Do you have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in a specialized field and a United States based company who is willing to sponsor you? Do you have two years or more of experience working in the same type of field? It is even possible to have less than two years of experience and still get the EB-3 Employment Based Petition through the I-140.
You may qualify for an EB-3 I-140 petition. First, you will need to go through the PERM system to obtain a Labor Certification. Then you need to have an employer who is willing to sponsor you through the I-140 as the second step toward receiving a green card. Once the I-140 is approved, you can either adjust status or consulate process to actually get the Green Card. The EB-3 is a way for educated individuals or people with relevant work experience to ultimately obtain their Green Card through employment-based petitions.
Many people think that the only way to obtain the Green Card is through the family. In fact, sometimes it is necessary to wait many years to get the visa number to become current. However, with an employment based third preference petition, depending on where you were born, this visa could take much less time. You could be here in the U.S. working as a lawful permanent resident years before a family-based petition might be current.
Once you would receive the Green Card through the employment-based petition, you would have to have the intention to work full time for the company that petitioned you. Clearly, you could not work for another company or decide not to work at all and just pick up the Green Card. Should you work at the company that petitioned you and then something goes wrong with the employment at some later date, you would be able to quit and move onto another company.
The I-140 is the second petition in the process and very important. It must be completed and submitted within 180 days of the approved PERM. Once the I-140 is hopefully approved, you would need to do either the Consulate Processing or the Adjustment of Status depending on if you qualify to adjust status in the U.S. This would conclude the three different petitions you need to proceed forward to final adjudication of lawful permanent residency.
As an Immigration Lawyer, we are very aware of the red tape and the multiple items that could go wrong with any particular petition and/or application. Thus, this example should provide you a very clear path with which you can use to prepare your own I-140 Petition in order to proceed forward.
The sample EB-3 I-140 (or third preference employment based) petition will give lots of great information and a significant amount of information and data that will comply with the requirements. Thus, if you cannot hire an immigration lawyer to prepare the necessary EB-3 I-140 Based Petition, then this is the next best thing. Follow it carefully and closely and you will have a real chance of realizing your dream to stay inside the United States. Note that the adjudicating officer at USCIS is not your friend or the Consulate Officer at the U.S. Consulate deciding whether you should get this particular visa or status. Thus, you need to completely and properly document and prepare your EB-3 I-140 Petition. You must properly either get legal representation via an attorney or represent yourself. Either way, if you qualify for this, you must make it as strong as possible.
We certainly hope you find this petition useful and helpful and hope for the best immigration experience you can have. We do have petitions on every subject area of immigration, and you might look at those if needed as well. If you do need to actually have a consultation, you can call our U.S. Immigration Law office at 562-495-0554 for an initial free consultation to determine what must be done to help you and your family.