· 4 min read
People often assume the wait for an EB-3 unskilled visa is about how fast the government processes forms. It is not. The forms are a small part of it.
One number does most of the work
Congress allocates roughly 10,000 immigrant visas a year worldwide to the “other workers” subgroup — the whole world, every occupation in the category, every family member counted against it. That figure is set by statute, not by caseload, and no amount of processing efficiency changes it.
When more people qualify each year than there are visas, a queue forms. Your position in it is your priority date: the day your employer's PERM application was filed.
Where the time actually goes
The employer's labour certification takes months, sometimes longer if it is selected for audit. The I-140 petition takes months more. Neither of those is the main event.
The main event is the wait between petition approval and a visa number becoming available. For this subgroup that stage is usually measured in years, and for applicants born in high-demand countries it can be considerably longer because of per-country limits.
What this means for planning
Start the slow documents early. Police certificates, long-form birth certificates and letters from former employers get harder to obtain as time passes, not easier.
Watch the age of any child who might turn 21 during the wait. Ageing out is the single most painful thing that happens to families in this category, and there are provisions that can help in some circumstances — but only if raised early.
And treat any offer to shorten the queue as what it is. The queue is a legal allocation. It cannot be bought.
This page is general information about a US immigration category, not legal advice. ImmiAxis is not a law firm. For advice on your own case, consult a qualified immigration attorney or accredited representative.
