EB-3 Unskilled Worker (EB-3C): Requirements, Backlog, and How It Works

The EB-3 "Other Workers" subcategory — commonly called EB-3C — is the employment-based green card path for positions requiring less than two years of training or experience. It covers everything from housekeeping and food processing to landscaping and certain assembly work. The PERM process, the I-140 petition, and the I-485 adjustment of status work identically to EB-3A and EB-3B. What's different is the visa allocation — and that difference creates a problem.

What EB-3C Covers

EB-3C applies to any position where the employer's genuine minimum requirements for the job call for fewer than two years of training or experience. The statutory definition is simple: "other workers" are those capable of performing unskilled labor requiring less than two years of training or experience, where the labor is not of a temporary or seasonal nature.

Common EB-3C positions include:

• Housekeeping and janitorial staff
• Food processing and poultry plant workers
• Commercial landscape workers
• Agricultural laborers (non-seasonal)
• Entry-level hotel and hospitality positions
• Certain factory assembly roles

The position must be full-time and permanent — not seasonal, not temporary. The employer must genuinely need a permanent employee for the role and must complete the same PERM labor certification process as any other employment-based category: prevailing wage determination, mandatory recruitment, 180-day recruitment window, mandatory 30-day quiet period, and filing the ETA-9089 with the DOL.

The 10,000 Visa Cap Problem

This is where EB-3C diverges sharply from EB-3A and EB-3B. Congress imposed a hard statutory cap: no more than 10,000 EB-3C visas can be issued in any fiscal year, regardless of overall EB-3 demand or available visa numbers.

The broader EB-3 category receives approximately 40,040 visas annually. Of those, skilled workers and professionals compete for up to 40,040. EB-3C other workers are limited to 10,000 of that total — a sub-cap within a cap. When EB-3 demand from skilled workers and professionals consumes most of the available quota, the EB-3C sub-cap can further limit unskilled worker access.

The practical result: EB-3C applicants from every country, including "Rest of World" countries that face no backlog in EB-3A or EB-3B, can experience wait times of three to five years or more, solely due to the 10,000 annual ceiling. For nationals from India and China, the combined effect of the per-country cap and the EB-3C sub-cap creates extended waits.

Who Typically Uses EB-3C

EB-3C sponsorship is concentrated in specific industries where chronic domestic labor shortages persist and employers genuinely cannot fill positions with available U.S. workers. The most active industries include:

Meat and poultry processing: Large processing plants have historically been among the most active EB-3C users. These facilities experience high turnover and face persistent difficulty recruiting domestic workers for physically demanding, repetitive work. The PERM labor market test for these roles typically generates few or no qualified U.S. applicants.

Hospitality and hotel management: Housekeeping, laundry, and dishwashing positions at hotels and resorts — particularly in destination markets — regularly go unfilled. Some large hospitality chains have developed systematic EB-3C sponsorship programs.

Commercial landscaping: Commercial landscape companies with stable, year-round workforces (as distinct from seasonal operations) can use EB-3C for permanent employees.

Staffing companies and recruitment agencies: A notable segment of EB-3C sponsorship occurs through immigration recruitment organizations that connect foreign workers with U.S. employers. These arrangements can be legitimate, but they attract significant fraud and misrepresentation. Workers should carefully vet any organization promising EB-3C sponsorship for a fee paid by the worker — the employer, not the beneficiary, is legally required to bear PERM costs.

The PERM Process for EB-3C

The PERM labor certification for EB-3C positions follows the standard process with a few practical differences:

No professional recruitment steps required: For positions that are not "professional occupations" (those not requiring a bachelor's degree), the employer only needs to complete the two mandatory recruitment steps — the state workforce agency job order (30 days) and two consecutive Sunday newspaper advertisements. The additional three recruitment steps from the 20 CFR §656.17(e)(1) list are not required for unskilled positions.

Prevailing wage determination: Even for low-wage positions, the employer must obtain a PWD from the NPWC and pay at least the prevailing wage. For unskilled roles, the prevailing wage is typically Level I or II, which may be lower than for professional positions, but is still above minimum wage in most cases and must reflect actual area wage data.

Recruitment report: The employer must document every U.S. applicant and provide lawful, job-related reasons for any rejection. For unskilled positions, recruiters often receive few or no qualified U.S. applicants who are willing to work at the prevailing wage and who pass background checks — which is often what generates a genuine certification.

ETA-9089 filing: The form itself is identical to other EB-3 categories. Processing times at the DOL are the same — currently over 501 calendar days for standard review.

The I-140 and Ability to Pay for EB-3C

The I-140 petition for EB-3C works the same as for EB-3A and EB-3B. The employer must demonstrate the ability to pay the prevailing wage from the priority date. For smaller employers in the hospitality or landscaping industry, this can be the most challenging part of the process — tax returns showing a net loss or weak current assets can trigger RFEs or denials.

Beneficiary qualifications for EB-3C are minimal by design — the position requires less than two years of training or experience, so the documentation burden on the applicant is lighter than for skilled or professional cases. The focus of the I-140 for EB-3C is almost entirely on the employer's finances and the validity of the PERM.

Adjustment of Status for EB-3C

Once the I-140 is approved and the priority date becomes current, the process for filing I-485 is identical to other EB-3 categories. The same EAD and Advance Parole benefits apply. AC21 portability applies after 180 days of pending I-485 — though the "same or similar occupational classification" analysis for unskilled workers may be simpler (moving between unskilled service roles is generally easier to justify than cross-sector moves in professional fields).

Is EB-3C Right for Your Situation?

If you work in an industry with genuine EB-3C demand and have an employer willing to sponsor, the process is viable. The main caution is the backlog — three to five years minimum for Rest of World applicants, longer for others — and the importance of employer solvency. Given that EB-3C employers are often smaller businesses in service industries, financial stability needs to be verified carefully before committing to a multi-year process.

If you qualify for EB-3A (skilled worker requiring 2+ years) or EB-3B (professional with a bachelor's degree), those categories offer better long-term positioning due to the absence of the 10,000 sub-cap.

EB-3C is a legitimate path to a U.S. green card for a range of workers in persistent labor shortage industries. The statutory visa cap is the defining limitation — plan for a multi-year wait regardless of country of birth.

Get the complete EB-3 toolkit including all three subcategory strategies at /us/eb3-green-card/.