Employment-based immigration comes with a long list of acronyms, but federal law sorts it into a few preference tiers. Each tier has its own requirements and its own waiting points. These answers explain how the tiers fit together.
How Does Federal Law Divide Employment-Based Green Cards?
Under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b), employment-based immigrant visas are divided into preference categories. The first covers priority workers, the second covers professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability, and the third covers skilled workers, professionals, and other workers. Two further categories cover special immigrants and investors who create jobs, and this discussion focuses on the first three.
Who Qualifies for the First Preference?
The first tier covers three groups:
- Foreign nationals with extraordinary ability, shown by sustained national or international acclaim, can qualify.
- Outstanding professors and researchers can qualify.
- Certain multinational executives and managers can qualify.
The route for extraordinary ability is commonly known as EB-1A and the route for multinational managers as EB-1C. The category for multinational managers builds on a qualifying relationship between the foreign and U.S. entities and on managerial or executive capacity, the same ideas that govern the L-1A visa.
The Skokie L-1A visa for managers and executives connects to the EB-1C pathway. An L-1A requires at least one continuous year of managerial or executive employment abroad, and neither the L-1A nor the EB-1C requires a labor certification.
The Skokie O-1 visa connects to the EB-1A green card in a similar way, because both categories rely on evidence of sustained national or international acclaim. A U.S. employer or agent must file the O-1 petition. Deciding which route fits an applicant’s record is the first task.
What Does the Second Preference Cover?
The second tier reaches professionals who hold advanced degrees and people of exceptional ability. The statute also lets the government waive the requirement that an employer seek the person’s services when doing so is in the national interest, which is the basis for the EB-2 national interest waiver. EB-2 national interest waivers and EB-3 green cards for skilled workers are both among the categories the firm handles in Skokie employment based immigration matters for employers and workers.
Where Do Skilled Workers Fit?
The third tier covers skilled workers, professionals, and other workers who have a labor certification. Most employer-sponsored EB-2 and EB-3 cases require PERM labor certification, a Department of Labor recruitment process, before the I-140 immigrant petition can be filed.
PERM applications can fail on details, and PERM labor certification pitfalls include prevailing wage determinations, recruitment timing, and the accuracy of ETA Form 9089. The Department of Labor does not correct clerical errors after filing, and selected cases must produce their recruitment records on a short deadline, so employers should keep an audit file from the start.
Which Temporary Work Visas Sit Alongside the Green Card Tiers?
Several temporary work visas operate next to the green card categories, and Skokie work visa matters can involve H-1B, L-1, O-1, E-2, and TN petitions. Sponsoring employers take on compliance obligations, such as Labor Condition Application (LCA) filings for H-1B workers and I-9 verification for new hires, and workers need to maintain valid status while they wait. Deciding whether a temporary visa, a green card tier, or both fit a worker’s goals is the starting point of any employment-based matter.
Does an Approved Petition Mean an Immediate Green Card?
The answer depends on the applicant’s country. For nationals of high-demand countries, an approved I-140 does not produce an immediate green card, because they must wait for their priority date to become current. Because the tiers have different requirements, matching a person’s record to the right one is the core of any Skokie employment based immigration case. A wait for a priority date can last long enough that the choice of tier shapes years of planning.
Can a Stalled Case Be Sped Up?
A stalled case has several possible remedies, though each has limits. Premium processing through Form I-907 can speed an I-140 petition, but it does not cover PERM labor certification, Form I-485, or visa number availability, so an approved I-140 can still leave other steps to resolve. Options for expediting a green card case that has stalled include service requests, the CIS Ombudsman, and a federal mandamus lawsuit.
Who Leads the Firm?
Dworsky Law Firm is led by attorney Ashley Dworsky, who is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, and the federal court for the Northern District of Illinois. The South African Bar is among the other bars where Dworsky is admitted.
Each tier has its own proof and its own wait, so employers and workers in Skokie planning a green card strategy can reach out to the firm before choosing a category.
