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Immigrant Visas

Employment-Based Immigration

The Immigration and Nationality Act provides a yearly minimum of 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas which are divided into five preference categories. They may require a Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the filing of an I-140 petition with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS).

In general, a specific offer of employment from a U.S. based employer is required to qualify for immigration in the employment based preference categories. Prior to filing a petition with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS), applicants for classification as a member of the professions, professionals, skilled or unskilled workers must obtain certification from the U.S. Department of Labor that there are no qualified workers available for the proposed employment in the U.S.

Whenever there are more qualified applicants for a category than there are available numbers, the category will be considered oversubscribed, and immigrant visas will be issued in the chronological order in which the petitions were filed until the numerical limit for the category is reached. The filing date of a petition becomes the applicant’s priority date. Immigrant visas cannot be issued until an applicant’s priority date is reached. In certain heavily oversubscribed categories, there may be a waiting period of several years before a priority date is reached. Check the Visa Bulletin for the latest priority dates.

More detailed information about Employment Based Immigration requirements can also be found on the Department of State’s website.

The categories for employment based immigrant visas are:

  1. First Preference (E1 visa); Priority Workers: persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, arts, business or athletics: outstanding professors and researchers & certain multinational executives & managers. People who qualify as Priority Workers may petition on their own behalf with the INS.
  2. Second Preference (E2 visa); Members of “The Professions” Persons with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts and business: defined as a member of the professions holding an advanced degree or equivalent, or baccalaureate degree plus at least 5 years of progressive experience in the specialty, and persons of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts and business
  3. Employment Third Preference (E3 visa); Professionals: A person who holds a baccalaureate degree and who is a member of the professions
  4. Employment Fourth Preference (E4 visa); Skilled and Unskilled Workers: Skilled workers with at least two years training or experience and unskilled workers whose skills are in short supply in the U.S. Note: The Consulate does not keep a list of these professions.
  5. Employment Fourth Preference (E4 visa); Special Immigrants: Certain religious workers and ministers of religion, certain international organization employees, qualified and recommended current and former employees of the U.S. government, and returning residents must apply to the Secretary of State through a U.S. consular office abroad. All other special immigrants must file a Form I-360 petition with an INS office. To download this form please go to: U.S. Citizenship& Immigration Forms
  6. Employment Fifth Preference (E5 visa) Investors: All applicants must file a Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur with USCIS. To qualify, an alien must invest between U.S. $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the employment rate in the geographical area, in a commercial enterprise in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family.