Immigrant Visas
Most highly skilled workers and the HR staff interested in obtaining their services need to first consider the possibility of qualifying for a pre-certified green card classification to reduce the time and the expense associated with the green card application process in the United States. The pre-certified green card classifications allow the prospective candidate and the prospective employer to save time and money. There are several pre-certified green card classifications to consider:
- EB-1(a) - Extraordinary Ability - Applicants with "extraordinary ability and achievements in the arts, sciences, business or athletics" who intend to continue to work in their field. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services ("CIS") maintains that the individual must be at the "very top of his/her field of endeavor" but our practice continues to show that very top people have been denied, and less meritorious people approved for this classification.
- EB-1(b) - Outstanding Professors or Researchers - This category is reserved for persons who have at least three years of training or teaching experience and are internationally recognized for their work. The prospective employer needs to provide a job offer and file a petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security. Applicants with at least three years of experience as a (tenure track) professor or what is judged to be a comparable level of research in an academic institution or in research and development in a private industry.
- EB-1(c) - Multinational Executives or Managers - Applicants who have at least one full year of prior (documented) experience as an executive or manager with a qualifying foreign affiliate, subsidiary or branch office of a U.S. employer within the preceding three years.
- EB-2(a) - Schedule A, Group II - There is an often overlooked classification that remains in the law following a regulatory change in the early-1990s. An Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability Professional can be an applicant who has (and who is doing a job that requires) a Master's Degree (or higher) or its equivalent and who is recognized as having "exceptional ability" in a field of endeavor. This classification requires sponsorship by the employer (NOTE: CIS often confuses this standard with the standards for EB-1(a)).
- EB-2(b) - Exceptional Ability and National Interest Waivers - Applicants with "exceptional ability in the arts, sciences or business" and for whom the Labor Certification Process (PERM) may be waived if the position is in the "national interest." The National Interest Waiver may be made if the work of the prospective employee will benefit the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers, will improves the Nation's Healthcare System, will improve the use of the Nation's Natural Resources or if the work in coincides with the "mission" of U.S. Government Agency.
- EB-3- Other Workers - The E-3 Other Workers immigrant visa/green card covers workers in specialty occupation, which are those requiring a body of knowledge in a professional field, and at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent. To obtain an E-3 Other Workers immigrant visa/green card visa, the foreign national employee needs an employer sponsor.
- EB-4 - Special Immigrant Religious Workers - Applicants are members of a religious denomination that has a non-profit religious organization in the United States. Applicants must have been a member of this religious denomination for at least two years before applying for admission to the United States.
- EB-5 - Entrepreneurs or Investors - Applicants who have invested $1 Million of capital or $500,000 (in a specially designated economic area in certain States) in a business or purchase an existing one may be eligible for this type of visa.
