How to Apply for an EB-3 Visa: PERM, I-140, and Green Card

To apply for an EB-3 visa, your U.S. employer must first obtain a PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor, then file Form I-140 with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on your behalf. Once your priority date is current on the monthly Visa Bulletin, you either file Form I-485 to adjust status inside the United States or go through consular processing abroad. The process is employer-driven from the start, and depending on your country of birth the total wait can run from a few years to well over a decade.

Who Qualifies for EB-3

EB-3 covers three groups of foreign workers, and which one you fall into decides what evidence your case needs.

Skilled workers: the job must require at least two years of training or experience, and the work cannot be temporary or seasonal. Relevant post-secondary education can count toward the two-year requirement.¹
Professionals: you must hold at least a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent, and the job itself must require that degree. Experience alone cannot substitute for the degree.¹
Other workers: jobs needing less than two years of training or experience, again not temporary or seasonal. Year-round roles in food processing or janitorial services are typical examples.¹

Federal law caps EB-3 at 28.6 percent of the annual worldwide employment-based limit, and no more than 10,000 of those visas can go to the “other workers” subcategory in any fiscal year.² That subcap is the main reason unskilled positions face longer backlogs than the other two groups.

If your degree was earned outside the United States, your employer will typically need a credential evaluation from a recognized service. USCIS looks at the academic content and duration of the program, not just the title on the diploma.

Step 1: PERM Labor Certification

Before anything reaches USCIS, your employer has to prove to the Department of Labor that no qualified U.S. worker is available for your job. This is the longest and most technical phase. As of February 2026, DOL’s average processing time for a PERM application is roughly 503 calendar days after submission, and the employer’s preparation adds several more months on top of that.³

Getting the Prevailing Wage

The employer submits Form ETA-9141 to the National Prevailing Wage Center to obtain the wage DOL considers standard for the occupation in the job’s geographic area.⁴ The offered salary must meet or exceed that figure or the case will be denied. Prevailing wage determinations can take several months, and recruitment cannot begin until it’s issued.

Recruiting for the Position

With the wage set, the employer must run a good-faith recruitment effort: advertisements, an internal posting, and a full record of every applicant and the lawful reason each was not hired. The specific steps differ for professional versus non-professional positions. Everything is compiled into a recruitment report the employer keeps on file in case DOL audits.

Filing ETA Form 9089

After recruitment, the employer files ETA Form 9089 electronically.⁵ The form asks for precise details about job duties, minimum requirements, the employer’s business, and your qualifications. Inconsistencies here are one of the most common reasons cases get audited or denied. If DOL certifies the application, the employer receives an approved labor certification.

Step 2: The I-140 Immigrant Petition

The approved labor certification is good for 180 days. If your employer doesn’t file Form I-140 within that window, the certification expires and the PERM process starts over. There is no extension.⁶

The I-140 is where the employer formally asks USCIS to classify you under EB-3. The filing must include the approved labor certification, evidence that the employer can pay the offered wage (federal tax returns, audited financials, or annual reports), and documents showing you meet the job requirements. For skilled workers, that means experience letters from previous employers with specific duties and dates. For professionals, the degree and credential evaluation.

USCIS charges a filing fee for the I-140, listed on the fee schedule (Form G-1055) and updated periodically. Employers who want a faster decision can file Form I-907 for premium processing. As of March 1, 2026, premium processing for an EB-3 I-140 costs $2,965, and USCIS commits to taking action within 15 business days.⁷⁸ “Action” means approval, denial, or a request for additional evidence within that window, not necessarily a final decision.

USCIS then issues a receipt notice (Form I-797) with a case number. That notice establishes your priority date, which is the date the PERM application was originally filed with DOL. Your priority date is the single most important date in the process because it determines your place in line for a visa number.

Step 3: Waiting for a Visa Number

There are far more approved EB-3 petitions each year than there are visa numbers to hand out. The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin showing which priority dates are eligible for a visa number, broken down by country of birth.

As of the March 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-3 final action dates look like this:⁹

Most countries: priority dates before October 1, 2023 are current.
China (mainland born): priority dates before May 1, 2021, roughly a five-year wait.
India: priority dates before November 15, 2013, more than twelve years of backlog.
Philippines: priority dates before August 1, 2023.

These dates shift each month, sometimes forward and sometimes back, depending on demand and annual limits. Premium processing does not help here; it only speeds up the I-140 adjudication, not the wait for a visa number. You cannot file Form I-485 or complete consular processing until your priority date is current.

