Overview of EB Visa

Every fiscal year (October 1st – September 30th), approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas are made available to qualified applicants under the provisions of U.S. immigration law. Employment based immigrant visas are divided into five preference categories. Certain spouses and children may accompany or follow-to-join employment-based immigrants. A direct Green card can be obtained through US EB-3 visa.

A Green Card officially known as a permanent resident card is a legal document which allows you to live and work permanently in the United States. It is issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Now, the question is how to get a USA Green Card?

USA EB-3 Visa is an Employment Based visa which allows you and your family to accompany you and get the Green Cards. The “3” in EB-3 refers to 3rd preference category of EB Visas. This visa requires a sponsoring employer and is not a ‘self-petition’ category visa. The EB3 Visa issues limited number of visas per year. Out of total 140,000 immigrant visas issued for the employment category, 28.6% are allocated for the EB3. After the quota has been reached for the year, the rest of the applications are put on hold for next year.

EB-3 allows three different types of workers who qualify for the visa. The three sub-categories are as below:

• Skilled Workers: Completion of at least 2 years of job experience or training.
• Professionals: Proof of higher educational degree or its equivalency to a Bachelors degree.
• Unskilled Workers: Requires at least 2 years of work experience or training.

Benefits of the US EB-3 Visa

• Allows the foreign workers to live in the US permanently and work.
• Allows you to within and outside the U.S as well as shift and live in a different state in the U.S.
• The main benefit of this visa is after a year, the job position and the employer can be switched as the primary condition of the visa is to work only 1 Year with the employer who has provided the job.

Eligibility requirements travel of the Visa:

• Valid and permanent job offer from a U.S employer
• Qualified to meet the job description in terms of education level and job experience

The processing time for the visa is 16 months.

USA EB 3 to USA Citizenship:

There are additional benefits after making the transfer from EB-3 to citizenship. This is done through a process called naturalization. After acquiring US Citizenship, you can work as a federal government employee, you can sponsor your family members for a green card, you can vote in the primary elections, you will no longer have to renew your immigration status, your children automatically become the US Citizen if they are born abroad and most importantly you cannot be deported from the US.

How to apply for US EB-3 Visa?

The application process begins with obtaining a labor certification application document by submission of ETA Form 9089 to the Department of Labor (DOL). The labor certification will be accompanied by the actual application (Form I-40). The DOL takes 6-8 months for Labor certification to be approved. Once approved, the employer can move on to the next step of hiring foreign worker.

To get the final approval to hire the foreign employee, the U.S employer must file a petition to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by filling the Form I-40 (Immigrant Petition for Foreign Worker) and providing supporting financial documents such as Bank Statements, audits, tax returns for USCIS to evaluate whether they are able to pay the foreign workers and afford additional employees. It usually takes approximately 6 months to get it approved by the USCIS.

USCIS evaluates the petition and decides whether to approve it. After the approval of the petition, the case goes to the National Visa Center (NVC).

NVC will then send a package to the foreign worker in any of the categories. The package is completed by NVC within 1-2 months. The applicant will be notified to pay the visa fee bill.

Applicant and all the family members prepare the required documents, birth certificate, marriage certificate. All the documents have to be translated into English and notarized by the government.

DS-260 Form (Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration form) is to be filled out.

Final Step: Attend the Visa Interview at the scheduled time.

We, at M-J Global, offer the unskilled category of EB-3, which is the easiest process due to its popular demand. Below are the stages that would help you and your family achieve the dream of USA Green Card.

How to process EB-3

Step One – Sign Contract

1. Submit copy of applicant passport first biographic page (page with photo)
2. Fill out EB-3 Application Questionnaire and sign the name

Step Two – Submit Form 9089 Labor certification application

1. Prepare Labor certification application document for submission
2. 6-8 months processing time to get Labor certification approved

Step Three – Submit I-140 to USCIS

1. Prepare Form I-140 documents
2. Submit Immigrant petition for Alien worker (Form I-140) to USCIS
   1. Pay $700 to file regular petition. It usually takes approximately 6 months to get approved;
   2. Pay additional $1,410 Premium processing fee to expedite processing. It will take approximately 15 days to get approved.
3. USCIS approve I-140 petition

P.S. If applicant is currently holding valid non-immigrant visa such as F-1, E-1, E-2, B-1 or B-2, applicant can be qualified to file adjustment of status application (I-485) in the U.S.

Step Four – National Visa Center (NVC) send Visa Fee Bill notice

1. 1-2 months after I-140 is approved, National Visa Center (NVC) will notify applicant to pay visa fee bill, each person pays $345 for the Immigrant Visa processing fee (Visa Fee Bill)
2. Applicant and family members prepare birth certificate, Police certificate and marriage certificate, all the documents have to be translated to English and notarized by the government
3. Fill out Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration form (DS 260 form)

Step Five – Interview

1. Within 1-2 months, National Visa Center (NVC) completes immigrant visa processing package
2. NVC will send the package to the U.S. Consulate
3. U.S. Consulate receives package – starts processing background check with FBI and CIS
4. Within 2-4 months, U.S. Consulate notifies applicant for interview
5. Applicant and family members do medical examination for interview
6. Applicant and family member go to interview with medical report and Employment Letter.