EB-3 Visa Process: PERM, I-140, and Green Card Steps

The EB-3 visa process is the four-stage path a U.S. employer and a foreign worker follow to obtain an employment-based green card in the third preference category: a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor, a PERM labor certification, an I-140 immigrant petition filed with USCIS, and a final application for permanent residence filed either inside the United States (Form I-485) or at a U.S. consulate abroad (Form DS-260). The first three steps are the employer’s job. The last step is yours. Between them sits the priority date, which for some countries clears in months and for others takes more than a decade.

Who Qualifies

EB-3 covers three subcategories, and the one you fall into is set by the job’s minimum requirements, not by your resume.¹

Skilled workers fill jobs requiring at least two years of training or work experience. Relevant post-secondary education can count toward that threshold.
Professionals fill jobs requiring a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent, where the degree is a standard entry requirement for the occupation.
Other workers fill jobs needing less than two years of training or experience. This subcategory is capped at 10,000 visas per fiscal year and moves more slowly.

Congress allocates 28.6 percent of the roughly 140,000 annual employment-based visas to EB-3, plus any unused visas that spill down from the first and second preferences.² No single country of birth can absorb more than about 7 percent, which is why applicants born in India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines face longer waits than everyone else.

Step 1: The Prevailing Wage Determination

Nothing else can start until the Department of Labor sets a floor on what the employer must pay. The employer submits Form ETA-9141 to DOL’s National Prevailing Wage Center, and DOL returns a wage figure keyed to the job’s occupation, skill level, and location.

As of early 2026, DOL was processing prevailing wage requests filed roughly three months earlier.³ If the employer challenges the wage level and requests redetermination, add more time. Everything downstream depends on this number matching the job description on later filings, so employers usually wait for it before advertising.

Step 2: PERM Labor Certification

PERM is the employer’s proof that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the job at the offered wage. It’s usually the longest step and the one most likely to fail.

Recruitment

The employer must actually test the labor market. At minimum, that means a job order with the State Workforce Agency for at least 30 days and two Sunday newspaper advertisements in a paper of general circulation in the area of employment.⁴ Professional-level positions require additional recruitment from a prescribed list.

All recruitment has to be completed at least 30 days but no more than 180 days before the employer files the application. Miss that window on either end and recruitment starts over. The employer must document every applicant who applied and record why each was rejected. Sloppy record-keeping is one of the most common ways a case falls apart later.

Filing and Processing Time

The employer files Form ETA-9089 electronically. There’s no government filing fee, but the recruitment itself costs money and the paperwork must match the prevailing wage determination exactly. As of February 2026, PERM cases going through standard analyst review averaged about 503 calendar days from filing to decision.³ Audited cases take longer.

Audits

DOL audits a random sample of cases and targets others with red flags, like unusual job requirements or a job description that fits the foreign worker suspiciously well. An audit requires the employer to produce the full recruitment file: advertisements, SWA confirmation, resumes, interview notes, and a written recruitment report. Repeated problems can put an employer under supervised recruitment for future filings.

The 180-Day Deadline After Approval

An approved labor certification is valid for 180 days.⁵ The employer has that long to file the I-140. Miss the deadline and the certification expires; the whole PERM process starts over.

Step 3: The I-140 Immigrant Petition

With PERM approved, the employer files Form I-140 with USCIS. Two questions decide the petition: does the worker actually meet the job’s minimum requirements, and can the employer afford the wage?

Worker Qualifications

The package includes educational transcripts, diplomas, and detailed letters from prior employers confirming titles, dates, and duties. Foreign-language documents need certified English translations where the translator attests to accuracy and competence.⁶ USCIS measures those documents against the minimum requirements printed on the approved labor certification. If PERM said five years of experience and the letters cover only four, expect denial.

Ability to Pay

The employer must show it can pay the offered wage continuously from the priority date until you become a permanent resident.⁷ Evidence includes federal tax returns, audited financial statements, or annual reports. Companies with 100 or more employees can often satisfy this with a statement from a financial officer.⁸ Smaller employers get closer scrutiny; USCIS looks at net income or net current assets against the wage.

Fees and Premium Processing

The I-140 base fee is $715. Most employers also owe an Asylum Program Fee: $600 for companies with more than 25 full-time equivalent employees, $300 for small employers with 25 or fewer, and zero for nonprofits.⁹ Premium processing (Form I-907, $2,805) guarantees USCIS action within 15 business days.

Once USCIS accepts the petition, the receipt notice locks in your priority date, which is the date DOL accepted the PERM application for processing.¹⁰ That date is your place in line.

Priority Dates and the Visa Bulletin

Because visa supply is capped and demand isn’t, most EB-3 applicants wait after the I-140 is approved. The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin with two charts.¹⁰

Dates for Filing controls when you can submit the I-485 or begin gathering documents for consular processing.
Final Action Dates controls when USCIS or a consulate can actually approve the case and issue a green card.

USCIS announces each month which chart it will honor for adjustment of status filings. Dates move forward, stall, or retrogress based on demand. As of mid-2026, the EB-3 Final Action Date for India sat at January 2015, meaning workers whose PERM was filed in early 2015 were only then reaching the front of the line. Applicants born in most other countries face much shorter waits, and many find dates current at every stage.

