Can I file Form I-765 and Form I-131 with my I-485?

Yes, and most applicants do. Filing all three together starts the work authorization and advance parole clocks at the same time as the adjustment application, so the EAD and travel document typically arrive months before the green card decision. When they are filed based on a pending I-485, the I-765 fee is $260 and the I-131 fee is $630 on paper or $580 online.Each applicant files their own set.

What is a 214(b) visa denial and how do I overcome it?

A 214(b) visa denial means the consular officer wasn't satisfied that you have strong enough ties to your home country to ensure you'll return after your visit.To overcome it, you need to demonstrate changed circumstances on your next application — new employment, property ownership, stronger financial documentation, or a clearer travel purpose. Focus on whatever specific concern the officer raised during your previous interview.

What does it take to change the election after the I-140 is approved?

Changing from adjustment to consular requires a Form I-824, with a $590 filing fee and its own processing time. Moving from a consular election to an I-485 requires no new petition filing.

Is the $100,000 H-1B payment something we have to budget for?

Not today. A federal court vacated the guidance implementing the 2025 proclamation on June 8, 2026, the First Circuit denied a stay on July 24, 2026, and nothing is being collected.Budget on the standard H-1B fee stack instead, and keep the $100,000 in your risk notes rather than your forecast. DHS has said it would collect the payment if the order were lifted, so check the posture before any filing.

What is the H-1B prevailing wage and how is it determined?

The prevailing wage is the minimum salary an employer must offer an H-1B worker, determined by the Department of Labor based on the job title, duties, location, and experience level required. Wage levels range from Level 1 (entry) to Level 4 (expert).Offering a salary below the prevailing wage will result in the LCA being denied.

Should we replace immigration lawyers or catalyze their knowledge?

I'm still convinced that execution is more important than strategy. However, some strategic decisions can make or break your business.

One key decision is choosing the industry you want to enter. Many years ago at Kellogg, I read a statistic that stuck with me: 50% of a business's success depends on the industry you choose.

The next crucial decision is your business plan and positioning. Even though our team at Tukki chose to work in immigration, we could have gone in different directions, like selling software to lawyers or automating the immigration process to replace lawyers. Each option would lead to very different business models, clients, company types, required skills, and economic implications.

I’m asked a lot why we chose to work with lawyers instead of running other business model options. I’ll answer that in this article.

Why not sell to lawyers?

To make a significant impact in the industry, we need to address the biggest pain points, which do not lie with the lawyers, but with the immigrants.

After interviewing dozens of lawyers and immigrants, it became clear that immigrants face the most challenges: inefficient processes, lack of visibility, slow responses, stress, and uncertainty. While lawyers could benefit from better technology, we believed we could make a bigger impact by working directly with immigrants.

Additionally, we think that the pain points that immigrants currently experienced can't be solved by software alone. It requires a combination of software and operations. Great lawyers are part of the operations piece, but bringing in business best practices from other industries makes a huge difference for the immigration experience and ease of process for lawyers.

Why not replace lawyers?

Involving immigration lawyers from the start is essential to providing the best service to immigrants — we’ve learned this from personal experience. Immigration law is complex and rarely clear-cut. You need the expertise and judgment of an experienced lawyer. While many steps in the process can be automated, there are moments where a lawyer's input is crucial, such as:

The initial strategy meeting to shape the case
To address legal questions that arise during the process
The final review and legal arguments

Additionally, obtaining a visa or a green card is a life-changing event; immigrants want a team they can rely on, someone to chat with and answer their questions. Our vision of the best immigration experience is the opposite of a self-service, impersonal experience with an AI. We believe in providing a warm, supportive environment with real human interaction.

Why not simply be lawyers?

People often ask, "If you still have lawyers on your team, why should I work with Tukki instead of going directly to a lawyer?"

We combine the best of both worlds: expert knowledge from lawyers and a highly efficient, customer-focused process enabled by our technology.

Neither can deliver the best experience to immigrants alone; you need both.

I admit, this approach didn't come without its challenges! It’s far more complicated to acquire customers, service them, get great lawyers, manage operations end-to-end, and build a great product than just focus on one section of the journey. Scaling is also much easier when you're building a B2B SaaS solution compared to managing operations. That's why, since day one, Tukki has obsessively focused on streamlining operations with technology to become exponentially more efficient and scalable than the status quo.

If you want to truly reinvent an industry, you need to go all in, and that's what we signed up for.

To tap into that expert knowledge from lawyers and efficient, customer-focused process enabled by our technology, start with our Visa Match tool, and find out what your best options for US immigration are.