Lawful permanent residency or green card as mostly referred to as allows a foreign national to work and live lawfully and permanently in the United States. Lawful permanent residents (LPRs) can live and work in the US without any time limits or restrictions.
The overall numerical limit for permanent employment-based immigration is 140,000 per year. But this number includes not only the immigrants themselves, but their eligible spouses and minor children as well. These 140,000 visas are divided among five preference categories, each of which is subject to its own numerical cap (detailed in the Table below).
The worldwide limit on U.S. immigrant admissions is 675,000. The total number of visas (both employment-based and family-based) that any country can receive in a fiscal year is capped at seven percent (7%). So, no country can receive more than 47,250 employment-based and family-based visas combined. This number includes not only the immigrants themselves, but their eligible spouses and minor children as well.
Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not counted as there is no cap on it.
| Employment Based First Preference (EB-1) | Priority Worker and Persons of Extraordinary Ability: 1. Persons with extraordinary ability in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. Applicants must have extensive documentation showing sustained national or international acclaim and recognition in their fields. They do not have to have specific job offers and can file their own Immigrant Petitions for Alien Worker, Form I-140, with the USCIS. 2. Outstanding professors and researchers with at least three years of experience in teaching or research and recognized internationally. They must be coming to the U.S. to pursue tenure, tenure track teaching, or a comparable research position at a university or other institution of higher education. Employer must provide a job offer and file an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140, with the USCIS. 3. Multinational managers or executives who have been employed for at least one of the three preceding years by the overseas affiliate, parent, subsidiary, or branch of the U.S. employer. The applicant’s employment outside of the U.S. must have been in a managerial or executive capacity, and the applicant must be coming to work in a managerial or executive capacity. Employer must provide a job offer and file an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140, with the USCIS. | 40,000 or 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences |
| Employment Based Second Preference (EB-2) | Professionals Holding Advanced Degrees and Persons of Exceptional Ability: Professionals holding an advanced degree (beyond a baccalaureate degree), or a baccalaureate degree and at least five years progressive experience in the profession. – Must generally have a labor certification approved by the US Department of Labor. Employer must file an Immigrant Petition for alien worker. 2. Persons with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business. Exceptional ability means having a degree of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered in the sciences, arts, or business. Some alien applicants may apply for National Interest Waiver (an exemption) from the job offer and labor certification. In such cases, the alien applicant may self-petition by filing the Immigrant Petition along with evidence of the national interest. | 40,000 or 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference |
| Employment Based Third Preference (EB-3) | Skilled Workers, Professionals, or Other Workers: These alien applicants must have an approved Labor Certification Application and Immigrant Petition filed by the employer. There three subgroups within this category: Professionals – Jobs require at least a baccalaureate degree from a U.S. university or college or its foreign equivalent degree. Skilled workers – Jobs require a minimum of 2 years training or work experience in a permanent full time job. Other workers (Unskilled workers0 – Jobs require less than two years training or experience that are not temporary or seasonal. | 40,000 or 28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more than 5,000 of which to “Other Workers” |
| Employment Based Fourth Preference (EB-4) | Certain special immigrants Religious Worker; Panama Canal Company Employee, Canal Zone Government Employee, US Government in the Canal Zone Employee; Physician; International Organization Employee or Family Member, Juvenile Court Dependent or Armed Forces Member | 9,940 or 7.1% of the worldwide level |
| Employment Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) | Immigrant Investors | 9,940 or 7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers |