EB2 & EB3 professionals & skilled workers
EB2: Professionals Holding an Advanced Degree
A post-baccalaureate degree, or a baccalaureate degree with at least five years progressive experience in the profession. The statute requires the alien be a member of the profession and hold an advanced degree but does not state that the position must require the advanced degree.
EB2: Professionals Holding an Advanced Degree
EB-2 visas are part of the employment-based second-preference immigrant category allowing permanent residency for foreign nationals with advanced degrees or the equivalent (i.e. master’s degree or higher, or five or more years of work experience), or foreign nationals who have demonstrated exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. In some instances, a professional with a bachelor’s degree and five years of progressive work experience related to the job being offered may be deemed to possess the equivalent of a master’s degree in the field.
- A post-baccalaureate degree, or a baccalaureate degree with at least 5 years progressive experience in the profession.
- The statute requires the alien to be a member of the profession and hold an advanced degree.
- The position does not need to require an advanced degree.
EB2: Persons with Exceptional Ability in the Arts, Sciences, Business
Exceptional Ability means having a degree of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered within the field.
EB2: National Interest Waivers
— Labor Certification Not Required
— Self-Petitioning Allowed / Job Offer Not Required
Advanced-degree professionals and aliens with exceptional ability may avoid labor certification and job offer requirement if the exemption would be in the national interest. In such cases, the alien may self file the petition with evidence of the national interest.
EB3: Skilled Works, Professionals with a BA Degree, Other Workers
EB-3 visas are part of the employment-based third-preference immigrant category allowing permanent residency for foreign nationals with a bachelor’s degree or foreign nationals who are skilled workers. Workers are considered “skilled” if they have at least two years of work experience relevant to the job being offered. Additionally, there is a subcategory for unskilled workers requiring no more than two years of work experience.
- Skilled Workers capable of performing a job requiring at least two years training or experience.
- Professionals with a BA Degree
- Other Workers capable of filling positions requiring less than 2 years training or experience ("capable... of performing unskilled labor, not of a temporary or seasonal nature ...")
Comparing EB2 and EB3
In addition to differences in education and work experience requirements, another distinction between EB-2 and EB-3 petitions is that visa number availability is not uniform across both categories.
EB4 Religious Workers
EB4: Religious Workers
Religious workers coming to carry on the vocation of a minister of religion, or to work in a professional capacity in a religious vocation, or to work for a tax-exempt organization affiliated with a religious denomination.
- Certain overseas employees of the U.S. government
- Certain dependents of international organization employees
- Retired employees of international organizations
- Certain members of the U.S. Armed Forces
EB4: Certain Others
— Labor Certification Not Required
— Permanent Job Offer Is Required
- Certain Overseas U.S. Government Employees
- Citizens of Iraq & Afghanistan who have served the U.S. Armed Forces for at least 1 year
- Certain Physicians with Residence in the U.S.
- Certain Juvenile Dependents in U.S. Foster Care
- Certain Dependents of Diplomats
- Certain employees of the American Taiwan Institute for at least 15 years
- Persons who have actively served in the U.S. Armed Forces for 12 years (or 6 if they reenlisted for another 6)
EB5 Investors
EB5: Investors
— Labor Certification Not Required
— Self-Petitioning Allowed / Job Offer Not Required
— Does not require you to maintain your existing home-country business
— Does not require extraordinary ability or exceptional ability
— Applicant must invest between $500,000 and $1,000,000 into job creating enterprise (see below)
Engagement in a commercial enterprise serves as a basis for issuance of 10,000 EB-5 visas yearly. Permanent resident status based on EB-5 eligibility is available to investors, either alone or coming with their spouse and unmarried children.
Eligible aliens are those who have invested -- or are actively in the process of investing -- the required amount of capital into a new commercial enterprise that they have established. They must further demonstrate that this investment will benefit the United States economy and create the requisite number of full-time jobs for qualified persons within the United States.
Specifically, to qualify, the applicant must invest between U.S. $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the employment rate in the geographical area, in a commercial enterprise in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family.
Attention to EB5 drawback: If you plan to go down this EB-5 path to your green card, it is critical that your case is ultimately successful. Unlike most other green card paths, the EB-5 category gives you "conditional" permanent resident status (i.e., a temporary green card) up front. This "conditional resident" mechanism means that after you receive your conditional green card, you will lose any previous nonimmigrant status (e.g., H-1, L-1, E-2, etc.) you may have had. Effectively, this particular green card mechanism pulls your nonimmigrant "safety net" out from under your green card effort. Therefore, a critical pre-screening of your investment and case is imperative to increase your chance of final approval.