Permanent residence based upon prospective employment.
U.S. immigration law divides prospective employment petitions into employment "preference" categories that are distinguished by the type of employment and the training and experience required and possessed by the prospective alien employee.
Most, but not all, of the preference categories require that the prospective alien employee be sponsored by an actual U.S. employer who is offering the alien a position that requires the alien's skill. Most aliens in the second and third preference categories are required to complete the PERM "labor certification" process, in which the alien's sponsoring employer must demonstrate — through a process of recruiting U.S. workers — that no minimally qualified U.S. worker is available to perform the job at the prevailing wage. Certain aliens in the second preference category whose immigration is in the "national interest" may avoid the PERM labor certification process.
The Employment Preference Categories
First preference — EB-1
Qualifying aliens with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers.
Second preference — EB-2
Members of the professions holding advanced degrees or their equivalent, and qualifying aliens with exceptional ability.
Third preference — EB-3
Qualifying workers capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of qualified training or experience, professionals who hold baccalaureate degrees, and other qualified unskilled laborers.
Fourth preference — EB-4
Certain special immigrants, including religious workers.
Fifth preference — EB-5
Certain qualifying investors who create employment in the United States.
Temporary employment visas
H-1B, L-1, E, TN, B-1, O, P, and R classifications each carry different requirements, quotas, and filing locations.
Read the overviewEmployment Immigration FAQs
You must begin the process with an employment offer. In that regard, a prospective employer may file an H-1B petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") to classify you for temporary employment in a "specialty occupation," provided that your Bachelor's degree and proposed employment position qualify under immigration law.
If your prospective employer's petition is granted, you would be classified in the "H-1B" non-immigrant visa classification and could be authorized to work for as many as six total years. "Specialty occupation" means an occupation requiring the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge to fully perform an occupation, and which requires the attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree as a minimum requirement to perform the job duties. Specialty occupations include such professionals as engineers, computer professionals, accountants, systems analysts, architects, physical therapists, scientists, librarians, market researchers, psychologists, financial analysts, management consultants, and some health care professionals.
Your prospective employer must obtain an approved Labor Condition Application from the U.S. Department of Labor before filing an H-1B petition. Additionally, if you are in the U.S. in a non-immigrant status such as an F-1 student — whether or not you are in your period of optional practical training ("OPT") — you may seek to change your classification from F-1 to H-1B without leaving the U.S. In the alternative, however, you may also apply for an H-1B visa at an American Consulate General or Embassy in your home country.
H-1B visas are subject to an annual quota for each government fiscal year. In that regard, 65,000 are allotted for traditional specialty occupations and an additional 20,000 are allotted for those H-1B aliens who have attained a master's degree or higher from a U.S. university. USCIS historically receives more H-1B petitions than are permitted under the annual quota, so it begins accepting H-1B petitions for new employment on April 1 of each year for employment to begin on or after October 1, the first day of the fiscal year.
Employment for certain other specified employers, and petitions for present H-1B beneficiaries who desire to extend their present H-1B classification or change employers, are not subject to the annual quota.
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