EB-3 visa

Immigrant Visa for Professional, Skilled, and Unskilled Workers

The EB-3 Visa belongs to a large category of employment-based (EB) immigrant visas. The EB-3 visa allows professional, skilled and certain unskilled workers, who cannot classify for an EB-1 or EB-2 visa, to obtain a Green Card.

The requirements for an EB-3 are less rigorous, but you have to wait more time. In fact, the EB-3 visa is backlogged and all the process may take between 3 and 5 years. For the citizens of India and China, the process can even exceed 10 years. During the lengthy application process, some people applying for an EB-3 category, may acquire additional experience or credentials, and gain an “upgrade” to the EB-2 visa.

The EB-3 visa includes three categories:

EB-3A. Professional workers with at least a U.S. baccalaureate degree in the United States or foreign degree equivalent. The baccalaureate degree must be the normal requirement for the practice of that profession.

This category includes professions such as lawyer, doctor, architect, engineer, or teacher. A worker with a bachelor’s degree and less than five years of work experience can opt for this category.

EB-3B. Skilled workers with at least two years of job experience or training, not of temporary or seasonal nature. The job does not require a bachelor’s degree and includes professions such as chef, journalist, stylist, or technician in charge of information technology.

Professional and Skilled workers need a Labor certification and a full-time job offer. You must be performing work for which qualified workers are not available in the United States.

EB-3C. The subcategory “other workers” is for people performing unskilled labor. Unskilled job requires less than two years of training or experience, not of a temporary or seasonal nature. This category includes occupations such as: baby sitter, housekeeper, caretaker, garden maintenance worker or nurse.

So, an occupation which requires training or experience of less than two years, is usually considered “unqualified”.

The employer must be interested in hiring you and willing to petition for you. Then, the employer must demonstrate he/she has recruited potential candidates, but no U.S. workers are qualified, willing, and available. He/she must complete a request for the Labor Certification and send it to the Department of Labor (DOL). The employer must then file a “Petition for Alien Worker” through the Form I-140, to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), demonstrating the ability to pay the offered wage. The employer may use an annual report, the tax return or an audited financial statement, to demonstrate the ability to pay the wages. Finally, evidence must be submitted that the alien meets the job requirements, such as a copy of a bachelor’s degree or any other evidence.

The spouse and children under 18 of age, can get a Green Card, under one of these categories:

1. E34 spouse and E35 son of a professional or skilled worker
2. EW4 spouse and EW5 son of “other worker”.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) grants 140.000 EB visas each year, including EB-1 and EB2 or the immigrant investor EB-5. Only 40,000 EB-3 visas are granted each year. There are extreme backlogs, because only 10.000 EB-3 visas are reserved to unskilled workers. Unskilled workers must then wait even longer for the Green Card than workers in the other two sub-categories.

If you would like a free evaluation of your immigration case, please fill out a contact form with as many details as possible. I am also available for in-person consultations at my office in New York City.