Green card through your employer: how PERM, EB-2 and EB-3 work

The employer route is the oldest path to a green card and the most tightly regulated. A US company offers you a permanent position, tests the American labor market under the supervision of the Department of Labor and then files the petition with USCIS. Every step comes with forms, deadlines and waiting times that the agencies publish. This guide walks you through them in order.

If you get your green card through an employer, you are not the applicant in the process. The company is. It offers you the job, applies to the US Department of Labor for labor certification and then files the I-140 petition for you with USCIS. You are the beneficiary. Only at the very end, once a visa is available for you, do you file your own green card application.

For many Europeans, this is the route that grows out of their career: the engineer at the US subsidiary of a European manufacturer, the doctor at an American hospital, the software developer an American company wants to keep. If you run your own business, the route through your own company has its own guide. This one is about a job with someone else's company.

1Who files on this route

It all rests on a job offer, and a specific kind: permanent and full time. A temporary project role or freelance consulting won't carry this route. The employer defines the position with its title, duties, requirements and salary, and every agency measures everything that follows against those details.

That creates a dependency you should know about. Until the petition is approved and your green card application has been pending long enough, your path hangs on the employer and on exactly this position. If you quit early or the employer withdraws the offer, the process may have to start over. How the law protects you from a certain point onward is covered further down under changing jobs and traveling.

The employer also has to show it can pay the offered salary, from the priority date until the day you become a permanent resident. As proof, USCIS asks for annual reports, federal tax returns or audited financial statements. For a company with 100 or more employees, USCIS may accept a statement from the chief financial officer instead.

2EB-2 or EB-3: the job decides the category

The category of the petition isn't decided by your résumé but by what the job requires. If the employer lists an advanced degree as the minimum requirement in the labor certification, meaning a master's or a bachelor's plus five years of progressive experience, the petition lands in EB-2. If the job requires a bachelor's, it's EB-3 Professionals. If it requires at least two years of training or experience, it's EB-3 Skilled Workers. Below that sits EB-3 Other Workers.

That affects how long you wait. For people born in Europe, the November 2026 final action date was 1 April 2025 for EB-2, 15 June 2024 for EB-3 and 1 June 2022 for Other Workers. But you can't simply pick the category: the requirements have to match the job, and you must meet them on the priority date. If you meet the EB-3 requirements and later get an EB-2, you keep the earlier priority date as long as the first petition was approved. The table below shows what each category requires.

3Step one: the prevailing wage

Before the job is advertised, the employer has the Department of Labor set the local going rate, the prevailing wage determination. It depends on the occupation, the requirements and the work location. The salary the employer offers must at least match this wage, starting on the day you begin the job. The employer confirms this in the later application under penalty of perjury.

Even this step takes time. On 30 September 2026, the Department of Labor was processing PERM prevailing wage requests received in June 2026. If you're planning this route, factor those months in from the start.

A second point lies in the job description itself. The higher the requirements, the higher the prevailing wage tends to be, and the harder the recruitment. Employers who tailor the requirements to their preferred candidate run into limits at the Department: the requirements must match what is normal for the occupation, unless the employer documents a business necessity.

4Step two: recruitment

The heart of PERM is the labor market test. The employer advertises the job before filing and has to show that no qualified, available American applicant was found. For professional occupations, the regulations require two mandatory steps and three additional ones. The mandatory steps are a job order with the state workforce agency for 30 days and two ads on two different Sundays in the newspaper most read locally for that occupation. On top of that come three more methods from a fixed list, such as job fairs, the employer's website, a job board, campus recruiting or professional organizations.

The deadlines are tight. The mandatory steps must take place at least 30 and no more than 180 days before filing. Only one of the additional steps may fall within the last 30 days before filing. The employer also posts a notice of the filing at the worksite for at least ten consecutive business days.

If applicants come forward, the employer has to consider them in good faith. In the application, it confirms that it rejected American applicants only for lawful, job-related reasons. Being the better candidate isn't one of them, as long as the applicant meets the requirements. That's why there's no shortcut for this step.

5Step three: the PERM application with the Department of Labor

After recruitment, the employer files Form ETA-9089 with the Department of Labor. The day the Department accepts the application becomes your priority date, your place in line for the green card. The Department reviews the application or selects it for an audit, in which the employer submits its recruitment records.

Processing is the longest stage before the petition. On 5 October 2026, the Department was reviewing applications from January 2026 in regular processing and from December 2025 in audit. In August 2026, the average time to a decision in regular processing was 336 calendar days.

Once the labor certification is granted, the clock starts: the employer must file it with the I-140 petition at USCIS within 180 calendar days. Miss that deadline and it expires.

