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Permanent Resident

Employment-based Immigrant Visas

If you want to become an immigrant based on the fact that you have a permanent employment opportunity in the United States, or if you are an employer that wants to sponsor someone for lawful permanent residency based on permanent employment in the United States, you must go through a multi-step process with the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services and in many cases, the U.S. Department of Labor.

• First, foreign nationals and employers must determine if the foreign national is eligible for lawful permanent residency under one of the paths allowed by USCIS regulations.
• Second, many employment categories require that the U.S employer prove that there are not qualified U.S. workers available for the positions.  This will require the employer to first obtain an approved Labor certification through the U.S Department of Labor before filing the immigrant petition with USCIS. Qualified alien physicians who will practice medicine in an area of the United States which has been certified as underserved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are relieved from this requirement.
• Third, the employer must file an immigrant petition with the USCIS on behalf of the person using the Form I-140; Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. The employer acts as the sponsor (or petitioner) for the applicant (or beneficiary) who wants to live and work on a permanent basis in the U.S.
• Fourth, the State Department must give the applicant an immigrant visa number, even if the applicant is already in the U.S.  When the applicant receives an immigrant visa number, it means that an immigrant visa has been assigned to the applicant. You can check the status of a visa number using the U.S. Department of State’s Visa Bulletin Online.
• Fifth, if the applicant is already in the U.S., he or she must apply to adjust to permanent resident status after a visa number becomes available.  This is done using the USCIS Form I-485; Application to Register Permanent Resident or Adjust Status. If the applicant is outside the U.S when an immigrant visa number becomes available, he or she will be notified and must complete the process at his or her local U.S. consulate office.

Information pertaining to job offers through the University of Oklahoma for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident status can be found in the University of Oklahoma Sponsorship Eligibility section of this site.