The “other workers” subcategory has an extra bottleneck because only 10,000 of the roughly 40,000 annual EB-3 visas can go to that group, which regularly produces longer backlogs there than for skilled workers and professionals.²

Step 4: The Green Card Application

Once your priority date is current, you take one of two paths depending on where you’re living.

Inside the United States: Form I-485

You file Form I-485 to adjust status to permanent resident.¹⁰ When a visa number is immediately available at the time of filing, USCIS allows the I-485 to be filed at the same time as the I-140, a shortcut called concurrent filing.¹¹ For many EB-3 applicants with long backlogs this is not available because no visa number exists when the I-140 is filed.

The I-485 requires your civil documents (passport, birth certificate, marriage certificate if applicable), a medical examination on Form I-693 completed by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon, and the filing fee.¹² Medical exam costs vary by provider; expect several hundred dollars out of pocket. USCIS then schedules a biometrics appointment for fingerprints and photos. Most applicants are called in for an interview at a local field office, though interviews are sometimes waived for straightforward employment-based cases. If approved, the green card is mailed to you.

Outside the United States: Consular Processing

If you’re abroad, the National Visa Center takes over after your I-140 is approved and a visa number is available. NVC contacts you to submit Form DS-260 (the online immigrant visa application) and civil documents, then schedules an interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate. The consular officer reviews everything, conducts the interview, and either issues or denies the immigrant visa. After you enter the U.S. on that visa, your green card is mailed to your domestic address.

Working and Traveling While Your I-485 Is Pending

Filing the I-485 inside the U.S. brings interim benefits along with one costly trap.

You can file Form I-765 for an Employment Authorization Document, which lets you work for any employer while the green card application is pending. That freedom matters most if your current work permission is tied to a specific employer through a status like H-1B.

Travel is where applicants get burned. If you leave the country while your I-485 is pending without advance parole (Form I-131), USCIS will deny your adjustment, with narrow exceptions for certain statuses such as H-1B or L-1.¹³ Get the advance parole document approved before booking international travel.

Family Members

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 qualify as derivative beneficiaries and receive their own green cards alongside yours. Spouses entering through consular processing can work immediately; the immigrant visa stamp serves as temporary proof of permanent resident status until the physical card arrives. Spouses adjusting status inside the U.S. can file Form I-765 for work authorization while their I-485 is pending.

Children face a specific risk called aging out. If a child turns 21 before the process finishes, they lose derivative eligibility. The Child Status Protection Act helps by subtracting the time the I-140 was pending from the child’s age on the date a visa number becomes available.¹⁴ For example, if the I-140 was pending for two years and the child is 22 when a visa number opens up, the CSPA age is 20, still under the cutoff. The child must remain unmarried to benefit. Given decade-plus backlogs in some countries, aging out is still a real concern even with the formula.

Changing Jobs Before You Finish

Federal law lets you switch employers partway through, but only after a specific milestone. If your I-485 has been pending for at least 180 days, you can move to a new employer without starting over, provided the new position is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the original I-140 job.¹⁵ You file Form I-485 Supplement J to document the new offer, and USCIS compares the job duties and occupational codes between the old and new positions.

Portability only kicks in after the I-485 is filed and has been pending 180 days. During the years you’re waiting for a visa number to become current, before the I-485 can even be filed, you generally need to maintain valid nonimmigrant status, which often means staying with the sponsoring employer or finding another employer willing to sponsor a work visa. An approved I-140 stays valid even if you leave the employer (assuming it hasn’t been revoked for fraud), so your priority date is preserved. But in practice most applicants are tied to their employer, or a narrow set of employers, for most of the wait.

Costs and Total Timeline

There’s no single price tag. Your employer pays for PERM and the I-140 filing fee. You typically pay the I-485 filing fee (or the DS-260 processing fee for consular processing), the medical exam, and the USCIS immigrant fee charged before the green card is produced. Check the current fee schedule (Form G-1055) before filing; fees are updated periodically and using the wrong amount will get your application rejected.

A realistic timeline for an applicant from a country without severe backlogs runs roughly like this: prevailing wage determination (several months), recruitment and PERM preparation (two to four months), PERM processing (about 16 to 17 months on current averages), I-140 adjudication (several months without premium processing, 15 business days with it), the wait for a visa number (varies wildly by country), and adjustment of status or consular processing (several more months to over a year).³ For applicants born in India, the total wait can exceed 15 years. That’s the arithmetic of steady demand meeting a fixed annual supply of visa numbers.

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
U.S. Department of Labor. Prevailing Wages
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Instructions for ETA Form 9089
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
9
U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for March 2026
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travel Documents
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485 Supplement J, Confirmation of Valid Job Offer or Request for Job Portability Under INA Section 204(j)