The EB-3 visa is the third-preference employment-based green card, available to skilled workers, professionals, and unskilled (“other”) workers who have a permanent job offer from a U.S. employer that can prove no qualified American is available for the role. Congress sets aside about 40,040 EB-3 numbers each year, and per-country caps push waits from a few months for some nationalities to well over a decade for others. The route runs through three agencies, costs several thousand dollars, and rewards understanding the sequence before your employer files anything.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on what the job requires, not on your résumé. You need to fit one of three sub-categories.
- Skilled workers. The position requires at least two years of training or experience, and the work is permanent rather than temporary or seasonal. Post-secondary vocational training can count toward the two-year threshold.
- Professionals. The position requires a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent, and you hold that degree. Experience alone cannot substitute for the diploma. Engineers, accountants, and teachers are typical examples.
- Other workers. The position requires less than two years of training or experience and is permanent. Food processing, janitorial, and landscaping roles commonly fall here.
All three sub-groups share the same overall EB-3 allocation, but “other workers” have their own sub-cap of roughly 5,000 visas a year, which makes their backlogs meaningfully worse than those for skilled workers and professionals.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration: Third Preference EB-32Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
The Three Steps to an EB-3 Green Card
Step 1: PERM Labor Certification
Before your employer can petition for you, it must prove to the Department of Labor that no qualified, willing, and available U.S. worker can fill the job. That proof is the Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM.3U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification
The employer first requests a prevailing wage determination that sets the minimum salary for the role and location, then tests the local labor market with a state job order and advertisements. Professional positions require additional recruitment steps chosen from a DOL menu.4eCFR. 20 CFR 656.17 – Basic Labor Certification Process All recruitment must fall between 30 and 180 days before filing.5eCFR. 20 CFR Part 656 – Labor Certification Process for Permanent Employment of Aliens in the United States
The DOL reports an average PERM processing time of roughly 503 calendar days as of early 2026, and that figure excludes the months of recruitment beforehand and any audit delay.6U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times Plan on a year and a half or more for this phase alone.
Professional nurses and physical therapists are the exception. They fall under Schedule A, and their employers file the labor certification directly with USCIS alongside the I-140, skipping PERM recruitment entirely.7eCFR. 20 CFR Part 656 – Labor Certification Process for Permanent Employment of Aliens in the United States – Section 656.5
Step 2: The I-140 Petition
Once PERM is certified, the employer files Form I-140 with USCIS to formally classify you as an EB-3 immigrant.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers The package includes the original certified labor certification, proof that the employer can pay the offered wage (tax returns, annual reports, or audited financials), and documentation of your qualifications: transcripts, diplomas, and employment verification letters with specific dates and duties. Every foreign-language document needs a certified English translation.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Petition for Alien Workers
Ability to pay is where petitions most often fail. USCIS looks for the company’s net income or net current assets to equal or exceed the offered salary from the priority date forward, and small companies can struggle to demonstrate that ongoing capacity.
Step 3: Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing
The last step depends on where you are when your priority date becomes current.
If you are already in the U.S. in a valid nonimmigrant status, you file Form I-485 to adjust status without leaving.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status You must be physically present in the U.S. when you file. Expect a medical exam by a civil surgeon, a background check, biometrics, and sometimes an interview.
If you are abroad, you go through consular processing. The National Visa Center collects your documents and fees, then schedules an interview at the U.S. embassy or consulate in your home country. You will need a medical exam with an embassy-approved physician and civil documents such as birth certificates and police clearances. Approval produces an immigrant visa in your passport, and the green card is mailed after you enter the U.S.11U.S. Department of State. Employment-Based Immigrant Visas
How Long the Wait Is
Your priority date is the day the DOL received your employer’s PERM application. It is your place in line. Each month the State Department publishes a Visa Bulletin with two charts: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. Your priority date must come earlier than the cutoff for your category and country of birth before you can move forward, and USCIS announces each month which chart applicants should use to file their I-485.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin Final approval, however, only comes when your date clears Final Action Dates.
