The EB-3 Visa

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Many workers, from engineers with bachelor’s degrees to unskilled laborers, may be admitted to the United States under the EB-3 visa classification. This category is devoted to skilled workers, professionals and unskilled laborers. Immaterial of education and experience, anyone applying for this visa must have a job offer in the US.

 

The EB-3 belongs to a large category of employment-based immigrant visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) grants 140,000 EB visas each year, including one for immigrant investors (the EB-5) and one for individuals of exceptional ability (the EB-2).

 

Like the EB-1 and EB-2 , the EB-3 visa requires that the individual be offered a full-time, permanent position in the US. The number of EB-3 visas available depends, in part, on the number of EB-1 and EB-2 visas granted.

 

The USCIS allots 120,000 visas for the EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 categories. Forty thousand visas, plus any remaining from the other two categories, are available for EB-3 applicants. Although the EB-3 visa is available to individuals with a variety of backgrounds, it does not mean it is simple to receive. The EB-3 like the EB-1 and EB-2 requires the following:

 

The foreign national should be offered a full time, permanent position in the US. position. The Department of Labor has to certify that there are no available US workers for the position (This is known as the labor certification.) The foreign national has to meet the minimum requirements for the position offered and employer must be able to pay the salary offered. Professionals with Bachelor’s Degrees to file for an EB-3 visa as a professional, an individual must hold a US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent.

 

An individual cannot substitute work experience for education when applying as a professional. While the USCIS considers a profession to be a field requiring a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, an individual need not have a bachelor’s degree in the field in which he/she is offered employment.

 

Skilled Workers: To qualify as a skilled worker, the position offered must require at least two years’ training and experience. The individual filing for the visa must possess the required background for the job. Because of a backlog in the unskilled labor category, it is extremely important that the employer demonstrates to the USCIS that the skilled position does in fact require at least two years’ training and experience.

 

Other Workers: The Department of Labor defines unskilled labor as work requiring less than two years’ training or experience. Because there is an annual limit of 10,000 EB-3 visas for unskilled labor, there may be backlogs.

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