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One of the three major immigration groups to the US is job-based or investment-based immigration. The focus is particularly on the individual qualifications of green card applicants.
US employment-based immigration includes quite different green card categories. The US authorities issue approximately 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas annually. The focus is on the applicant's professional qualifications and, if applicable, a concrete job offer in the United States.
Thematically, there is a subdivision into five Green Card categories. This is due to the fact that Green Card applicants can have very different professional qualifications. In the event that a specific job offer is required, this is subject to a special procedure of the national labor market examination, the so-called Labor Certification.
EB-1 visa: persons of high national interest to the US (Priority Workers)
EB-2 visa: Persons with special qualifications or skills
EB-3 visa: Academics, qualified professionals and other workers
EB-4 visa: Special immigrants and employees of churches / faith communities
EB-5 visa: Investors
Individuals of high national interest to the United States fall under the EB-1 category. The United States is committed to attracting highly skilled individuals from abroad to the U.S. labor market. To achieve this goal, the Priority Workers category was created: the best and most talented professionals in the international market are consequently given the opportunity to obtain a green card.
There are three groups of people who can qualify for the EB-1 category:
Within this group, individuals with exceptional abilities in the fields of business, education, science, the arts, or sports may qualify for a green card.
"Exceptional ability" in this context means that the applicants must have expertise that enables them to perform above average in the above-mentioned areas - i.e. belong to the top group worldwide in the respective field of work.
This second subgroup of the Priority Workers refers to university teachers and researchers who possess special and, above all, verifiable qualifications (skills) within the academic community.
The EB-1C Green Card process is open to senior executives and managers of internationally operating companies for whom immigration is to be facilitated as part of an intra-company assignment or transfer to the U.S. location.
This category makes high demands, both on the qualifications of the employees and on the company or the job offer.
The entry requirements are very similar to theL-1A Categoryin the area of nonimmigrant visas.
For EB-2 visas Advanced Degrees / Exceptional Ability individuals with special qualifications or abilities can apply. In the "Second Preference" Category EB-2, two groups of people can qualify for a green card:
The EB-3 visa category is intended for "Skilled Workers, Professionals, and other Workers". It arguably represents one of the most popular Green Card procedures in US immigration law. The reason for this is that this category offers individuals who do not have exceptional or special skills in the field of work, higher academic degrees, or senior positions in multinational companies the opportunity to obtain an immigrant visa. The EB-3 Green Card thus addresses the largest potential pool of applicants and is divided into three subgroups:
Unfortunately, this also means that the bureaucratic hurdles to obtaining the EB-3 Green Card are higher and at the same time there are processing times of several years.
Under the EB-4 category fallspecial immigrants and employees of churches and faith communities. To the category"Special Immigrants including Religious Workers."falls only a small heterogeneous group of individuals who are given the opportunity to immigrate by the US government for political or moral reasons. This group includes:
The EB-5 Immigration Investor Program, as the name implies, covers investors. Within the framework of the Immigration Acts of 1990, this fifth immigration category was created through the workplace.
This is the first time that investors have been able to apply directly for a green card. Individuals who invest $1.8 million (or $900,000 in economically weaker regions of the US) in a US company and have also created at least ten full-time jobs (for qualified employees) qualify for the EB-5 category.
NOTE: Often the EB-5 category is confused with the E-2 Treaty Investor Visa, a nonimmigrant visa. Please note that the EB-5 process is an immigration status (green card). The E-2 category, on the other hand, only authorizes limited stay in the United States. Since the EB-5 process is much more demanding, applicants may wish to consider the E-2 category as an alternative.
How high the costs for US visas are depends on which visa is applied for. Generally speaking, the more application steps are required and the more US authorities are involved, the more expensive the visa application will be. The application fees for US visas can therefore vary greatly.
Anyone applying for a visa for the USA at a US consulate or embassy must pay the following fees:
Additional costs are incurred for application procedures via the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), such as applications for US work visas.
You can find more information about the different visa fees, other possible costs and the current payment methods on our fees page.
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