Employment Based Green Cards
One of the methods by which many people become lawful
permanent residents of the United States is what is known as "employment based immigration." This involves
demonstrating that the applicant has valuable work skills that will benefit the country.
In most cases, the foreign national requires sponsorship by an employer. With two exceptions ("outstanding professors and researchers" and "multinational executives and managers") the employer must file an individual foreign labor certification. This process is known by the acronym "PERM" (permanent electronic records management). The PERM process can be quite involved.
Irrespective of whether a foreign labor certification is required, all employment based immigrants must file, or have filed on their behalf, an immigrant preference petition — form I-140. Approval of this petition is significant for several reasons: It perfects the applicant's priority date; It confirms the applicant's immigrant preference classification; and it makes the applicant eligible to apply for immigrant status as soon as his or her priority is "current."