categories of immigrant visas
Employment-Based Visas
A total of 140,000 immigrant visas yearly are available for this category of immigrants. It is divided into five preference groups (percent of yearly limit in parentheses):
1. Priority workers
Persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; and certain multinational executives and managers (28.6%). All Priority Workers must be the beneficiary of an approved Form I-140, Petition for Prospective Immigrant Employee.
Within this preference there are three subgroups:
- Persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics. Applicants in this category must have extensive documentation showing sustained national or international acclaim and recognition in the field of expertise. Such applicants do not have to have a specific job offer so long as they are entering the United States to continue work in the field in which they have extraordinary ability. Such applicants can file their own petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), rather than through an employer.
- Outstanding professors and researchers with at least three years experience in teaching or research, who are recognized internationally. No labor certification is required for this classification. But the prospective employer must provide a job offer and file a petition with the USCIS.
- Certain executives and managers who have been employed at least one of the three preceding years by the overseas affiliate, parent, subsidiary or branch of the U.S. employer. The applicant must be coming to the United States to work in a managerial or executive capacity. No labor certification is required for this classification, but the prospective employer must provide a job offer and file a petition with the USCIS.
2. Members of the professions
Professionals holding advanced degrees and persons of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts and business (28.6%). All 2nd preference applicants require an approved Form I-140, Petition for Prospective Immigrant Employee.
There are two subgroups within this preference category:
- Professionals holding an advanced degree (beyond a baccalaureate degree), or a baccalaureate degree and at least five years progressive experience in the profession.
- Persons with exceptional ability in the arts, sciences, or business. Exceptional ability refers to persons who have a degree of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered within their field.
All such applicants must have a Labor Certification approved by the U.S. Department of Labor, or Schedule A designation, or establish that they qualify for one of the shortage occupations in the Labor Market Information Pilot Program. A job offer is required and the U.S. employer must file a petition on behalf of the applicant. Aliens may apply for exemption from the job offer and labor certification if the exemption would be in the national interest, in which case the alien may file the petition, along with evidence of the national interest.
3. Professionals, skilled and unskilled workers
Professionals holding baccalaureate degrees, skilled workers with at least two years experience and other workers whose skills are in short supply in the United States (28.6%). (Unskilled workers are subject to a sublimit of 10,000.) All 3rd preference applicants require an approved Form I-140, Petition for Prospective Immigrant Employee filed by the prospective employer. All such workers require a Labor Certification, or Schedule A designation, or evidence that they qualify for one of the shortage occupations in the Labor Market Information Pilot Program.
There are three subgroups within this preference category:
- Skilled workers are persons capable of performing a job requiring at least two years' training or experience.
- Professionals with a baccalaureate degree are members of a profession with at least a university bachelor's degree.
- Other workers are those persons capable of filling positions requiring less than two years' training or experience. The number of visas available in this subcategory is limited to no more than 10,000 per year worldwide.
4. Special Immigrants
Certain religious workers and ministers of religion, certain international organization employees and their immediate family members, and specially qualified and recommended current and former employees of the U.S. Government (7.1%). All such applicants, must be the beneficiary of an approved I-360 visa petition, except overseas employees of the U.S. Government who must have a form DS-1884 petition.
There are six subgroups in this category:
- Religious workers coming to carry on the vocation of a minister of religion, or to work in a professional capacity in a religious vocation, or to work for a tax-exempt organization affiliated with a religious denomination (limited to 5,000 per year)
- Certain overseas employees of the U.S. Government
- Former employees of the Panama Canal Company
- Retired employees of international organizations
- Certain dependents of international organization employees
- Certain members of the U.S. Armed Forces (separate numerical provisions apply)
5. Investors
Persons who create employment for at least 10 unrelated persons (U.S. citizens, permanent resident aliens, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family) by investing capital in a new commercial enterprise in the United States (7.1 %). The minimum amount of capital required is between $500,000 and $1,000,000 depending on the employment rate in the geographic area. All applicants must file a form I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, with the INS.
For more general information on the steps to be taken in applying for immigrant visas, click here.