6Step four: the I-140 petition

With the labor certification in hand, the employer files the I-140 petition with USCIS. USCIS checks three things: whether you met the job's requirements on the priority date, whether the category is right, and whether the employer can pay the salary. The evidence is your degrees and reference letters from past and current employers showing how long you worked and what you did.

The employer can request premium processing for the I-140. For $2,965, USCIS responds in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories within 15 business days with either a decision or a request for evidence. Premium processing only speeds up the petition, not the Department of Labor stage and not the wait in the Visa Bulletin.

An approved I-140 has value of its own: you keep the priority date for later petitions in categories EB-1 through EB-3, unless USCIS revokes the approval for fraud or error. If you later change employers and a new PERM process begins, you don't go to the back of the line.

7Step five: priority date, then I-485 or the consulate

Whether you can move ahead right after approval depends on the Visa Bulletin. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff date for your category, a visa is available to you. If you are lawfully in the US, you then file Form I-485, the application for adjustment of status, with USCIS. In the EB-2 and EB-3 categories you can even file it together with the I-140 if a visa would be immediately available upon approval. For November 2026, USCIS allows the Dates for Filing chart of the bulletin for this.

If you still live in Europe, USCIS sends your case to the National Visa Center. You file Form DS-260, pay $345 per person and, after a medical exam with an approved physician, attend your interview at the consulate. After entering on your immigrant visa, you pay the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee.

An advantage for people already working in the US: in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, the law forgives status violations and unauthorized work totaling no more than 180 days since your last lawful entry. If you have been out of status for longer, have that reviewed before you file anything.

8Who pays for what

The Department of Labor regulation leaves no room for doubt on costs. The employer may not be paid for the labor certification, either upfront or as reimbursement, and that includes attorney fees. Payments for it, including from you, can lead to denial of the application, revocation of an approved labor certification, or the employer being barred from the program.

The I-140 petition costs $715 on paper or $665 online, plus the Asylum Program Fee of $600 ($300 for small employers). The costs of your own green card application, the I-485 or the immigrant visa, and your family's applications are usually paid by you, unless the employer agrees otherwise. For each person aged 14 or older, the I-485 costs $1,440 on paper. Work authorization and travel permission during the process cost $260 and $630.

What this route costs a family in total and how it compares with the other routes is worked out in the guide Costs and timelines of the entrepreneur routes.

9Changing jobs and traveling during the process

The employer route ties you to one job, but not forever. Once your I-485 has been pending for at least 180 days, the approved petition stays valid for a new job, as long as it is in the same or a similar occupational classification. That rule is why many people wait until their application has been pending for six months before changing employers.

Travel is the second tricky point. If you leave the US with a pending I-485, you generally abandon the application, unless you first obtained travel permission, known as advance parole. There is an exception for H-1B or L-1 holders returning to the same employer with a valid visa, and for their families on H-4 or L-2. If you are in the US on another visa, such as an E-2 or O-1, you need advance parole before you fly.

Both points argue for a visa that fits with your green card application. The L-1 and H-1B explicitly allow it: the law states that applying for permanent residence on these visas is not evidence against temporary intent. More in the guide From visa to green card.

10When another route is a better fit

For many people, the employer route is the only one open. But for entrepreneurs, executives and specialists with a strong profile, there are routes without labor certification that skip the Department of Labor and the job advertising.

If you have an advanced degree or exceptional ability and an endeavor of national importance, you can file for the EB-2 NIW yourself, so you don't depend on any employer. If you are nationally or internationally recognized in your field, you can apply for the EB-1A, also without a job offer, in a category that had no backlog in November 2026. If you are a manager or executive moving from a company abroad to its US subsidiary, look at the EB-1C: it requires a job offer, but no labor certification.

Which routes are open to you side by side is laid out in the overview Green card for entrepreneurs. For many, the answer is a combination: PERM as the solid foundation, with a self-petition alongside as the faster option.

In short

• On the employer route, a US company files the applications: first the labor certification with the Department of Labor (PERM), then the I-140 petition with USCIS.
• The job requirements determine the category: EB-2 for an advanced degree or exceptional ability, EB-3 for skilled workers, professionals and other workers.
• PERM requires the prevailing wage, advertising under strict rules, and patience: in August 2026, the Department of Labor took 336 days on average.
• The employer bears the costs of the labor certification, including attorney fees, and may not be reimbursed for them.
• After 180 days with a pending I-485, you can move to the same or a similar job without starting over.

How we help you

• Visa RoadmapIn writing: which visa fits you and your family, prepared with the immigration attorney on the firm's team.
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