EB-2 green card

Nobody chooses EB-2. The job puts a case there, or it does not.

EB-2 is the employment-based second preference, for a position requiring an advanced degree or for a person of exceptional ability, petitioned by the employer after a labor certification. Companies come to it because they have heard it is the shorter line, and that is the wrong end to start from. What decides the preference is the minimum requirement the position genuinely carries, written down and certified before anyone is selected.

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Who you would be working with, and how the work runs

The employment-based categories on this site are all handled here, and they are handled by the same attorney. A company with an H-1B question, a labor certification and a green card to plan does not need three firms, three intakes and three explanations of its own org chart.

There is one attorney at this firm. The person who reads your documents is the person who writes the petition and signs the filing, and two paralegals work the file alongside me. That is not a service promise, it is the shape of the firm, and it is the reason there is nobody for a question to get handed to.

Every matter carries a written checklist: what I need from you, what I am working on now, and what comes next. The filing is built from your own documents, because the facts that decide these cases are specific to one company and one role and no template holds them. The person the case is filed for gets a portal account of their own for documents and status, which keeps their personal papers out of a shared inbox. Fees are flat per matter and staged, quoted in three separate lines: the attorney fee, government filing fees, and other costs.

EB-2 at a glance

The job sets the preference

A position that requires an advanced degree, or a bachelor's plus five years of progressive experience, is EB-2. The employer does not choose.
Two doors

An advanced-degree position, or a person of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business. Both need the job offer and the labor certification.
Labor certification first

A Department of Labor test of the U.S. labor market for the position, on the Department of Labor calendar, before USCIS sees the petition.
One rule is not the firm's

On a PERM the employer pays its attorney fee and the recruitment costs for that step, and the employee may not reimburse them.

Is this your situation?

If one of these is close to what your company is planning, the category is worth checking properly.

The role genuinely needs a master's degree, or a degree plus real experience.: That is the ordinary EB-2 through labor certification. The word doing the work is genuinely. A requirement written higher than the position needs is a problem at the Department of Labor, and one written lower puts the case in EB-3. Either way the description has to match the job the company would advertise if the current employee walked out tomorrow.
Someone is already on an EB-3 track and the wait has become the problem.: Moving a case up a preference is not a matter of refiling the same paperwork under a different heading. It means a new labor certification for a position whose certified minimum requirements are actually at the EB-2 level, and whether the earlier priority date carries forward is its own question under 8 CFR 204.5(e).
The person is exceptional and there is no obvious degree to point at.: EB-2 has a second door: exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business, proved against a list of criteria rather than with a diploma. It still needs the job offer and the labor certification. The version without either is the national interest waiver, which has its own page here.

“A case is in the second preference because the job requires an advanced degree, not because the person happens to hold one.”

The test

What the law actually requires

All of it is checkable. The category is INA 203(b)(2), the petition regulation is 8 CFR 204.5(k), and the Department of Labor stage in front of it is 20 CFR part 656.

Two doors into the second preference

Advanced degree

Who: A position that requires an advanced degree.
The standard: Any U.S. academic or professional degree above a baccalaureate, or a foreign equivalent. A baccalaureate followed by five years of progressive experience in the specialty counts as a master's.
What proves it: The requirement written on the certified labor certification, met by the person when it was filed.
Rule: 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2)

Exceptional ability

Who: A person whose expertise in the sciences, arts or business is significantly above that ordinarily encountered.
The standard: At least three of six kinds of evidence, and then the record as a whole against the definition. Three is the entry, not the finding.
What proves it: Still the job offer and the labor certification.
Rule: 8 CFR 204.5(k)(3)(ii)

The six kinds of evidence

an academic record for the degree, diploma or certificate in the area
at least ten years of full-time experience in the occupation
a license or certification to practice the profession
a salary that demonstrates exceptional ability
membership in professional associations
recognition for achievements by peers, government bodies or professional organizations

Comparable evidence is allowed under 8 CFR 204.5(k)(3)(iii) where the listed standards do not readily apply to the occupation.

The version without the job offer and the certification is the national interest waiver, INA 203(b)(2)(B): the same category asking a different question, with its own page here.

The position sets the preference, and the certification records it

A case is in the second preference because the job requires an advanced degree, not because the person happens to hold one. 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2) defines an advanced degree as any U.S. academic or professional degree above a baccalaureate, or a foreign equivalent, and treats a baccalaureate followed by five years of progressive experience in the specialty as the equivalent of a master's. The requirement that counts is the one on the certified labor certification, and the person must have met it when the labor certification was filed. Qualifying later does not reach back.

The labor certification comes first, and it is a test of the market

Except for the national interest waiver and the narrow Schedule A occupations at 20 CFR 656.5 and 656.15, an EB-2 petition must rest on a permanent labor certification approved by the Department of Labor under 20 CFR part 656, which is the rule 8 CFR 204.5(k)(4)(i) states. The finding is that there are not sufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified and available for the position, and that employing the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed. The mechanics, the prevailing wage, the prescribed recruitment and the audit-ready record, are the same as in EB-3 and are taught in full on that page.

