Third preference (EB-3) workers
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The EB-3 category is for foreign nationals with bachelor's degrees, skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, and unskilled workers.
A foreign national with a U.S. bachelor's degree or its educational equivalent who is being sponsored for a position that requires a bachelor's degree to qualify can apply for a green card under the EB-3 category. It is important to note that a foreign national cannot substitute work experience for part of the bachelor's degree requirement. This is different than under the H1B nonimmigrant visa regulations.
Many foreign nationals who have a U.S. bachelor's degree plus five years' experience want to apply for a green card under the EB-2 advanced degreed professional category. However, recent INS interpretations have made this approach impractical. For more information on this issue, click here.
Skilled workers must have two years' experience in a position that requires two years' experience to qualify can apply for a green card under the EB-3 category.
A foreign national who does not have a U.S. bachelor's degree or two years' experience can qualify as an unskilled EB-3 green card. However, because only 10,000 unskilled worker green cards are allotted every year, there is a tremendous backlog. Hammond & Associates does not file immigrant visa petitions under this category.
A foreign national requesting a green card under the EB-3 category files the Immigration and Naturalization Service's ("INS's") Form I-140 with the INS Service Center that has jurisdiction over the foreign national's place of work. The foreign national can include his/her spouse and dependents under 21 years old on his/her form I-140. For a listing of information required for an I-140 petition, click here. For information on the INS Service Centers, click here.
Once the I-140 petition is approved and an immigrant visa is available (i.e., there is no backlog of immigrant visas), the foreign national will file an INS Form I-485 to request an adjustment of his/her status from "nonimmigrant" status to "immigrant" status. For a list of information required for an employment-based I-485 application, click here.
Approximately 40,000 visas are allocated to the EB-3 category annually plus visas not used in the EB-1 and EB-2 categories. However, only 10,000 visas are allotted to EB-3 unskilled workers.
