The EB-3 classification is open to foreign nationals with at least two years experience as skilled workers, professionals with bachelors' degrees and the following:

1. Professionals with Bachelor’s degrees who do not qualify for either  categories EB-1 and EB-2, or
2. Aliens with at least two years of experience as skilled workers, professionals with a baccalaureate degree, or
3. Unskilled Workers who can contribute abilities unavailable in the US

Steps

Your employer should file-in USCIS Form I-140 Petition for Alien Workers with the USCIS Regional Service Center that has jurisdiction over the location of your employment. EB-3 petitions also require an approved Labor Certification (Form ETA-9089) from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.

Documents

Skilled workers should have at least two years experience, either through hands-on experience or through post-secondary education.

Professionals should have either a U.S bachelor's degree or a foreign equivalent degree.

PERM – The new Permanent Labor Certification Process

Generally, an employer (petitioner) that wants to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States, in either EB-2 or EB-3 category, must seek and obtain a permanent labor certification approval from the Department of Labor's (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA).

On December 27, 2004, the DOL's ETA replaced the existing permanent labor certification program and published a final regulation, which requires that a new permanent labor certification process must be used beginning from March 28, 2005. The new program is known as the Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) regulation and has numerous new features all intended to improve the operations of the permanent labor certification program. In addition, the PERM regulation also replaces the existing permanent labor certification form, ETA Form 750, with a new form, ETA Form 9089. Also, under the PERM regulations, a permanent labor certification request can now be filed either electronically or by mail. Moreover, DOL's ETA will now either approve or deny the certification request within 45-60 days.  The labor certification typically involves satisfying by the employer that its potential employee is not taking a job from a U.S. worker. In certain circumstances, the employer and the potential employee may be able to show that the potential employee’s entry to the U.S. for the job in question is in the national interest. Both the job and labor certification process will then be waived on the basis of national interest.

Labor Certification can be time consuming, because of the need to fulfill its various steps such as: requesting for prevailing wage determination with the State Workforce Agency having jurisdiction over the place of employment; advertisement and recruitment campaign for the job; filing labor certification application Form ETA 9089 either electronically or by mail; documentation procedure of the recruitment (which must be kept for 5years) and filing response to DOL's ETA Audit and Review. 

After an approval for labor certification is granted by DOL's ETA, an immigrant visa petition, Form I-140 will then be filed with the USCIS by the employer to bring the applicant into the U.S.  However, if the applicant is already in the U.S., he or she can apply to adjust to permanent resident by filing Form I-485 along with the I-140 with the appropriate USCIS branch office.

Omoniyi Law Firm can work with employers on the entire process of labor certification. Contact us at 312-214-3290 for our services on PERM Resources and Update