Green cards are highly sought after because they offer the holder the right to live and work in the US permanently. Indeed, once a person has had their green card for 5 years they can apply for citizenship. The wait is only three years where the alien has married a US Citizen. If the government did not have quotas, there would be too great an influx of workers and as a result, the labor market could become depressed.

These are the categories and quotas allocated to each category:

• EB-1 : Priority Workers (also called First Preference workers) - 40,000 Visas Available Annually .

These people consist of workers of extraordinary ability, outstanding academics, researchers and certain transferring multinational executives and managers.

These priority workers are subject to the quotas limitations but are the only category of workers exempt from PERM. Any unused visas from the first trickle down to the next order of preference.

• EB-2 : Second Preference Workers - 40,000 Visas Available Annually .

These people consist of members of the professions with advanced degrees or equivalent, and persons of exceptional ability (less than extraordinary) in the sciences, arts, or business needed in the US for that ability. Any unused visas from the first and second preference trickle down to the next order of preference.

• EB-3 : Third Preference Workers - 40,000 Visas Available Annually .

These people consist of professionals for positions requiring at least a BA, skilled workers (at least two years experience required), and other jobs requiring less than two years of experience.

Please Note : Of the 40,000 visas available for this category and any trickle down there might have been from the higher categories, no more than 10,000 visas can be issued to unskilled workers (requiring less than two years of experience). As a consequence of this rule applicants who fall into the unskilled workers category may find that their application is backlogged and it could take them years to get their visa. This is one reason why it is very important to ensure that where the applicant is borderline between skilled and unskilled, either the applicant needs to find a slightly better job, or the employer who has offered the employee the job, increase the responsibilities of that job or offer another skilled job instead. We’ll go into this issue in more detail later on in this discussion.

Permanent Employment Visa