Green Card Report: Top Work States

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Note: To obtain employment based green card in United States, most foreign workers will have to go through 3 steps: 1). Permanent Labor Certification(ETA Form 9089), 2). Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker(Form I-140), 3). Adjust of Status to a permanent resident of the United States(Form I485).

The above report lists the top Work States that have filed the largest numbers of permanent labor certifications under PERM in fiscal year2024. The Green Card Petitions on the report is the number of permanent labor certifications for Green Card filed under PERM. The number includes certified, withdrawn, denied and certified but withdrawn certifications. The Average Salary is the average proffered salary on ETA Form 9089.

A permanent labor certification issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States. Once received (if required), the employer then files an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140, with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the appropriate employment-based preference category.

The Department of Labor must certify to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that 1). there are no qualified Americian workers(U.S. Citizens or permanent residents) able, willing, qualified and available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for that occupation in the area of intended employment, 2) employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers, like U.S. citizents or permanent residents.

Sometimes the green card sponsors did not enter a specific salary on ETA Form 9089, but used a salary range with minimum and maximum salary. Our algorithm uses the middle point of the range to calculate the average salary. Please review the certification details to understand the salary range.

For example, the first three records on this report mean that in fiscal year 2024, 18,444 permanent labor certifications filed under PERM to National Processing Centers for Green Card were California. The average salary of those 18,444 permanent labor certifications was $153,562. 10,432 permanent labor certifications filed under PERM to National Processing Centers for Green Card were Texas. The average salary of those 10,432 permanent labor certifications was $105,064. 7,293 permanent labor certifications filed under PERM to National Processing Centers for Green Card were New York. The average salary of those 7,293 permanent labor certifications was $149,570.