Obtaining a “green card”— indicating lawful permanent residency in the U.S.—is the primary goal of our clients who are planning to live in the United States. Having lawful permanent residency enables you to live and work in the U.S indefinitely. It also allows you to become a U.S. citizen. Generally, there are 3 ways to obtain a Green Card.
1. Employment-Based Immigrant Visas
In order to receive an immigrant visa through employment, you must have a job offer from a U.S. employer, specific education and/or work experience and in some cases there must be no American willing or able to take that particular job.
Immigrant visas are subject to a quota, however, at a minimum, 140,000 visas are issued per year. In addition, visas are allocated by categories of preference. Some employment based visas include:
- Immigrants with extraordinary ability in business, arts or sciences
- Managers and Executives of multi-national businesses
- Outstanding professors or researchers
- Immigrants with advanced degrees and performing work in the national interest
- Immigrants with job offers and a Bachelor degree or higher, or work experience
- Religious workers and ministers whose services are required by their non-profit religious organization
- Immigrant investors with substantial funds invested in the United States.
PERM Process:
Some employment-based applications require you to go through a process called Program Review Electronic Management (PERM). This is a procedure by which the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) certifies there is a lack of qualified U.S. workers in your job category. Once you receive an approved labor certification, you can apply to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) for your immigrant visa. You can view an approved labor certification by visiting the Success Stories page of our Website.
2. Family-Based Immigrant Visas
- You are an immediate relative of U.S. citizens, such as a fiancée, parent, child or spouse
- You are the adult child, married or unmarried, of a U.S. citizen
- You are the spouse or unmarried child of a lawful permanent resident
- You are the brother of sister of a U.S. citizen
- You are being adopted by a U.S. citizen
In such instances, your relative can sponsor you for permanent residency.
3. Diversity Lottery Visa
Each year, the Diversity Lottery Program makes 55,000 new immigrant visas available for individuals from underrepresented nations. Administered by the U.S. State Department, the Diversity Lottery Program requires that you have either a high school education, its equivalent, or two years work experience within the last five years in a job which demands two years training. You or your spouse must be a native of a nation eligible for the Diversity Lottery Program.
Labor Certification under PERM
Labor certification is the process by which an employer files a request with the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) to “certify” that there are no qualified U.S. citizens, permanent residents, asylees or refugees (“legal worker”) ready, willing and able to perform the work in question. Based upon such a certification, the alien can then begin the final steps in permanent residence processing. This is an outline of the process for applying for a labor certification under the PERM procedures.
The position for which the labor certification is sought must be a full time position, and the employer must, if requested by the DOL or the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”), be able to demonstrate that it has the ability to pay the prevailing wage by submitting its tax returns and other financial data.
The first step is to request a prevailing wage determination from the State Workforce Agency (“SWA”). We will obtain that prevailing wage determination on your behalf. If the SWA prevailing wage is higher than you wish to pay, we will attempt to find a lower wage from other sources which are acceptable to the DOL. You must agree to pay the prevailing wage rate which is ultimately established. However, the prevailing wage does not need to be paid until the alien has been approved for U.S. permanent residence.
A notice of the filing of a labor certification must be given to any union representing employees in the job classification for which you are seeking the labor certification. If there is no union, the notice must be posted at the employer’s place of business, and also posted in any in house print or electronic media in which jobs are normally posted. The notice must be provided at least 30 days prior to filing the labor certification application.
The notice of the job opportunity must be posted for at least 10 consecutive business days. The notice period must be conducted between 180 and 30 days BEFORE submitting the Application for Permanent Employment Certification (ETA Form 9089). The notice must contain the salary, but may contain a wage range, so long as the lower level of the range meets or exceeds the prevailing wage. We will draft the notice of job opportunity.
A job order with the State Workforce Agency (“SWA”) serving the area of intended employment must be placed for a period of 30 days. The start and end dates of the job order entered on the application shall serve as documentation of this step.
Employer must place two (2) newspaper advertisements on two (2) different Sundays in a newspaper of general circulation. The advertisement must take place at least 30 days, but no longer than 180 days before filing the labor certification.
For non-professional positions (attainment of a bachelor’s degree is not normally a requirement for the position), advertising must take place in a local newspaper of general circulation on two different Sundays. In those cases where the job opportunity is for a professional position (a bachelor’s degree or higher is normally required), additional recruitment steps must also be taken (see below).
We will assist you in drafting the job requirements and advertising content. The requirements must be the actual minimum requirements for the position and cannot be tailored to the alien’s qualifications.
The purpose of the advertising is to determine whether any legal worker will respond to the advertisement. All materials received in response to the advertisement must be retained by the employer: the resume, cover letter, if any, and the envelope. Any applications received in response to the advertising and additional recruitment methods must be reviewed for qualifications. Telephone follow up and possible personal interviews may have to be conducted if an applicant appears to be qualified. Each application must be reviewed and a record made as to why each applicant is not qualified, was otherwise not hired, or was hired but openings still remain. Only if all legal workers have been disqualified can the process continue.
In reviewing the resumes, the recruiter should make notes on the qualifications or disqualifications of each individual on a separate sheet of paper (not on original cover letters or on resumes). If any of the applicants appear to be qualified, the recruiter must show a good faith effort in contacting the applicants in a timely manner to conduct an interview. A two week interval between receiving the resume and contacting the applicant is acceptable. A detailed record of all attempts to contact a potential applicant should be maintained. The DOL requires the employer to exhaust all means of contacting a potential applicant. If the recruiter receives no response to messages left on the applicant’s answering machine, he/she should forward a letter to the applicant via certified mail return receipt requested indicating the desire to interview him/her. In addition, a detailed record should be maintained of any interview or phone conversation the recruiter held with a potential applicant.
After the review process has been completed, copies of all resumes (including cover letters) and the notes on the applicants’ disqualifications should be sent to us and we will prepare a letter regarding the recruitment efforts for the employer files.
The labor certification is then submitted to the Department of Labor (ETA Form 9089). This form requires substantial information about the employer and the proposed employee, and requires the employer to make a number of attestations that it will adhere to all the requirements of the labor certification process. The ETA Form 9089 can be submitted either electronically or by mail (the DOL does NOT recommend filing by mail). If the form is submitted electronically, the employer must first register electronically with the DOL and the individual submitting the registration will receive an identification code for future use. We cannot register for you, but we can assist you through the process. Once registered, you can designate us as authorized to file all future documents on your behalf. We will then file the labor certification on your behalf.
No supporting documentation is submitted to the DOL. DOL is expected to approve most applications on the basis of the information in the ETA Form 9089, but may request evidence prior to approving. The DOL may audit the employer at any time. Supporting documentation must be preserved by the employer for a 5-year period from the date of filing.
Once the labor certification is approved by the DOL, the immigrant petition (I 140) can be filed with the USCIS to begin the next step of the permanent residence process. In some cases, the application to adjust status to U.S. permanent residence (I 485), application for work authorization (I 765) and travel authorization (I 131), if appropriate, may be filed concurrently with the I-140. While there are no restrictions on when the I-140 can be filed after the labor certification process has been completed, a visa number for the alien’s country of origin must be available in order to file the I 485.
Our experienced attorneys will work with you to determine the best possible employment preference category for you.
