What is Green Card EB-3 Employment Based Immigrant Visa?

Every year the USCIS makes available a certain number of immigrant visas for permanent workers in the United States. There are around 140,000 visas available every fiscal year for permanent workers and their families. Employment in the United States is based on education, experience, and skills. People with the right combination of skills, education and/or work experience may be eligible for immigrant visas under the different categories.

The employment-based greencards maybe broadly classified into 5 categories:

1. First preference or EB-1
2. Second preference or EB-2
3. Third preference or EB-3
4. Fourth preference or EB-4
5. Fifth preference or EB-5

This article takes a look into the details of the EB-3 employment based immigrant visa category.

EB-3 Employment Based Green Card

The third preference category for employment based green cards is for skilled workers, professionals and other workers.

• Professionals, like the name suggests, should be members of professions for which they have a minimum of a U.S. baccalaureate or its equivalent foreign degree.
• Skilled workers are those who have at least 2 years of work experience or training in a job that is neither seasonal nor temporary.
• Other workers are those who require less than 2 years of work experience or training in a job that is neither seasonal nor temporary.

EB-3 Green Card Process

A permanent worker has to be sponsored by an employer. The employer who has made a job offer under the EB-3 category has to file Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker. But before the employer can file the petition he should get a Labor Certification from the US Department of Labor. The certification is to verify that there aren't enough US workers to fill the available positions at the prevalent wages and that by offering this position to a foreigner, the wages and working conditions of the US workers in the same level will not be affected in any way.

When the employer files the I-140, he should also provide documentary evidence that he can pay the wages, that were offered to the beneficiary, as of the visa priority date. The when the application is filed and accepted by the USCIS for processing is known as the priority date. There is a back log of applications for employment-based green cards. The applications are processed by priority date. When the beneficiary's priority is being processed, the employer should be in the position to pay the wages he had offered when making the job offer to the beneficiary.

Family of EB-3 Green Card Holders

Family members of the EB-3 green card holders may be admitted to the United States. The spouse of a skilled worker or a professional will be admitted under the E34 category, whereas the spouse of other workers will be admitted under the EW4 category. Children under the age of 18 of skilled workers and professionals will be admitted under E35 and of other workers under EW5. Spouses may apply for an Employment Authorization Document when in the United States.