Who is eligible for an EB-2 Green Card?
by Admin
Posted on 11-10-2023 12:41 PM
1. Determine your basis to immigrate
the first step in consular processing is to determine if you are eligible to apply for a green card (lawful permanent residence). Most immigrants become eligible through a petition filed on your behalf by a family member or employer.
Others become permanent residents by first obtaining refugee or asylum status, or through a number of other special provisions. To see the many different ways to get a green card, go to our green card eligibility categories page. 2. File the immigrant petition
when you know what category you believe best fits your situation, you usually will need someone else to file an immigrant petition for you.
An niw is a way for foreign applicants to obtain a green card in the united states without a sponsor (employer), in order to continue working in their field. This is especially beneficial to those whose work benefits the u. S. Economy, the health or educational systems, science, business, or technology – though athletes are also eligible. The criteria for receiving a national interest waiver is quite strict, as applicants must prove that the work in their field benefits the u. S. According to the united states citizenship and immigration services (uscis) website , applicants must satisfy each areas of the following three-prong test:.
To be eligible to apply for a green card, either in the united states through adjustment of status or overseas through consular processing, there must be a visa number available to you when you apply. Whether a visa number is available or not depends on the use of visas in your category and country and the rate at which green card applications are being processed by the government. Your place in line is determined by your priority date, usually the date your labor certification was filed with the u. S. Department of labor ("dol") or, for those applications not requiring labor certification, the date a petition was filed.
Eb2 green card.
What is the difference between EB-2 and EB-1 Green Cards?
The eb-2 (employment-based second preference) category allows a foreign national to apply for permanent residency in the u. S. The category is reserved for: 1) applicants holding an advanced degree or a bachelor’s degree plus 5 years of experience; 2) those who “because of their exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business, will substantially benefit prospectively the national economy, cultural or educational interests, or welfare of the united states. ” these applicants must be sponsored by an employer and are also required to complete the labor certification process. This latter requirement is meant to prove that there are no other qualified u.
Eb-1 green cards are pretty much the best employment-based visas you can get. They are very prestigious and give you a lot of benefits, with one of them being the fact that you don’t have to wait for priority dates. Moreover, no perm labor certification is needed from you. Eb1 visas also split into multiple types, each of them with its own requirements. For instance, with an eb-1a, there is no perm labor certification needed, nor a job offer. Meanwhile, with eb-1b and eb-1c visas, you will not require a perm either, but you will need a job offer.
While you do not need to go through the perm labor certification to prove a lack of qualified american workers in your market, specific requirements must be met depending on the employee’s occupational category. Moreover, employer sponsorship is not necessary to provide sponsorship to pursue one of these employment green cards. Rather, an eb-1a hopeful can self-petition. To secure an eb-1a green card, a person must receive approval on the i-140 petition as well as the i-485 application for adjustment of status. Individuals who wish to obtain an eb-1a extraordinary ability green card can file these documents concurrently, at the same time, or separately, depending on the strength of their case.
At the law office of william jang, pllc , our team of immigration lawyers has experience representing companies and individuals while they are in the process of obtaining their eb-2 second preference employment based immigration permanent residency (green cards). To speak with one of our experienced immigration lawyers today, please call (512) 323-2333.
Can I self-petition for an EB-2 Green Card?
When applying for a green card there are two paths one can follow once the initial petition is approved by uscis (this is the famous i-140 for eb2 niw ). If you are in the united states under a visa (for example an f-1 student visa or h-1 working visa), you can apply for an adjustment of status (i-485). This converts your current visa status into lawful permanent resident status. We have discussed this topic extensively in a different blog post. However, if you are abroad you cannot do an adjustment of status and you have to follow what is called consular processing.
Depending on the green card category and the country of chargeability, an immigrant visa number may not be immediately available. Please refer to visa bulletin https://travel. State. Gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin. Html for the current information. If the priority date is current when the perm is approved, we may be able to move to next step immediately and file the i-485 application together with the i-140. If, after approval of the i-140 immigrant visa petition, priority date is not within 3 months of current on the most recent visa bulletin, we can offer monitoring services. Monitoring includes help to review visa eligibility in the appropriate category each month, monitoring legislation and regulatory developments at dol and uscis, gather basic information and documents to assess adjustment of status eligibility and being available to answer questions through the waiting period.
The eb-2 visa or the second priority workers visa is one which targets three groups of people. These groups are: advanced degree holders – are those who have advanced educational degrees such as a bachelor’s or a master’s degree and 5 years of experience in their field people with exceptional abilities – are those who have demonstrated exceptional abilities and achievements in business, arts, or sciences those who can obtain a national interest waiver – are those who can demonstrate that working in the us would benefit the country and is in the us national interest if you belong to any of these groups then you have a chance to get an eb-2 visa.
Eb2 exceptional ability green card is a type of employer sponsored green card. For the eb-2 green card petitions, the foreign national must be a member of the professions holding advanced degrees or their equivalent or have exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business. Most second preference employment based green card such as eb-2 cases have to go through the perm process. While there are other types of eb-2 cases such as the eb-2 national interest waiver or schedule a employment based green card cases, the perm/labor certification process is the most common.
The actual process for permanent labor certification varies depending upon the program being used. This web site contains information regarding the process for filing for each of the programs under the department of labor's (dol) jurisdiction. The filing of applications is the responsibility of the employer, not the employee. However, the employee can benefit from understanding the program being utilized in his/her behalf. In general, the dol works to ensure that the admission of foreign workers to work in the u. S. Will not adversely affect the job opportunities, wages and working conditions of u. S. Workers. Once a permanent labor certification application has been approved by the dol, the employer will need to seek the immigration authorization from uscis.
The sponsorship processes for the eb-2 and eb-3 immigrant categories are nearly identical. The main differences between the two categories are its basic qualification requirements. For eb-2, the position must require an advanced degree or the international employee must possess exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. To qualify for eb-3, the position must require at least a bachelor’s degree. There are two main parts to the eb-2 and eb-3 processes. The first is the granting of labor certification by the u. S. Department of labor (dol); the second is the approval of a form i-140 immigrant petition by the u.
April 16, 2020 / foreign permanent labor certification (perm) - approved may 6, 2020 / i-140 filed (immigrant petition for alien worker) - regular processing due to covid-19 june 2, 2020 / i-140 filed upgraded to premium processing june 12, 2020 / i-140 approved (now need priority date to become "current") september 24, 2020 / uscis october bulletin release - eb-3 "current" in october 2020 ! october 5, 2020 / medical exam start october 16, 2020 / medical exam completed october 23, 2020 / i-485 aos / i-131 advanced parole / i-765 ead / filed concurrently november 24, 2020 / receipt notices: i-485 aos, i-131 ap, i-765 ead.
$6,800 ($3,200 for preparing the labor certification application at the commencement of the case followed by $2,400 for preparing form i-140, immigrant petition for alien worker; and $1,200 for preparing form i-485, application to adjust status/consular processing. Legal fee for labor certification has to be borne by the employer (only corporate checks). From i-140 stage onwards, legal fee can be paid by personal/corporate checks (although the law is not settled, the trend of dol rulings seems to suggest that an i-140 may be considered part of employer's normal business expenses. Accordingly, dol could hold that the employer is responsible for an i-140 related attorney fees and expenses.