The employer has to show it can pay, and the queue is published

8 CFR 204.5(g)(2) requires the petitioning employer to show the ability to pay the proffered wage from the priority date until the person becomes a permanent resident, proved with annual reports, federal tax returns or audited financial statements. It does not soften because the preference is higher, and it is tested against the company's own filed numbers. The priority date is the day the labor certification was accepted for processing, and whether it is current, by category and country of chargeability, is published every month in the Visa Bulletin. The gap between the second and third preference is not a constant.

The waiver route is the same category asking a different question. INA 203(b)(2)(B) lets USCIS waive the job offer, and with it the labor certification, when it is in the national interest. That is the national interest waiver: the same second preference, self-petitioned, decided on the three-part framework from Matter of Dhanasar rather than on a labor market test. It is not a shorter version of this page and it is not a fallback.

The honest part

What is hard about it

Two things a company should know before it budgets.

Writing the requirement upward is the classic mistake

A company that wants the second preference is tempted to raise the stated minimum until it reaches the EB-2 line. The Department of Labor tests the requirement against what the occupation normally requires and against what the employer actually requires of others in the same role, and a requirement that exists only to reach a preference is exactly what an audit is designed to find.

The qualifying date is the filing date, not the approval date

The person has to have met the certified minimum requirements when the labor certification was filed. Experience gained afterward, and in most circumstances experience gained with the petitioning employer in the same position, does not fix a gap. That is a fact to check at the start of the case, because it cannot be repaired at the end of it.

The clock

Where the calendar comes from

An EB-2 through labor certification runs on three separate government clocks, and each agency publishes its own current numbers. Check those rather than a figure typed onto a law firm page.

The Department of Labor publishes where it stands

The prescribed recruitment steps and the quiet period between them are fixed by regulation, and the Department of Labor reports at flag.dol.gov what it is currently working on for prevailing wage determinations, analyst review and audits. This is the stage with the least room to move, so the case is planned backwards from the date the person has to be working.

USCIS publishes I-140 processing times

The petition is Form I-140, and the processing-times tool at egov.uscis.gov reports what each office is currently taking. Read it as a description of decided cases rather than a date for yours. Premium processing on Form I-907 buys a commitment to act inside a published number of days, and acting includes a request for evidence as much as an approval.

The Visa Bulletin is the queue, published monthly

The Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin at travel.state.gov, showing which priority dates are current in each category for each country of chargeability. A gap someone described to you last year is not evidence of the gap this month, and checking takes a minute.

Each of those pages belongs to the agency that decides that stage and carries the date it was last updated. They describe cases already decided.

The sequence

Where the time actually goes

Here is the order of a case in this category: who acts at each step, and whose clock is running. Two of those clocks are different animals, and telling them apart is most of what people are really asking. A period fixed by regulation is the same this year and next. A backlog is a fact about a queue on one particular day, so this page does not print one. It hands you the agency page where the current figure lives.

You
You and your attorney build the record: the evidence, the letters, the exhibits, the petition itself.
No published figure
This is the one stretch on the list that no agency measures. It moves with what already exists and what still has to be created.
Department of Labor
The Department of Labor issues a prevailing wage determination for the job.
Set by the backlogForm ETA-9141
The Department of Labor publishes the month of requests it is working through, not a length. Read the current month for yourself.
Department of Labor processing timesCheck the current figure at flag.dol.gov
Your employer
Your employer runs the recruitment the regulation requires, including a job order with the state workforce agency.
Set by regulation
- The state job order runs 30 days.
- The required recruitment has to finish at least 30 days before the application is filed.
- It may start no more than 180 days before filing.
These periods are the floor under every labor certification. They are fixed by rule, so no employer and no attorney can compress them.
Rule 20 CFR 656.17(e)Source govinfo.gov
Department of Labor
The Department of Labor reviews the labor certification, and may select it for audit.
Set by the backlogForm ETA-9089
The audit queue and the analyst queue move at different speeds, and the Department of Labor publishes both.
Department of Labor processing timesCheck the current figure at flag.dol.gov
Your employer
Once the certification is approved, a deadline starts running against the employer.
Set by regulation
- An approved certification expires if the immigrant petition is not filed within 180 calendar days of the grant.
This is the one clock on a labor certification case that can actually be missed, which is why it sits on the figure rather than in a footnote.
Rule 20 CFR 656.30(b)(1)Source govinfo.gov
USCIS
USCIS decides the immigrant petition.
Set by the backlogForm I-140
Same tool, same caution: what USCIS publishes describes cases it has already finished, and it is posted per form, per classification and per office.
Premium processing
Premium processing is a paid USCIS service available on this form. For I-140 in this classification, USCIS states a period of 15 business days.
That period stops and starts over from the beginning if USCIS issues a request for evidence, so it buys a faster look at the file rather than a shorter case.
Eligibility is set per form and per classification, and USCIS can change it.
USCIS processing timesCheck the current figure at egov.uscis.gov
Department of State
A visa number has to become available for your preference category and your country of birth.
Set by the backlog
Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not in a preference category, so this step does not apply to them. Where it does apply, nobody can shorten it, and for some countries it is the longest step by a distance. The Department of State publishes a bulletin every month.
The visa bulletinCheck the current figure at travel.state.gov
USCIS
The last step happens in one of two places: adjustment of status with USCIS inside the United States, or an immigrant visa interview at a consulate abroad.
Set by the backlogForm I-485
Which one applies depends on where you are and what status you hold, not on preference.
USCIS processing timesCheck the current figure at egov.uscis.gov

