Employment Based (EB) Green Card or Permanent Residence

U.S. immigration law provides foreign nationals with a number of ways to become lawful permanent residents (get a Green Card) through employment in the United States.

Rekhi Law Offices provides services in all these areas, described more fully below.

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EB “Preference Immigrant” Categories

First preference: EB-1
Priority workers that are included in one of the following categories:

  • Aliens with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics;
  • Outstanding professors and researchers; or
  • Certain multinational managers and executives.

Second Preference: EB-2
Aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees or who have exceptional ability (including requests for national interest waivers).

Third Preference: EB-3
Skilled workers, professionals, or other workers.

EB Green Card or Permanent (PERM) Resident Process

Generally speaking, the employment-based permanent residence or Green Card process can be broken down into three (3) stages.

  1. PERM Labor Certification
  2. I-140 Petition for Immigrant Visa
  3. I-485 Adjustment of Status

These stages are described more fully below.

EB Green Card or Permanent Resident Detailed Process

1) PERM Labor Certification

Some immigrant visa preferences require you to have a job offer from a U.S. employer. This employer will be considered your sponsor. In certain cases, the employer must first obtain an approved labor certification, also known as the PERM from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL labor certification verifies the following: • There are insufficient available, qualified, and willing U.S. workers to fill the position being offered at the prevailing wage • Hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers Under the EB categories mentioned above, both the EB2 and the EB3 categories require labor certification.

2) I-140 Petition

An I-140 Petition for Immigrant Visa is the second step in the employment based Green Card process.
Once the PERM has been certified by the Department of Labor, the sponsoring employer will then file a Form I-140, also known as the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. At this stage, the employer must be able to prove that it is the financial ability to pay the foreign national worker in accordance with the salary as mentioned in the PERM labor certification.

3) I-485 Process for Adjustment of Status

Adjustment of status (AOS) is the process that the foreign national can use to apply for lawful permanent resident status (also known as applying for a Green Card) when he/she is present in the United States. AOS is the third and last stage in the process of applying for employment based greencard. A foreign national can apply for adjustment if his 140 is approved or in certain cases adjustment can also be applied concurrently with the I-140 filing. A person may only apply for adjustment of status if he/she are physically present in the United States. If the foreign national is outside the country, they can apply for Consular processing at the US Consulate in their country of residence.