• Employment-Based Visa Petitions -EB -3

    • The EB-3 category is for professionals, skilled workers and unskilled workers. This category requires a labor certificate, unless the position is a Schedule A occupation (physical therapists, nurses and persons of exceptional ability in science, arts, university teaching, or performing arts).

    EB-3 (1) – SKILLED WORKERS

    Skilled workers are those who are employed in or being offered a position that requires two years or more of experience, education or training. This is distinguishable from unskilled workers, where the position offered generally does not require experience.

    Examples of skilled worker positions are: accountants, bookkeepers, engineers, paralegals, carpenters, chefs, warehouse supervisors, stone masons.

    Being sponsored as a skilled worker is a good alternative for those who don’t have an advanced degree, or are being sponsored for a position that is not skilled enough to qualify for EB-2.

    PROS:
    - Relatively easy to qualify for the Skilled Worker category

    CONS:
    - Need a labor certificate, which adds on an additional six months to a year of processing, so this procedure does not give any immediate status or permission to work.
    - Need a sponsor – and the sponsor must have good federal income tax returns
    - The EB-3 category is currently backlogged by several years, so applicants should expect that it will take at least three years, possibly more, to get their green card.

    EB-3 (2) – UNSKILLED WORKERS

    Unskilled worker positions are those that require very little experience, if any, in order to properly perform the duties. Examples of these are: housekeepers, babysitters, cashiers, line cooks.

    PROS:
    - Very easy to qualify for the Skilled Worker category

    CONS:
    - Due to the backlog, this is the slowest of all of the employment-based sponsorship categories, possibly taking as much as seven or eight years, or more, to give permanent residence.
    - Need a labor certificate from the Department of Labor, so this procedure does not give any immediate status or permission to work.
    - Need a sponsor – and the sponsor must have good federal income tax returns