EB-3 visa


EB-3 is a visa preference category for United States employment-based permanent residency. It is intended for "skilled workers", "professionals", and "other workers". Those are prospective immigrants who don't qualify for the EB-1 or EB-2 preferences. The EB-3 requirements are less stringent, but the backlog may be longer. Unlike persons with extraordinary abilities in the EB-1 category, EB-3 applicants require a sponsoring employer. There is no "self-petition" category.

Eligibility criteria

The EB-3 category has three subcategories: EB-3A, Professionals; EB-3B, Skilled Workers; and EB-3C, Other Workers. For each, eligibility requirements include:
Separate requirements for each category are:
  • Skilled workers - must be able to demonstrate at least 2 years of job experience or training
  • Professionals - must possess a U.S. baccalaureate degree or foreign degree equivalent, and must demonstrate that a baccalaureate degree is the normal requirement for entry into the occupation. Education and experience may not be substituted for a baccalaureate degree.
  • Other workers - must be capable, at the time the petition is filed by the sponsoring employer, of performing unskilled labor, that is not of a temporary or seasonal nature, for which qualified workers are not available in the United States.

    Quotas

As of September 2012, the Department of State determined that the FY-2012 numerical limit for the worldwide employment-based preference must be 144,951, and the per-country limit must be 7% of the worldwide cap, regardless of the population of the country. Out of this, the EB-3 category is limited to 28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not used by EB-1 and EB-2, and with not more than 10,000 for "other workers".

Application

The application process begins with obtaining a Permanent Labor Certification, by submitting ETA Form 9089. The applicant does not need to be employed when the labor certification is filed; a future job offer is sufficient. The labor certification will accompany the actual application, the Petition for Alien Worker, which will confirm the applicant's states under E34, E35, EW4 or EW5 visas. During the lengthy application process, many persons in the EB-3 category acquire additional experience or education, and are eligible apply for an "upgrade" to EB-2.
As of February 2016, the Department of State application processing fee for employment-based immigrant visas is. The fee for the USCIS Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is. Other costs include medical examination and, if applicable, required vaccinations; translations; fees for obtaining supporting documents such as passport, police certificates, birth certificates, etc.