5 employment-based visa categories to work in the US: All you need to know

Each year, US makes approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas available to qualified applicants.

The employment based immigrant visas are of five types. In certain cases spouses and children can also accompany or follow-to-join employment-based immigrants.

To be considered for employment-based immigrant visas, applicants must obtain a labor certification approval from the Department of labor and then file an immigrant petition for alien worker- form I-140.

Here’s everything you need to know about the five employment based immigrant visas in the US:

First preference EB-1: This type of visa is reserved for persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, outstanding professors or researchers and multinational executives and managers. Spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 of the visa applicant can also apply for immigrant status in the US.

Second preference EB-2: This preference is reserved for people holding advanced degrees and their spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 may be eligible to apply for admission to the United States.

Third preference EB-3: This category is reserved for professionals, skilled workers, and other workers. In this case as well the applicant’s family can seek immigrant status in the US.

Fourth preference EB-4: This preference is reserved for ‘special immigrants’ that includes certain religious workers, employees of US foreign service posts, retired employees of international organisations, noncitizen minors who are wards of courts in the United States, and other classes of noncitizens. Possibility of spouse and children to be admitted to the US is very less under this case.

Fifth preference EB-5: This type is reserved for business investors who invest $1.5 million or $800,000 in a new commercial enterprise that employs at least 10 full-time US workers.