still disappears, so you would need a new petition unless you qualify for job portability.
Job portability comes from section 204(j) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If your adjustment application has been pending 180 days or more, the petition can remain valid for a new job in the same or a similar occupational classification. USCIS uses Form I-485 Supplement J to confirm the new offer.
When Can USCIS Take Away a Green Card Approved Through Work?
USCIS may revoke the approval of an immigrant petition at any time for good and sufficient cause, and the revocation takes effect as of the original approval date. If USCIS revokes the petition, the green card that depended on it can come into question.
Rescission follows a set process. The government serves a notice of intent to rescind that lists the allegations. You then have 30 days to answer in writing and to request a hearing before an immigration judge. If you miss either step, or admit the allegations, USCIS rescinds the adjustment and no appeal is allowed.
Fraud carries its own risk. A person who obtained a green card through fraud or willful misrepresentation of a material fact was inadmissible when adjusting. The law makes that a deportation ground with no five-year limit. A naturalized citizen whose adjustment is later rescinded can also face denaturalization, the loss of citizenship.
For example, if a company in Houston filed a petition for a job that never existed and the worker knew it, the government could challenge the green card long after approval. The employer’s later actions would not decide the case. Instead, the facts at the time of adjustment would decide it.
Official Sources on Employer Petitions and Rescission
The withdrawal and automatic revocation rules for employment petitions appear in 8 CFR 205.1. You can find the job offer, intent and portability requirements, including Supplement J, in 8 CFR 245.25.
The rescission procedure, including the notice of intent and hearing rights, appears in 8 CFR part 246. The five-year limit comes from section 246 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, codified at 8 U.S.C. 1256.
Respond to a Rescission Notice With Help From Faragalla Law in Texas
An employer cannot revoke a green card after approval, but a USCIS notice about an old petition deserves a careful response. Faragalla Law can review the notice, your petition history and your job changes.
Phone the firm at (800) 707-3038 to request a free consultation, and keep the notice in front of you when you call.
If you received a letter, message the firm with the notice date and any response deadline.