EB2 and EB3 Green Card Complete Process
EB2 is the second priority category for professional immigration in the United States.
What are the requirements for EB2?
EB-2: Employment-Based Immigration– Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability Advanced Degree. You must have an advanced degree or its equivalent, which is a bachelor’s degree plus five years of progressive work experience in the field. Exceptional Ability in the sciences, arts, or business and meet the requirement of National Interest Waiver.
How much does EB2 cost?
The government fee is around $2000, the advertising cost for the PERM stage is around $5000, and the attorney fee is around $7000. As a general overview, the EB2 visa processing time usually takes about 18 months from start to finish, but it can take up to several years in certain cases (depending on your country of birth).
What is the US EB3 program?
OVERVIEW. The EB-3 Program (Unskilled Workers Category) enables unskilled workers (occupations requiring less than two years’ training or experience) to enter the US as Green Card holders with full-time, permanent employment EB3.
Who is eligible for EB3?
You may be eligible for this immigrant visa preference category if you are a skilled worker, professional, or other workers. “Skilled workers” are persons whose jobs require a minimum of 2 years of training or experience, not of a temporary or seasonal nature. Such as chefs.
There are several steps in receiving an EB2/EB3 visa application. Therefore, the EB2/ EB3 processing time should take between 1 and 3 years for most EB2/EB3 visa applications to be processed. Those who have a doctorate degree and meet the criteria for outstanding talents can apply to Outstanding Talent Immigration EB1, please refer to Outstanding Talent Immigration and Green Card Application for details.
H1B is only a work visa, not an immigrant visa. If you need a green card, you need to apply for EB2, EB3 immigration and then apply for a green card.
What is the EB2 process?
These are the basic three stages of getting an employment-based green card (EB2- EB3) in the US:
- Stage 1: PERM/Labor certification stage (Not required for NIW).
- Stage 2: I-140 immigration petition.
- Stage 3: I-485 Application to adjust status or Consular Processing to get an immigrant visa at a US consulate.
Applying for a green card through EB2 and EB3 requires a unit to apply for labor certification, or PERM, to the US Department of Labor. After obtaining the labor certificate, it must submit an immigration application form I-140 to the USCIS. After the I-140 application is passed and waiting for the immigration visa number available, you can apply for an I-485 green card or apply for an immigrant visa through the immigrant visa procedure. After entering the country with an immigrant visa, you can obtain a green card.
TIP: EB2, EB3 immigration application, even if you are overseas, you can also submit an EB2/EB3 application by an American employer and obtain a green card through employer support (sponsor). In special circumstances, you may not need employer support to apply for outstanding talent (EB1A) or National Interest Waiver (NIW), which will be discussed in detail in the following article.
TIP: EB2, EB3 immigration applications, you can apply for work in the United States or outside the United States without management, and you can apply for immigration and obtain a green card without managing whether you win h1b.
Step 1. The U.S. Department of Labor applies for PERM or NIW for National Interest Waiver
PERM (Program Electronic Review Management Process) is a labor certification application. EB-2 is a professional with an advanced degree. The position provided by a US company requires an employee to have a master’s degree or above, or an undergraduate degree plus five years of professional fieldwork experience. If the personnel here meet the National Interest Waiver (NIW) standards, they can be exempted from applying for a PERM labor permit.
The difference between PERM application for labor license and application and national interest exemption is that: PERM labor license application requires US employers to submit I-140 immigration applications for foreign employees only if they cannot recruit qualified US employees by advertising. , It needs to prove that the foreigner’s permanent job in the United States did not cause the US citizen or green card holder to lose the job opportunity, and the national interest exemption means that the US employer does not need to advertise to recruit people, and can directly apply for immigration and request the USCIS to approve its permanent immigration. The United States needs to prove that foreign employees apply directly to the USCIS based on their own achievements and contributions to the national interests of the United States.
TIP: From the initial preparation of the PERM labor certificate to the final obtaining of the labor certificate, it takes an average of 8-12 months; after the labor certification is approved, the employer submits an I-140 application to the Immigration Bureau. The processing time is 4-12 months, and you can pay 2500 plus The Immigration Bureau is required to complete the I-140 expedited processing within 15 days due to the urgent processing fee. After I-140 is approved, because EB2/EB3 has immigration quota restrictions, in many cases, EB2/EB3 will need to wait for the scheduled date. If the schedule is current, the employee can submit an I-485 green card application to the Immigration Department, and apply for a reentry permit and work permit at the same time; if the employee is overseas, the National Visa Center NVC will notify the employee to proceed with the immigrant visa process when the schedule is up.
Under normal circumstances, the PERM process can be divided into 3 stages:
1. Prevailing Wage Determination:
Submit an application to determine the employee’s wage standard (Form ETA 9141) to the Ministry of Labor. The employer submits the job area, job description, minimum job requirements, and other information to the Ministry of Labor. The Ministry of Labor determines the minimum wage standard for foreign employees based on the above information. For example, the Ministry of Labor has assessed on the PWD that a pension accounting position belongs to Level 2, and the salary is $80,000/year. The Ministry of Labor usually gives results within 3-6 months.
