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Employment-Based Green Cards – Application Process

After you have actually gotten a suitable task deal from a U.S. company (if you require a job deal under your potential category of legal irreversible house), getting a U.S. green card is a multistage process. Here, we’ll provide an overview.

Basic Steps to Receiving U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence Based Upon Employment

Exceptional Case: Making An Application For a U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence Without Labor Certification

Lawful Permanent Residence for Spouse and Children of Employee

Basic Steps to Receiving U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence Based Upon Employment

In quick, obtaining a work based permit involves these actions:

– Your prospective employer requests what’s called a prevailing wage decision (PWD) from the U.S. Department of Labor, employment using the online FLAG system. The PWD is the Department of Labor’s formal judgment as to just how much cash is normally paid to people in tasks like the one you’ve been offered. The PWD will typically expire within a year or less, so it will be very important to recruit for and file the PERM labor accreditation right after the PWD is provided.
– Your employer advertises and employment hires for the task you’ve been provided and ultimately figures out (in great faith) that there are no qualified U.S. employees readily available and ready to take the job.
– Your company files a PERM labor accreditation application online, using the electronic USDOL Form 9089.
– You wait the numerous months that the DOL will require to adjudicate the PERM labor certification application, and employment mail the certified PERM application to your employer (this time frame can extend up to a year if the DOL chooses your PERM application for audit).
– Within 180 days of the PERM labor accreditation approval, your employer prepares and files a petition using Form I-140, issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
– After USCIS approves the petition, employment you wait until a visa is readily available. It might be instantly offered, if the variety of individuals who applied in your category because exact same year is less than the variety of visas readily available; or if too many people used, then you may need to wait until your Priority Date ends up being current. (Get info on monitoring your Priority Date.).
– You file a green card application and pay the costs, either using USCIS Form I-485 to “change status,” which ultimately includes an interview at a local immigration office near your home, or by finishing a number of actions to eventually have an interview at a U.S. consulate beyond the U.S. (through what is called “consular processing”). Which procedure you utilize depends upon where you are living now, and if you remain in the U.S., whether you are lawfully present or otherwise eligible to adjust status. (For employment detailed information on these treatments, see Getting a Green Card: Consular Processing vs. Adjustment of Status.).
– If your interview is at a consulate, employment after approval you enter the U.S. with your immigrant visa, at which time you end up being a long-term resident. Your green card will show up by mail a number of weeks later on.

Note that in cases when there is no backlog in your green card classification (and everyone’s priority date is present according to the Department of State’s newest Visa Bulletin), you can submit your I-485 application in addition to your company’s I-140 petition. If you’re following the consular processing option, you’ll need to wait on I-140 approval from USCIS before preparing your documents for the visa interview abroad.

Exceptional Case: Getting a U.S. Lawful Permanent Residence Without Labor Certification

If you certify for an immigrant visa category that does not need labor accreditation, then you will not need to follow all of the steps detailed above.

You or your employer will merely file the USCIS Form I-140 immigrant petition directly with the USCIS Service Center and, once it’s authorized, either file a Type I-485 permit application with USCIS (if you are legally present within the United States and to change status) or wait for guidelines from the National Visa Center (NVC) to prepare you for a visa interview at a U.S. embassy abroad.

Lawful Permanent Residence for Spouse and Children of Employee

If you’re married or have children listed below the age of 21 and you receive a green card through employment, your spouse and children can get permits as accompanying family members. They will need to provide proof of their family relationship to you, such as marital relationship or employment birth certificates.