Country of birth drives the wait. The U.S. issues 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas each year across all five preference categories, EB-3 receives 28.6 percent plus any unused EB-1 and EB-2 numbers, and no single country can take more than 7 percent of the annual employment-based and family-sponsored totals.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas13U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for July 2025 Demand from India and China exceeds that 7 percent ceiling, producing backlogs measured in years or, for India, over a decade. Applicants from most other countries face much shorter waits, sometimes with current dates.
Retrogression happens when demand outstrips supply and the State Department moves cutoff dates backward. People who could file last month can find themselves pushed out again this month.
The EB-2 to EB-3 Downgrade
Sometimes EB-3 has a more favorable cutoff than EB-2, particularly for Indian nationals. An applicant whose job qualifies for EB-2 can have their employer file a new I-140 under EB-3 and keep the original EB-2 priority date. A new PERM is usually needed, and the paperwork isn’t free, but a downgrade with a ported priority date can cut years off the wait for someone stuck in the EB-2 India line.
What It Costs
EB-3 costs pile up across agencies and stages. Two USCIS fee changes took effect in 2026: an inflation-based increase on January 1, 2026, and a premium processing increase on March 1, 2026. Check the current USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) before filing.
- I-140 petition: the filing fee is on the current USCIS schedule. Premium processing, for a guaranteed response within 15 business days, is $2,965 effective March 1, 2026.14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
- I-485 adjustment of status: $1,440 per applicant (biometrics included). Children under 14 pay the same. Filing online takes $65 off.
- Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765): $260, separate from the I-485.
- Advance parole (Form I-131): $630, separate from the I-485.
- Medical exam (Form I-693): typically $150 to $500 depending on location and vaccinations.
- PERM: no DOL filing fee, but the employer pays for recruitment advertising, which can run from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Most employers cover the I-140 fee and PERM costs. The I-485, medical exam, EAD, and advance parole fees typically fall on the employee, though some employers pay everything. Get the split in writing before the case starts.
Bringing Your Spouse and Children
Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 qualify as derivative beneficiaries on your EB-3 petition. They need no separate sponsorship or labor certification, and they file their own I-485s alongside yours or go through consular processing with you.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration: Third Preference EB-3
The real risk for children is aging out. If a child turns 21 before the case is adjudicated, they lose derivative status. The Child Status Protection Act provides partial relief: subtract the number of days the I-140 was pending from the child’s actual age on the date a visa becomes available, and if the resulting “CSPA age” is under 21, the child stays eligible. Since August 2025, USCIS uses only the Final Action Dates chart to determine when a visa becomes available for this calculation, which is less favorable than the earlier policy that sometimes let applicants use the Dates for Filing chart. For families in long backlogs, running the CSPA math early and rechecking it as the bulletin moves is essential.
Keeping Flexibility During the Wait
EB-3 cases take years, and jobs change. Federal law lets you switch employers or change your circumstances without starting over, if you meet the conditions.
Under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21), you can port a pending green card case to a new employer once your I-485 has been pending for at least 180 days, provided the new job is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the original I-140 role. You notify USCIS by filing Supplement J to Form I-485, signed by you and the new employer.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Supplement J, Confirmation of Valid Job Offer or Request for Job Portability Under INA Section 204(j)
If your original employer withdraws an approved I-140 after it has been approved for 180 days or more, the petition remains approved and you keep your priority date. You still need a new job offer or a new I-140 to finish the case, but you don’t lose your place in line. If the withdrawal happens before that 180-day mark and your I-485 hasn’t been pending 180 days either, you lose both the petition and the date.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
While your I-485 is pending you can also file Form I-765 for an EAD that lets you work for any employer, and Form I-131 for advance parole that lets you travel. Both are commonly issued together as a combo card. Leaving the country without advance parole generally causes USCIS to treat your I-485 as abandoned, so apply before booking international travel.17U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS During retrogression, the I-485 may sit, but USCIS keeps processing EAD and advance parole renewals, so you don’t lose the ability to work or travel while you wait for your priority date to come current again.