3-Year Degrees Cause Green Card Problems
Posted 02/24/2010
In Immigration
The degree you earned can have an effect on your employment-based green card process.
Employment-based green cards are distributed to 140,000 immigrants every year. To qualify for an employment-based green card, an immigrant must prove that he or she is more qualified for the job than a US citizen, then must be categorized in the employed-based preference system.
The Employment-Based Preference System
The employment-based preference system consists of five categories (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-4 and EB-5) based on college degrees and work experience. EB-1 is reserved for immigrants who are outstanding in their field. EB-2 requires advanced degrees or extraordinary ability, and EB-3 is for immigrants with bachelor’s degrees or some work experience.
Since EB-1 and EB-2 are highly scrutinized categories, many immigrants only qualify for EB-3. However, the 140,000 green card limit is divided up almost equally among the categories. Because the third preference category’s quota is met so quickly each year, there is a waiting period of about five years.
EB-2 vs. EB-3 Classification
Qualifying for the EB-2 rather than the EB-3 category is far more advantageous. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services interprets the “advanced degree” required for second preference as a master’s degree or higher, or a bachelor’s degree with five years of post-baccalaureate work experience.
Many more immigrants would qualify for the bachelor’s degree with five years of experience, but immigration services is very strict about how they interpret a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent: The immigrant must have graduated from a four-year program.
Unfortunately, many foreign bachelor’s degree or similar degree programs are for three years, and USCIS will not accept them as qualifying criteria for EB-2 status.
The 3-Year Degree Dilemma
In an era when three-year bachelor’s degrees are becoming fairly normal in the US, it is difficult to understand why USCIS is being so stringent on the policy that specifically requires an immigrant to earn a four-year degree to be eligible for a green card.
In fact, an immigrant can even have trouble getting approved under EB-3 status if the company sponsoring the immigrant for the green card does not specify that it accepts three-year degrees.
Until USCIS relaxes its standards of the required degrees for green card approval, the US risks losing workers with valuable skills.
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