Employment-based immigrant visas: What are they?

There are a lot of people who want to move to the United States, one of the ways that this can be done is through employment. One option that exists for moving to the US is an employment based immigrant visa. This is probably the best option if you don't have family in the US, the only problem is that it is very difficult for most people to qualify in this way.

Employment based immigrant visas are pretty much what the name would lead you to think they are. These are visas that allow people to move to the United States in order to take up a job. Getting one can be the first step on the road to getting a green card and ultimately becoming a citizen. That being said these visas are a lot harder to get than they used to be so you may find that immigrating through a different type of visa will give you a better chance. This is especially true if you have family in the US.

In order to apply for an employment based immigrant visa you will need to fall into one of the five categories for which they are offered. These five categories are further broken down into sub categories. Since the purpose of these visas is to encourage immigration by people who can help the economy they are heavily weighted towards highly skilled professionals. It is possible to qualify as an unskilled worker but there will be a lot of competition for a very small number of visas. In general the more education and skills that you have the better your chances of getting a visa.

The first step if you want to qualify for an employment based visa is to find an employer willing to sponsor you. It will be necessary to have your potential employer file a petition on your behalf to get the process started. There are few cases where people can file the petition on their own behalf but this is only for the most highly skilled of people, like professional athletes. Once this is done the government will do a background check on you, focusing mostly on ensuring that you have the skills and education that you claimed to have.

If you make it this far in the process you will next have to go to an interview at the embassy in your home country. If you make it through this process you will be granted your visa. Since these visas are intended for people who are planning to move to the US on a permanent basis you will normally be expected to apply for a green card once you get to the US. Once you have the green card you are considered to be a permanent resident and can stay in the US for as long as you want.