Employment-based immigration allows qualified foreign workers to work in the United States through a temporary visa or pursue permanent residence through an employment-based green card. The right path depends on the worker’s job, qualifications, employer, and immigration history.
Houston is located in southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico and is one of the state’s largest employment centers. The city is known for major industries, including energy, health care, aerospace, manufacturing, and technology. Its large and diverse workforce means employers regularly hire people with specialized skills from outside the United States.
For someone trying to build a career here, the immigration process can feel confusing quickly. Legal assistance with employment-based immigration in Houston can help workers and employers understand which category may fit, what requirements apply, and what needs to happen next.
Main Types of Employment-Based Immigration
Employment-based immigration is generally divided between temporary workers and people seeking permanent residence. The distinction matters because a temporary work visa does not automatically give someone a green card.
Congress has created annual limits for employment-based immigrant visas. For fiscal year 2026, the worldwide employment-based preference limit is 186,317 visas under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The law divides these visas among five preference categories under INA §203(b).
Employment-Based Immigration for Temporary Workers
Temporary employment visas let eligible foreign nationals work in the United States for a specific period and under defined conditions. Some are tied closely to one employer or type of job, so changing jobs can require additional immigration steps.
Major pathways include:
- H-1B: Specialty occupations requiring specialized knowledge and usually a related bachelor’s degree or higher.
- L-1: Certain managers, executives, and specialized-knowledge employees transferring within a multinational company.
- O-1: People with extraordinary ability or achievement in fields such as science, education, business, athletics, or the arts.
- H-2A: Temporary agricultural workers.
- H-2B: Temporary nonagricultural workers.
These visas serve different purposes. An H-1B worker in Houston’s technology sector, for example, may have a very different immigration strategy from an executive transferred from an overseas company office.
Employment-Based Immigration for Permanent Workers
Permanent employment immigration is designed for workers seeking lawful permanent residence, commonly called a green card.
The major pathways include:
- EB-1: Priority workers, including people with extraordinary ability and certain multinational executives and managers.
- EB-2: Professionals with advanced degrees or people with exceptional ability.
- EB-3: Skilled workers, professionals, and certain other workers.
- EB-4: Certain special immigrants.
- EB-5: Qualifying immigrant investors who meet the program’s requirements.
Not every worker needs an employer to sponsor the case in exactly the same way. For instance, some EB-1 applicants can self-petition, while certain EB-2 applicants may qualify for a National Interest Waiver.
And timing matters. The September 2026 Visa Bulletin shows that some employment-based categories are backlogged, with different dates depending on the category and country of chargeability.
Key Steps in the PERM Green Card Process
For many EB-2 and EB-3 employer-sponsored cases, PERM labor certification is an early and important stage. The employer generally must show that there are not enough qualified U.S. workers available for the position and that hiring the foreign worker will not adversely affect U.S. workers.
The basic process usually looks like this:
- Determine the job requirements and obtain a prevailing wage determination.
- Conduct the required recruitment and test the U.S. labor market.
- File Form ETA-9089 with the Department of Labor.
- Wait for the PERM decision.
- File Form I-140 with USCIS after certification.
- Apply for adjustment of status or pursue consular processing when eligible and when an immigrant visa is available.
This process can take patience—with thousands of PERM applications certified in each fiscal year. That is why getting the job description, recruitment, wage information, and filing details right matters from the beginning.
Key Takeaways
- Employment immigration can be temporary or permanent.
- H-1B, L-1, O-1, H-2A, and H-2B are major temporary pathways.
- EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 are common employment-based green card categories.
- Many EB-2 and EB-3 cases require PERM labor certification.
- PERM processing can take close to a year or longer.
- Visa availability and priority dates can affect when a worker receives permanent residence.
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