EB-2 Green Card: Advanced Degree and Exceptional Ability

There are two ways in.

Advanced degree professional

The job must require an advanced degree, and you must have one. That means a US master's degree or higher (or a foreign equivalent), or a US bachelor's degree (or foreign equivalent) plus at least 5 years of progressive experience in the field after the degree.

Exceptional ability

You must show expertise significantly above what is ordinarily found in the sciences, arts, or business, by meeting at least 3 of these 6 criteria:

1. A degree, diploma, or certificate related to the field
2. Letters showing at least 10 years of full-time experience
3. A license to practice the profession
4. A salary or pay that shows exceptional ability
5. Membership in professional associations
6. Recognition for achievements from peers, government, or professional groups

Comparable evidence may be accepted if these do not fit your field.

For a standard EB-2, a US employer must offer you a permanent, full-time job and sponsor you. Before it can file Form I-140, the employer usually must get a PERM labor certification from the Department of Labor (DOL). PERM shows that no able, willing, qualified US worker is available and that hiring you will not lower wages. Our PERM guide and employer PERM page explain the steps:

1. A prevailing wage determination from DOL.
2. Recruitment: job ads and a waiting period.
3. Filing Form ETA-9089 in DOL's FLAG system.

By law, the employer must pay the costs of PERM itself. It cannot pass them on to you. The employer must also show it can pay the offered wage from the date the PERM was filed.

Exceptions: Registered nurses and physical therapists are Schedule A occupations, so employers skip the recruitment and file directly with USCIS. And if you qualify for a National Interest Waiver, you can skip the job offer and PERM and file for yourself.

EB-2 gets 28.6% of employment-based green cards, about 40,000 a year, plus any unused EB-1 numbers. No country can use more than 7% of the combined yearly total, so high-demand countries wait longer.

Your priority date is the date DOL received your PERM (or the I-140 date if no PERM was needed). You can file the last step only when the Visa Bulletin shows your date as current.

People from India and China sometimes file a second I-140 in EB-3 (or move from EB-3 to EB-2) when that category moves faster. You can usually keep the earlier priority date from an approved I-140. Check the Visa Bulletin tracker for current dates.

• Adjustment of status (Form I-485) if you are in the US and your priority date is current.
• Consular processing (DS-260 through the National Visa Center, then a consulate interview) if you are abroad.

H-1B and L-1 holders are in dual-intent status. An approved I-140 also lets many H-1B workers extend beyond the usual 6-year limit while they wait. Once your I-485 has been pending 180 days and your I-140 is approved, you can usually change to a same or similar job without starting over.

The 2026 adjustment of status memo. On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued a policy memo (PM-602-0199) that treats adjustment of status as a discretionary benefit. USCIS said that people who are in the US on a temporary visa and want a green card should expect to apply from their home country, except in extraordinary circumstances. The memo applies to pending and new Form I-485 filings. Meeting the legal requirements is now treated as the minimum: officers weigh your whole record, including whether you used your visa for its stated purpose. Legal challenges were expected, so check the current position before you file.

The 2026 interview freeze. Since August 25, 2026, the State Department has paused scheduling of immigrant visa interviews worldwide while consular officers train on public charge screening. No restart date had been announced as of September 22, 2026. Track it on our immigrant visa pause page.

Travel ban. Nationals of the 39 countries covered by the travel ban (Proclamation 10998, in effect since January 1, 2026) generally cannot receive immigrant visas abroad, and USCIS has held many pending applications from those countries for extra review.

Public charge. A new public charge rule took effect on September 18, 2026. It replaces the 2022 rule with a broader "totality of the circumstances" test of whether you are likely to rely on government support.

Government fees as of September 2026, from the USCIS fee schedule:

Check the USCIS fee calculator before you pay. Lawyer fees are extra.

Yes. Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can get green cards as derivatives, using your priority date. Each files their own I-485 or DS-260. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) can protect a child from "aging out" at 21 in some cases, but long backlogs mean some children still lose eligibility. If your child is close to 21, get legal advice early.