Is EB-1 faster than EB-2?
by Admin
Posted on 06-12-2023 03:47 PM
Back to news home page
before i jump right into this topic let me quickly bring everyone up to speed. Employers can sponsor aliens for their green cards by filing a form i-140 for an eb-2 green card if the alien has an advanced degree or an eb-3 green card if the alien has a bachelors degree. For those nationals originally from india the current wait time for an eb-2 green card is about 10 years and for an eb-3 green card the wait time is 14 years. In contrast, the eb-1 green card is for any alien who can successfully claim that they are at the “top” of their profession.
For many years, the eb3 backlog lagged severely behind the eb2 category. In recent years, however, while eb3 remains retrogressed for all countries, it is only retrogressed by a few months for most countries. However, for those chargeable to india and the philippines, eb3 lags many years behind being current. On the other hand, the employment based eb2 category is far less oversubscribed. In fact, for all countries except india and china, eb2 is current, which means that immigrant visas are available as soon as the petition is approved. While india is not current in the eb2 category, it is far less retrogressed than the eb3 category.
What if I have never worked for the employer?
Eb-1c is for multinational managers or those with managerial or executive capacity.
You must be able to prove your business-related contributions. This is a tricky category to apply to as an h-1b holder because uscis specifies that you must have worked for the foreign entity of your employer for one year prior to your application for eb-1c. However, you would have likely spent recent years working in the us under h-1b. This means you would need to return to canada to work in an executive capacity in order to apply under the eb-1c category. Green cards issued for the eb-1c category for multinational executives and managers are not eligible for premium processing.
To qualify for an EB1 visa as a multinational executive or manager, you must have been employed outside the us for at least one year in the past three years preceding the visa petition. If you are already working in the us on a nonimmigrant status, you must also have worked for a minimum of 1 year abroad before working in the us. In addition, your us-based employer who will file your visa petition must have been doing business for at least one year. They must also have a qualifying relationship with the company where you worked abroad. Examples of qualifying relationships include being a subsidiary or affiliate to the company abroad.
The o1 visa to green card visa process takes between 18 to 30 months to process. Skipping the perm labor certification stage through self-petition, national interest waiver, or the eb 5 visa shortens the o-1 visa to green card visa processing time.
Currently, the u. S. Allows roughly 140,000 employment-based green cards to be distributed within a year. Around 40,000 of those are reserved for individuals in the eb-2 category. There’s no cost to file for an eb-2 green card, but it can take 6-8 months for an employer to hear back from the dol about the certification process. The second step of receiving a green card that involves the filing of an i-140 petition currently costs $700 by check or money order to the most relevant uscis regional service center. Once the i-140 is filed, the uscis will review and make a decision whether or not to approve it.