Posted by: Biggy Small February 27, 2008
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Hey Siwani,
The length of time for a green card depends on various factors such as your job, your location, your company, your filing category etc. You will hear of situations where people get there their green cards within a year but that is an exception not a norm. So when you estimate the length of time please consider the norm not exceptions, if not you might be disappointed.
Firstly you need to look at your job function. Did your job posting have a Masters degree or an Undergraduate degree with 5 years experience as a requirement? If so you qualify under the EB2 category for green card filing. This means your process will be quicker than the general category of EB3.
The recruitment process is the first in the list. This differs by company depending how frequently they sponsor candidates for a green card. If your company doesn't sponsor a lot of candidates it will take longer as they have to go through various steps of recruitment. Once this is over they file the PERM labor certification with the department of labor (DOL)
The department of labor uses the job guideline listed by Onet. If your job function in this site has Undergraduate as the minimum requirement, than the probability of an audit is higher. An audit doesn't mean you are in danger of being rejected. Its just a way for the department of labor to understand why your particular job requires more than what they think is required to perform your job. If DOL sees more companies are requiring Masters degree for that job function they will update it (so its a form of quality check for them too.) As I mentioned above there are various factors. Maybe the department or company you work for is very small and you have other responsibilities even though you title says otherwise. You need to document it. For example, your job title may say Accountant but you perform job functions of an accountant, financial analyst and file taxes for your company. This means you need to have a lot more qualifications than a John Doe who works as an accountant at a large company. Don't worry if you have a good lawyer he/she will prepare the argument with a little guidance (because you know your job best) from you.
The Labor certification process takes about 60-90. Some folks will tell you their labor certification got approved within a week. Again that is an exception not a norm.
Once your Labor is approved you need to file an I-140 and an I-485. Assuming you are under the EB2 category and a Nepali citizen, they can apply for this concurrently. You can apply for an I-140 under premium processing where you pay an extra $1000 and they will guarantee a response (I think its 15 days but don't quote me on it). I personally think its useless because even if you get your I-140 in 15 days you have to wait for a year for I-485. I-140 usually takes about 6 months to process and your I-485 takes a year (under normal circumstances).
So the whole process without an audit under normal circumstances takes about 12-18 months under the EB2 category but if you are lucky you could get your green card between 6-12 months.
I would suggest you apply for H1 unless you have lawyer that guarantees you a green card within a year. I am yet to come across one.
Good Luck.
The length of time for a green card depends on various factors such as your job, your location, your company, your filing category etc. You will hear of situations where people get there their green cards within a year but that is an exception not a norm. So when you estimate the length of time please consider the norm not exceptions, if not you might be disappointed.
Firstly you need to look at your job function. Did your job posting have a Masters degree or an Undergraduate degree with 5 years experience as a requirement? If so you qualify under the EB2 category for green card filing. This means your process will be quicker than the general category of EB3.
The recruitment process is the first in the list. This differs by company depending how frequently they sponsor candidates for a green card. If your company doesn't sponsor a lot of candidates it will take longer as they have to go through various steps of recruitment. Once this is over they file the PERM labor certification with the department of labor (DOL)
The department of labor uses the job guideline listed by Onet. If your job function in this site has Undergraduate as the minimum requirement, than the probability of an audit is higher. An audit doesn't mean you are in danger of being rejected. Its just a way for the department of labor to understand why your particular job requires more than what they think is required to perform your job. If DOL sees more companies are requiring Masters degree for that job function they will update it (so its a form of quality check for them too.) As I mentioned above there are various factors. Maybe the department or company you work for is very small and you have other responsibilities even though you title says otherwise. You need to document it. For example, your job title may say Accountant but you perform job functions of an accountant, financial analyst and file taxes for your company. This means you need to have a lot more qualifications than a John Doe who works as an accountant at a large company. Don't worry if you have a good lawyer he/she will prepare the argument with a little guidance (because you know your job best) from you.
The Labor certification process takes about 60-90. Some folks will tell you their labor certification got approved within a week. Again that is an exception not a norm.
Once your Labor is approved you need to file an I-140 and an I-485. Assuming you are under the EB2 category and a Nepali citizen, they can apply for this concurrently. You can apply for an I-140 under premium processing where you pay an extra $1000 and they will guarantee a response (I think its 15 days but don't quote me on it). I personally think its useless because even if you get your I-140 in 15 days you have to wait for a year for I-485. I-140 usually takes about 6 months to process and your I-485 takes a year (under normal circumstances).
So the whole process without an audit under normal circumstances takes about 12-18 months under the EB2 category but if you are lucky you could get your green card between 6-12 months.
I would suggest you apply for H1 unless you have lawyer that guarantees you a green card within a year. I am yet to come across one.
Good Luck.