2. Recruitment advertisement and screening interview:
The employer obtains the salary standard of the PWD of the Ministry of Labor. After confirming that the corresponding salary amount is paid when the foreign employee obtains the green card, it needs to go through the recruitment process, publish various forms of recruitment advertisements required by law, and record and archive the entire recruitment process. The purpose of this recruitment process is to test the U.S. labor market. Only when the employer proves that it has passed the required recruitment process and still cannot find a U.S. citizen or permanent resident employee who meets the job requirements, can it formally submit a labor certification application to the Department of Labor.
The recruitment process is at least 2 months.
3. PERM ETA 9089 form, submit PERM application to get priority date:
Employers who have completed the recruitment process and have not found a suitable U.S. citizen or green card holder for the position can submit an ETA 9089 labor certification application. The Ministry of Labor has reviewed and approved the PERM application if the employer’s recruitment activities are approved. The Ministry of Labor usually gives results within 3-6 months.
If the Ministry of Labor does not approve the employer’s recruitment activities, it can request a review audit. The employer can reply to the Ministry of Labor within 30 days of receiving the audit letter from the Ministry of Labor and provide all relevant records and documents for the entire recruitment. If it is audited, it usually takes 6-12 months for the Ministry of Labor to complete the audit.
TIP: The Priority Day of PERM is the date of submission of PERM, not the date of approval of PERM. The sooner you apply for PERM and apply for a green card, the better.
The second step I-140 application
After the PERM is approved, the employer must submit an I-140 application to the Immigration Department within 180 days, otherwise, they can only reapply for the PERM.
It is necessary to prove to the Immigration Bureau that the employee has the qualifications required by the position, such as academic qualifications, work experience, work skills, etc.; set the position requirements according to the employee’s own situation, otherwise, the employee may not meet the requirements. In addition, employers need to prove that they have the ability to pay the salary required on the PWD. For full-time employees, only need to submit all payslips from the date of PERM submission to the time of the I-140 application to prove the employer’s ability to pay; For part-time or unemployed employees, the employer’s federal tax return for the most recent year and the current year’s financial certificate is required to prove that their net assets or net profits are greater than or equal to the PWD salary.
In the I-140 stage, the Immigration Bureau generally needs 4-12 months to complete the review and give the results of the review. Of course, you can submit an application for expedited processing (Premium Processing) at this stage. If you apply for an expedited review, the Immigration Bureau will give you the result of the review within 15 days; if there is no review result within 15 days, the Immigration Bureau will refund the $2500.00 expedited review fee. Need to submit:
1. Form I-907;
2. Expedited application fee $2500.00
TIP: If you change employers, even if you pass the I-140 review, your I-140 will become invalid. If the employer does not change and changes the job position, the I-140 may become invalid. If you change your work unit, the new employer will reapply for PERM and I-140 for you but the I-140 has been approved before, and your Priority Date (priority date) can be retained.
The next steps are divided into the green card applicants in the United States and outside the United States. If you apply for a green card I-485 in the United States, if you apply for a green card through the immigrant visa process outside the United States.
The third step is to apply for a green card I-485 or consulate immigrant visa. This is the last step of the green card application. If you are in the United States,
After I-140 is approved, when the priority date is current, you can apply for green card I-485, and you can apply for reentry permit I-131 and work card I-765 at the same time.
TIP: The calculation of the schedule is based on the country of birth of the applicant, not the nationality.
After submitting the I-485 application and successfully passing the interview, you can get a green card. At this time, the employer should also pay the salary in accordance with the provisions of the labor certificate (PERM).
I-485 (green card application form) stage: Generally, the approval time for I-485 is about 6-18 months (not including the time for green card appointment, but only the approval time for I-485). I-485 cannot be processed urgently.
Special Note: If you have submitted an I-485 application and I-485 Pending has exceeded 180 days, you will change your job at this time. If the responsibilities of the new job are similar to the original one, the change of job will not affect the green card application and approval. Go through the new green card application procedure again.
According to the new policy issued by the Immigration Bureau, an interview has been added for EB1/2/3 professional immigration green card applications.
Tip: You can bring your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21, and you need to submit the I-485 form and supporting documents separately.
If you are outside the U.S.
After the I-140 is approved, first go to the National Visa Center for NVC pre-review. NVC usually completes the review within 3-6 months and then transfers to the local US consulate for an immigrant visa interview.
1. Pay the immigrant visa application fee of $345.00. Transfer ACH online;
2. Submit the immigrant visa DS-260 form;
3. Submit civil documents, including passport information pages, U.S. passport-sized photos, birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce certificates, criminal record certificates, and military service certificates (if applicable).
Tip: You can bring your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21, you need to pay separately, submit the visa form DS-260 and related civil documents.
If you pass the EB2/EB3 immigrant visa interview, the visa officer will make a visa and collect the passport. Generally, you can receive your passport within 2-4 weeks. Note: The immigrant visa medical report is valid within 180 days, not from the visa date. At this time, you are ready to land in the United States and pay the green card production fee to the USCIS online at $220 per person.