Concurrent Filing When Numbers Are Current

If a visa number is immediately available when the I-140 is filed, the worker can file the I-485 at the same time, in the same package, at the same location.¹¹ Concurrent filing unlocks work authorization and travel documents years earlier than the sequential path. For backlogged countries, though, it’s rarely an option.

Step 4: Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

When the priority date is current and the I-140 is approved, one final application delivers the green card. Which form depends on where you are.

If You’re in the U.S.: Form I-485

Applicants inside the United States on a valid nonimmigrant visa file Form I-485. The form asks for residence and employment history, any encounters with law enforcement, a certified birth certificate, passport-style photos, and the I-94 arrival/departure record showing lawful admission.¹² Supplement J confirms the job offer is still valid and matches the labor certification. The I-485 filing fee is $1,440 for applicants aged 14 to 78.

If You’re Abroad: Form DS-260

Applicants outside the U.S. file DS-260 through the Consular Electronic Application Center.¹³ The National Visa Center collects civil documents and schedules an interview at the U.S. embassy or consulate. The employment-based immigrant visa application fee is $345.¹⁴

The Medical Exam

Both paths require an immigration medical exam. Inside the U.S., a USCIS-designated civil surgeon completes Form I-693.¹⁵ Abroad, a panel physician does the equivalent. The exam screens for certain communicable diseases and confirms required vaccinations. Cost varies with the provider and any vaccinations needed.

Biometrics, Interview, and Card

After USCIS receives the I-485, it schedules biometrics at an Application Support Center for fingerprints, photograph, and signature.¹⁶ An in-person interview is possible but not always required for employment-based cases. Consular applicants always interview. Adjustment applicants receive the physical green card by mail after approval. Consular applicants enter the U.S. on an immigrant visa, pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee online, and receive the card by mail. Final decisions run anywhere from several months to over a year.

Working and Traveling While the Green Card Is Pending

Filing the I-485 opens two useful side doors. Form I-765 gets you an Employment Authorization Document, which lets you work for any U.S. employer, not just the sponsor.¹⁷ Form I-131 gets you Advance Parole for international travel without abandoning the pending application.

There’s a trade-off if you hold H-1B status. Using the EAD to work instead of maintaining H-1B can cost you the ability to fall back on H-1B if the green card is denied. Traveling on Advance Parole rather than a valid H-1B visa can change your status in similar ways. Both are decisions worth running past an immigration attorney before you act.

Changing Jobs Under AC21

The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act lets you change employers without restarting once the I-485 has been pending for 180 days and you have an approved or approvable I-140.¹⁸ The new job must be in the same or a similar occupational classification as the original petition. USCIS looks at duties, required skills, education requirements, and Standard Occupational Classification codes, not job titles.

You file Form I-485 Supplement J with the new employer’s details. Timing is the whole game. If the original employer withdraws the I-140 before the I-485 has been pending 180 days, portability disappears and you may be back at the start. After 180 days, a withdrawal by the old employer no longer kills the case.

Bringing Your Spouse and Children

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can join as derivative beneficiaries. They don’t need their own labor certifications or I-140s. Each files an I-485 (or DS-260), each has a medical exam, and each pays their own fees.

Children face one hard risk: aging out. A “child” for immigration purposes is unmarried and under 21. If a son or daughter turns 21 before a visa number becomes available, derivative eligibility ends. The Child Status Protection Act softens this by subtracting from the child’s age the number of days the I-140 was pending before approval.¹⁹ If the resulting CSPA age is under 21 when a visa opens, the child still qualifies. For families waiting behind long backlogs, the formula doesn’t always save the case.

What Can Still Sink an Approved Case

Even with an approved I-140 and a current priority date, inadmissibility findings can end the case at the I-485 or consular interview stage. The two categories that catch EB-3 applicants most often:

Health-related grounds, including certain communicable diseases, missing required vaccinations, and drug abuse or addiction. The medical exam screens for these.
Criminal grounds, including crimes involving moral turpitude (a broad category covering fraud, theft, and violent offenses), drug offenses, multiple convictions carrying aggregate sentences of five years or more, and trafficking.

Unlawful presence is a separate trap. More than 180 days out of status followed by a departure triggers a three-year or ten-year bar on reentry, depending on the length. Some grounds have waivers; none are guaranteed. If your history includes any criminal issues or periods out of status, get legal advice before filing the I-485 or attending the consular interview. Walking in with a strategy is a different situation than being caught by surprise.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration: Third Preference EB-3
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times
4
eCFR. 20 CFR 656.17 – Basic Labor Certification Process
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6 Part E Chapter 6 – Permanent Labor Certification
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Checklist of Required Initial Evidence for Form I-140
7
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5 – Petitions for Employment-Based Immigrants
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6 Part E Chapter 4 – Ability to Pay
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Availability and Priority Dates
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485
12
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94 and I-94W
13
U.S. Department of State. Consular Electronic Application Center
14
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-693, Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part C Chapter 2 – Biometrics Collection
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment Authorization Document
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part E Chapter 5 – Job Portability After Adjustment Filing and Other AC21 Provisions
19
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part A Chapter 7 – Child Status Protection Act