Sources and definitions

No published figure: No agency publishes a time for this step. Anyone quoting you one is guessing.
Set by the backlog: How long this step takes depends on the agency's queue that month. The current figure is on the agency's own page, which is why it is not repeated here.
Set by regulation: A rule fixes this period. It is the same for everyone and it does not move with the backlog.

Department of Labor processing times: The Department of Labor posts the month of filings its analysts are currently reviewing. That is a position in a line rather than a length, which is a more honest thing to publish and a harder thing to read.
USCIS processing times: Pick the form, the classification and the office. What USCIS posts there is how long it took to finish eight in ten decided cases over the previous six months, refreshed monthly.
The visa bulletin: Published monthly by the Department of State. It tells you whether a visa number is available this month for your category and country of birth.
USCIS premium processing: Which forms and classifications are eligible, what it costs, and the period USCIS states for each of them.

The Department of Labor handles wage and recruitment steps before a petition is filed.
USCIS is U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that decides petitions.
The Department of State runs the consulates and publishes the monthly visa bulletin.

Every stage, form number and period below comes from the agency that owns that step. None of it is this firm's estimate, and none of it is a prediction about your case.

Sources last checked August 16, 2026.

The links go to live government pages, so what you find there will be newer than that.

The employer page, for the whole track

How employer-sponsored work is structured at this firm, the categories that sit beside EB-2, and where the calendar for each one comes from.

Read the employer page
EB-2 NIW, the same category without the employer

The national interest waiver is INA 203(b)(2)(B): the same second preference, self-petitioned, with the job offer and the labor certification waived, decided on the three-part Dhanasar framework instead of on a labor market test.

Read the NIW page
What it costs

Fees here are always quoted in three separate lines: the attorney fee, government filing fees, and other costs. The published numbers live on one page.

See the full fee breakdown

A record from this category

PERM
The classification shaped the case before recruitment started

An employer sponsoring an entry-level hourly role for a green card. The wage classification and the minimum requirements were both settled before a single advertisement ran, and everything the recruitment did afterward had to fit inside them. Nothing has been decided yet, and the record says so.

Employer sponsorship, recruitment complete, no decision yet

Client-identifying detail has been removed.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts, its own evidence, and the law in effect when it is decided.

Read the case

Read every published record

Bring the job description you would actually advertise.

A consultation on an EB-2 is mostly a reading: what the position genuinely requires, what the person genuinely held on the day it matters, and whether the preference follows from those two facts or was chosen before them. I will tell you how I read it, including if the honest answer is EB-3, or the waiver route, or not yet.

Two ways to start, and who you sit with

The first is a free intake with my team. The second is the paid consultation, and that one is with me.

Intake

15 minutes · Free

My paralegal team, not me

A short conversation to hear what is going on and get it written down properly. My paralegals ask about your status, your dates, your employer if there is one, and what you have already tried. By the end of it you know what a consultation with me would cover and whether it is worth booking one yet.

This step is intake and scheduling. My paralegals do not give legal advice, do not tell you whether you qualify for anything, and do not recommend a visa category. That part is mine, and it happens in the attorney consultation.
Attorney consultation

60 minutes · $150

If you go on to retain the firm for the matter the consultation covered, the fee is credited toward your fee for that case. The credit does not expire.

Joe Kwon, the attorney who would handle the case

This is where the legal discussion happens. You tell me what you have and what you are trying to do, and I tell you what I think, including when I think the answer is no. Some of these end with me not taking the case. That is a real result of the call, not a failure of it. I read what you send before we sit down, so the whole session goes to your question. The consultation runs as a video call, from wherever you are.

Book a consultation See the full fee breakdown

Booking does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Immigration benefits are decided by government officers who apply the law to the record in front of them, and many of them are discretionary. No attorney can promise you an approval, and anyone who does is telling you what you want to hear. What good lawyering controls is whether your case is complete, specific, and internally consistent, so that approving it is the officer's easiest path.