EB-2 application for persons of “exceptional ability” and advance-degree professionals receive 40,000 quotas of the yearly worldwide limit of employment-based immigrant visas, plus any unused visas from the Employment First Preference categories. This category is the second preference of the employment-based immigrant visa.
To apply for a green card through EB-2 application, the prospective employer must obtain a Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) to apply for Program Electronic Review Management (PERM). The beneficiary must have an approved Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140, filed by the qualified prospective employer and must have a valid job offer provided by the qualified prospective employer unless it is in the National Interest Waiver (NIW). In the case of NIW, labour certification is not a requirement to sponsor the beneficiary. After that the applicant will be requested to attend an interview conducted by consular at U.S. Embassy.
The total processing time is approximately 24-28 months.
Family members of the EB-2 immigrant are
entitled to admission in the same immigrant category (Green Card). Included in
this category is the spouse of the visa holder, as well as minor unmarried
children under the age of 21. The spouse is also eligible to file for an
Employment Authorization Document (EAD).
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1. |
USA EB-2 Immigrant Visa Application Package Fees |
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Our fees for handling an EB-2 visa application to enable the foreigner to work in the United States and later adjust his/her status is USD16,200. An additional USD2,500 and USD1,500 will be charged for each adult and child dependent visa, respectively.
The fees are broken down in 3 stages below: |
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In
particular, our fees cover the following services: |
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Note: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2. |
Payment Term and Method |
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Upon receipt of confirmation of engagement, we will issue an invoice and email it together with detailed wire instructions to you. Due to the nature of services, we require full payment of the Stage-1 Fee in advance. Upon issuance of the PERM Labor Certificate, the Stage-2 and Stage-3 Fees become payable. At each stage, once service is commenced, no service fees will be refunded.
We currently only accept check, cash or TT and credit card payment through PayPal. If the invoice is settled by PayPal, an extra 5% service fee will be charged. If Taiwan uniform invoice is required, a Business Tax at 5% of the invoiced amount will be charged and collected.
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3. |
Eligibility Criteria |
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Prospective U.S. employer |
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Visa Beneficiary |
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1. | There are 3 sub-categories within this category and the beneficiary must be eligible under one of the following groups: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2. |
The
beneficiary must hold a labor certification and a job offer unless it is waived
under the NIW (16:19). |
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The above-mentioned eligibility criteria may be subject to change from time to time by the USCIS without prior notice. Please contact with Kaizen’s immigration consultants for more information.
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4. |
Application Procedures and Timeline |
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The
EB-2 visa application is comprised of 3 stages, as follows. |
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Stage 1: PERM Labour Certification |
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The
first step is to obtain the PWD [1] from the National Prevailing Wage Centre (NPWC), which takes approximately 5
months before the filing of the PERM [2]. To be considered for an immigrant visa under the EB-2 category, the
prospective employer or agent must then obtain a labour certification approval
from the Department of Labour. The employer is responsible for all costs
relating to the PERM.
As the PERM takes another
5-7 months to process, Stage-1 takes approximately 1 year in total.
[1] To demonstrate that the alien worker will not be displacing a U.S. worker in the job offered, etc., the employer will need to test the labor market by conducting a bona fide recruitment for the position offered. [2] The labour certification is a prerequisite to obtaining permanent residence through an employer. Certifications are issued under an expedited system entitled “Program Electronic Review Management,” or “PERM”. |
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Stage 2: Filing an Immigrant Petition |
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Once
the PERM is certified, the prospective employer then files an Immigrant
Petition (known as the “green card” application). This step takes between 8-10 months to process via
regular processing. Premium processing
can be elected at the extra fee of USD2,500 paid to the USCIS, reducing the
adjudication time to 15 business days. |
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Stage 3: Consular Processing |
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After USCIS approves the petition, it is sent to the National Visa Centre (NVC). Once the visa bulletin is “current” for the foreign worker’s “priority date”, then the NVC will contact the foreign worker to schedule an immigrant green card interview, if consular processing was chosen. This typically takes 3 to 5 months (but highly dependent on policy changes) after Stage 2 is approved. Upon successful interview, the foreign worker will receive the I-551 Immigrant Visa stamp. It will normally be valid for 10 years and is renewable.
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The entire EB-2 application
process takes between 24 to
28 months (subject to change
without prior notice by the USCIS).
The table below summarizes the estimated time frame for each of the steps: |
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Note: |
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5. |
Required Documentation and Information |
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Documents Prepared by the Employer |
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Documents Prepared by the Applicant |
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Documents prepared by the Dependent(s) |
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Notes: |
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Related Topics: US EB-3 Visa (Skilled Worker) | EB-1C Visa (Intro-Company Transferee) | EB-5 Visa (Immigrant Investor) |
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Should you need any assistance or wish to obtain more information, please also browse our official website at www.kaizenvis.com or contact us through the following means:
T: +852 2341 1444 M: +852 5616 4140, +86 152 1943 4614 WhatsApp / Line / Signal / WeChat: +852 5616 4140 Skype: kaizencpa
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