Employment, or the hope of finding employment, is the strongest attraction for foreigners who wish to come to the United States.  Some may be motivated by the hope of wealth and an easy life.  Others may be seeking opportunities simply to earn a living—in many cases, to support their families, in the United States or abroad.

      As the end of the century approached, the global picture has changed.  The workplace is no longer what it was. Sophisticated technology has become central to a highly competitive market, and the need for highly skilled workers is growing.  United States immigration law, recognizing the change, makes it easier for highly skilled people __ and harder for unskilled people- to immigrate.  Therefore, if you are prepared to bring your intellectual or technical skills to the United States or to invest your money to help the economy, the doors are open.  On the other hand, if you are unskilled and uneducated, though you may be willing to work at any type of job to gain a toehold in the United States, you will have a very long wait.

      A total of 140,000 visas are available for people who wish to immigrate on the basis of work related skills.  To be eligible, you need a specific job offer from a U.S> employer.  In addition, you must have a Department of Labor clearance, certifying that we are not depriving a qualified U.S. citizen or Green Card Holder, of a job and you are taking the job ill not worsen working conditions for others.  This procedure, known as Labor Certification, is a prerequisite for al would-be workers, with the exception of Priority Worker.  The latter group is discussed bellow.

      As with family sponsored categories, which were described in an earlier article in this series (May 1993), a preference system established by the 1990 Immigration Act sets numbers if visas and defines the limits of eligibility with regard to employment- related immigration.  This preference system can be summarized as follows:

1.) First Preference: Priority Workers – There are 40,000 visas available per year in the group, which receives preferential treatment by the Immigration and Naturalization Services. No Department of Labor Certification is required before application for a permanent resident visa.  Priority workers fall into three categories

a) Persons possessing extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, business, or athletics. Such persons must have attained national or international recognition in their fields.

b) Outstanding university professors. Persons with international reputations as outstanding in their academic fields with at least three years of teaching and research experience.  In addition, EACH MUST HAVE AN OFFER OF EMPLOYMENT FROM A UNIVERSITYOR FROM AN INDUSTRY WHERE USE WILL BE MADE OF THE ACADEMIC SCILLS IN WHICH THE REPUTATION WAS GAINED.  The university position must be a tenured or a tenure track one, and if the position offered is in the field of industrial research, the company or organization must be recognized as a leader in its field, of research, and employ at least three other full-time researchers.

c) Executives and managers of multinational corporations.  Persons who have been offered employment in a United States branch, subsidiary, or affiliate of a foreign company in an executive or managerial position. Alternatively, if the sponsoring company abroad is different from the employing company in the United States, they both must be branches of the same foreign company, or the sponsoring company must hold the majority share of the United States employing company.

2.) Second Preference:  This category provides another 40,000 visas annually to person’s with-

a) Advanced degrees or their equivalent.  For each, there must be a specific job offer in the United States, and Labor certification is required from the department of Labor before the employer can submit a permanent visa petition.  The applicant must have a master’s or doctoral degree in his or her professionals, such as engineers, who hold bachelor’s degrees and who do not require postgraduate education to practice in their field are not eligible unless they can show that they have held positions of responsibility in their fields for at least 5 years.

b) Exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business.  Applications must have nationally recognized reputations in their own countries as exceptional in their fields.  People in the arts or business do not necessarily need a university degree in order to qualify.

3.)  Third Preference:  This category allocates an additional 40,000 visas for skilled and unskilled workers, that is essentially all those who do not qualify under the first and second preference categories.  Department of Labor certification is necessary before a petition for permanent residence can be submitted.  This category is divided into three areas:

a) Skilled workers with at least two years experience or training in their fields.  No degree is required.

b) Professionals with bachelor’s degrees or on the job experience that is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. A degree from a foreign university must be evaluated by a professional organization to determine whether it is equivalent to a similar degree from an American university. 

c) Unskilled workers.  Of the 40,000 visas in this category, only 10,000 visas are available annually for unskilled workers No education or formal training is needed, but applicants must have a certain amount of experience in their fields to earn labor certification from the department of labor.  Such workers as nannies or laborers must wait for a long time for their Green Card.  The waiting list now numbers in the tens of thousands  which translates to a wait of  at  least ten years from the date of application to the interview for the green card.

4.) Fourth Preference; Special Immigrants- 10,000 visas are reserved annually for their category, 5,000 visas going to full-time religious workers, the remainder being divided among such a people as overseas employees of the U.S. Government who have worked abroad for at least 15 years; graduates of specific foreign medical schools and people seeking reacquisition of citizenship.

5.) Fifth Preference:  Investors- This category sets aside 10,000 visas annually for every applicant who invests at least $500,000 to create a new business that will result in the employment of 10 or more American citizens or permanent residents.  Thus, foreign business owners who are not professionals and who do not qualify as either extraordinary or exceptional but who do not have capital to invest in the United States in employment –creating ventures, are eligible for permanent residence under the category.  The law sets aside 3,000 of the visas for people who establish business in targeted areas, i.e. rural areas or places where the unemployment rate is at least 150 per cent higher than the national average.