There are several ways to obtain a Green Card for the US, as your immigration attorney will tell you in your first free consultation. In fact, there are 5 preference categories. The EB3 visa for skilled and unskilled professionals is probably one of the broadest, allowing many people to apply. However, this can also imply a long waiting period.
Below you can find information about the professional categories included in this EB3 visa with a few examples.
What professional categories does this include?
An EB3 can include three basic categories: skilled workers, professional workers and unskilled workers.
- In the case of skilled workers, the person will need a full-time job offer coming from an US based employer. Basically, in these cases the employer is the one who starts the process and aims to obtain an approved certification for labor coming from the US Labor Department. This will confirm the fact that the employer has actually tried to find suitable workers for the job throughout the US but was unable to find people as qualified and willing as the applicant. Technically labor certification is needed for all the three professional categories, although less so for the third category of unskilled workers. The visa obtaining process is typically a bit different in the case of skilled workers. The category may include workers that do not necessarily have a college degree but have at least a couple of years of experience and training in the respective profession. Computer and technical workers, chefs and journalists or graphic designers are a few job categories included here. The laws are not particularly clear about how much experience or actual training a worker should have to qualify. If you are trying to find more info on this specific requirement, you can always contact the local state labor department office.
- In the case of professional workers, immigration laws are quite unclear on the definition. Initially, only professions like architects, medics, engineers and teachers were included. However, as your immigration attorney will explain, USCIS will accept people with a university degree who actually work in their particular field of expertise. So, if you have a BA and have less than 5 years of work experience, you will be considered a very good fit.
- As for unskilled labor, you should know that only a limited number of green cards is actually allotted to unskilled workers. As a result, these will have to wait more than the other professionals. This largely depends on how many other people have applied for the visa. Keep in mind the fact that caregivers and nannies are considered unskilled workers, so this is probably one of the most crowded categories. Basically any occupation that has required less than two years of training can be considered unskilled. Nurses, garden workers can also be included in such categories. As your specialized accidents attorney will tell you, your qualifications must satisfy all the requirements of the job, otherwise you may not get the visa.