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U.S. immigration law is federal:
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Attorneys Practicing U.S. Immigration Law Since 1991
Reviewed and current as of August 2026.
If you do not qualify for a green card through a family relationship, employment is the most common alternative route. Congress sets aside roughly 140,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year for people who qualify based on their work, spread across five preference categories numbered EB-1 through EB-5.
Two clarifications at the outset, because both are common sources of confusion. First, every green card holder may work in the United States, whatever route they took to get one; the employment-based categories use work as the basis for the application, not as a permanent restriction. Second, once you hold unconditional permanent residence you are free to change jobs, and your employer is free to let you go, subject to any separate contractual or employment-law obligations. What matters is that both sides genuinely intended the permanent position while the case was pending.
Ask whether you need a U.S. employer to sponsor you, or whether you can apply on your own.
Most employment-based cases are employer-sponsored. A U.S. company offers you a permanent job, and in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories it must ordinarily first prove to the Department of Labor that no qualified U.S. worker is available for that position at the prevailing wage. That process is called labor certification, or PERM, and it is filed on Form ETA-9089 through the Department of Labor’s FLAG system. It is usually the longest and most document-intensive stage of the case.
A smaller set of categories lets you self-petition with no employer and no job offer, based on your own record: EB-1 extraordinary ability, EB-2 with a national interest waiver, and EB-5 investment. These paths trade the employer’s burden for a heavier evidentiary burden on you.
Two shortcuts sit between the extremes. Certain occupations are pre-certified under Schedule A, meaning the Department of Labor has already concluded there is a shortage and no individual labor certification is needed. Group I currently covers professional nurses and physical therapists, and Group II covers exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, and performing arts. Separately, an EB-2 applicant may ask USCIS to waive the job offer and labor certification altogether in the national interest. Since Matter of Dhanasar (2016), that request turns on three questions: whether your proposed endeavor has substantial merit and national importance, whether you are well positioned to advance it, and whether on balance it benefits the United States to dispense with the labor market test. USCIS has published additional guidance for STEM researchers and entrepreneurs.
| Category | Who it fits | Permanent job offer needed? | PERM labor certification? | Self-petition? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EB-1 Extraordinary Ability | Sustained national or international acclaim at the top of your field | No | No | Yes |
| EB-1 Outstanding Professors & Researchers | International recognition in an academic field, with a qualifying academic or research employer | Yes | No | No |
| EB-1 Multinational Executives & Managers | Transferring into a U.S. affiliate of a qualifying employer in an executive or managerial role | Yes | No | No |
| EB-2 Advanced Degree Professionals | A master’s degree or above, or a bachelor’s degree plus five years of progressive experience | Yes | Yes — unless the job is pre-certified under Schedule A | No |
| EB-2 Exceptional Ability | Expertise well above the norm in the sciences, arts or business | Yes | Yes — unless the job is pre-certified under Schedule A | No |
| EB-2 National Interest Waiver | Work of national importance that you are well placed to advance | No — waived | No — waived | Yes |
| EB-3 Professionals | A U.S. bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent, in a job that normally requires one | Yes | Yes — unless pre-certified under Schedule A | No |
| EB-3 Skilled Workers | Jobs requiring at least two years of training or experience | Yes | Yes — unless pre-certified under Schedule A | No |
| EB-3 Other Workers (unskilled) | Jobs requiring less than two years of training or experience | Yes | Yes — no Schedule A option | No |
| EB-4 Religious Workers | Ministers and certain non-minister religious workers, sponsored by the religious organization | Yes | No | No |
| EB-5 Immigrant Investors | Investing 1,050,000 dollars, or 800,000 dollars in a targeted employment area, and creating ten full-time U.S. jobs | No | No | Yes |
Each category name links to a fuller discussion. Two timing notes: the EB-4 non-minister religious worker program is currently authorized only through September 30, 2026 unless Congress extends it again, and ministers are not subject to that sunset. Premium processing is available for many categories, at fifteen business days for most and forty-five business days for multinational managers and national interest waivers, but it is not available for EB-4 or EB-5 petitions.
Every category above is open to all nationalities, but no country may take more than a fixed share of the annual supply. When demand from one country exceeds that share, the category becomes oversubscribed and applicants join a queue ordered by priority date, normally the date the labor certification or the immigrant petition was filed. Your place in line depends on the country you are chargeable to, which is usually your country of birth rather than your citizenship, although a spouse’s country of birth can sometimes be borrowed.
The State Department publishes the queue monthly in the Visa Bulletin, in two charts you need to read together. Final action dates tell you when a green card can actually be approved. Dates for filing tell you when you may submit the application, which is often considerably earlier; this is what determines whether you can file for adjustment of status, and with it a work permit and travel document, while you continue waiting.
Because these dates move monthly, and sometimes backward, we do not reproduce them here. Check the current Visa Bulletin before relying on any timeline. As of August 2026, to give a sense of scale: worldwide, EB-1, EB-2 and EB-5 are current, EB-3 stands at September 2024, EB-4 at October 2022, and Other Workers at April 2022. China and India face waits in nearly every category, with EB-2 India and unreserved EB-5 India both unavailable that month, while the three EB-5 set-aside categories created in 2022 for rural areas, high unemployment areas and infrastructure projects remain current for all countries. Mexico now tracks the worldwide dates throughout, and the Philippines differs only in EB-3 and Other Workers.
Some professions carry additional hurdles regardless of category. Foreign medical graduates in EB-2 or EB-3 must pass the National Board of Medical Examiners examination or an equivalent such as USMLE Steps 1, 2 and 3, or establish an exemption, and generally need a full and unrestricted state license for the place of intended employment. Physicians willing to commit to service in a medically underserved area have a separate national interest waiver route with its own rules. Health care workers who provide direct or indirect patient care, including nurses, physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, medical technologists and technicians, and physician assistants, must present a certification from CGFNS International or another USCIS-approved credentialing organization covering education, licensure, experience and English proficiency. Since 2025, labor certifications for jobs operating commercial motor vehicles must also include an English proficiency standard, with evidence that the worker meets it.
Work through four questions in order: whether the category requires PERM, since that usually drives the timeline; whether you can self-petition or need an employer willing to sponsor a permanent position; whether your occupation carries additional licensing or credentialing conditions; and how long the queue is for your chargeability country, which may make a nominally weaker category the faster one in practice. It is often worth pursuing the category you qualify for most comfortably even if a stronger-sounding one exists, and in some situations filing in more than one.
You may also wish to review our list of primary avenues to U.S. Permanent Residency to see the non-employment options, and our discussion of common issues relating to employment based green cards.
Disclaimer: this overview is general information, not legal advice, and the list of avenues above is not exhaustive. Immigration law and the visa queues change frequently.