Flat-Fee EB-3 Visa Attorneys

Overview of Lawhive’s EB-3 Visa Services

What the EB-3 Visa Is

The EB-3 visa is the third-preference employment-based immigrant visa category, and it’s one of the most common paths to a US green card through a job offer.

An EB-3 visa attorney at Lawhive can walk you and your sponsoring employer through every step — from the Department of Labor (DOL) paperwork to the final green card interview — on a flat fee scoped at intake. Because immigration law is federal, our experienced US immigration attorneys serve EB-3 applicants and sponsoring employers nationwide, not just in one state.

EB-3 has three baseline requirements, and all three must be met before a green card can be issued.

1. The applicant needs a permanent, full-time job offer from a US employer that is willing to sponsor.
2. The employer must obtain a PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor, confirming that no qualified US worker is available for the position at the prevailing wage.
3. The employer files Form I-140, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, with USCIS.

Once the I-140 is approved and the priority date is current on the monthly Visa Bulletin, the applicant either files Form I-485 to adjust status inside the US or completes consular processing abroad.

It’s a multi-agency, multi-year process — DOL, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the US Department of State all touch the file — and small errors at the PERM stage can cost months. That’s where having an EB-3 green card attorney coordinating the whole path pays off.

The Three EB-3 Subcategories

EB-3 is actually three subcategories under one preference. The one that applies to you depends on the job’s minimum requirements, not your personal credentials.

Skilled Workers

Skilled Worker positions require at least 2 years of training or experience to perform. The 2-year minimum has to be tied to the job itself — it’s the employer’s job description that controls, not how qualified the candidate happens to be.

Typical Skilled Worker roles include experienced tradespeople, technicians, and specialized production workers. The labor certification still applies, and the employer still has to prove no qualified US worker is available.

Professionals

Professional positions require a US bachelor’s degree (or a foreign equivalent) as the minimum to enter the occupation. If the degree was earned outside the US, it typically needs a credential evaluation from an approved evaluator to confirm it’s equivalent to a US 4-year bachelor’s.

A combination of education and experience — for example, 3 years of college plus equivalent work — usually doesn’t qualify for the Professional subcategory under EB-3, even though it might work elsewhere.

Other Workers

Other Workers — sometimes called the “unskilled” subcategory — covers positions requiring less than 2 years of training or experience. The category exists, but it’s heavily backlogged on the Visa Bulletin.

Per-country and per-category limits mean wait times for Other Workers can stretch many years, and the wait is often dramatically longer than for Skilled Workers or Professionals. We’ll tell you up front if your role would fall into Other Workers and what the realistic timeline looks like.

The PERM Labor Certification Process

PERM is the Department of Labor stage, and it has to be completed before the employer can file Form I-140. The form itself is DOL Form ETA-9089, and a PERM labor certification attorney guides the employer through three substantive steps before that form ever gets filed.

Step 1: Prevailing Wage Determination

The first step is the prevailing wage determination, or PWD, issued by the National Prevailing Wage Center. The employer submits the job description and minimum requirements, and DOL returns the wage the employer must offer to satisfy PERM — usually one of four wage levels tied to the role and location.

Step 2: Recruitment

The second step is recruitment. For Professional roles, that means:

• A job order with the state workforce agency.
• Two Sunday newspaper ads.
• A notice of filing posted at the worksite
• Three additional recruitment steps drawn from a DOL-approved list (think professional journals, employer websites, job fairs, on-campus recruiting).

Non-professional roles use a shorter list, and there are mandatory wait periods between the steps.

Step 3: Good-Faith Review of US Applicants

The third step is a good-faith review of the US worker applications that come in. The employer has to consider every applicant who meets the minimum requirements stated on the job, document why each one was rejected, and confirm in writing that no qualified US worker is available at the prevailing wage. Only then does the EB-3 labor certification attorney file ETA-9089 electronically with DOL.

After PERM — I-140 and the Green Card Step

A certified PERM is the gateway, not the finish line. Once DOL certifies the application, the employer has 180 days to file Form I-140, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, with USCIS. The I-140 documents the employer’s ability to pay the offered wage, ties the role to the certified PERM, and proves the beneficiary meets the minimum requirements.

After I-140 approval, the final step depends on where the applicant lives. If the applicant is in the US in a valid status, they may file Form I-485 to adjust status — sometimes concurrently with the I-140 if the priority date is current.

If the applicant is abroad, they go through consular processing, filing Form DS-260 with the National Visa Center, and attending an interview at the US consulate. Either way, the result is the same: lawful permanent resident status, the green card.

Visa Bulletin Priority Dates and Wait Times

The priority date is the date the PERM application was filed with DOL. That date locks in the applicant’s place in line for an EB-3 visa number. Every month, the State Department publishes the Visa Bulletin, which lists cutoff dates for each preference category and each chargeability country. When the cutoff in the relevant column moves past the applicant’s priority date, the priority date is “current” — and the I-485 or DS-260 can move forward.

Backlogs aren’t uniform. Congress caps the number of EB visas issued per year, and no single country can take more than 7% of the annual total. That per-country limit creates multi-year waits for applicants chargeable to high-demand countries like India and China, even when the worldwide EB-3 category is current.

An EB-3 visa attorney can read the Bulletin with you each month and tell you what the cutoff movement actually means for your file.

What Lawhive’s Flat-Fee EB-3 Service Covers

Lawhive scopes EB-3 representation at intake based on where you and the sponsoring employer are in the process.

Some employers come to us at the very beginning and want full-path help — PWD, recruitment design, ETA-9089, I-140, and adjustment of status or consular processing. Others have already certified PERM and just need an I-140 filed. Some applicants come in mid-process after a denial or audit and need a course correction.

Whatever the scope, the fee is flat, agreed in writing before any work starts, and you can track every milestone through your client portal with real-time updates as the file moves between DOL, USCIS, and the State Department.

Our digital-first model means you upload documents, sign engagement letters, and message your attorney in one place — no filing cabinets, no fax machines.