EB-1C Green Card: Understanding Its Benefits, Risks, and Potential for Abuse
The EB-1C green card is one of the most prestigious employment-based immigrant visas available. It offers highly valuable advantages to multinational executives and managers who wish to live and work in the United States. However, because of its comparatively flexible requirements, concerns about EB-1C abuse have steadily grown. Understanding how the EB-1C works, how some companies exploit it, and what reforms may be needed is critical for both U.S. workers and foreign professionals.
EB-1C Background
To qualify for the EB-1C immigrant visa, an applicant must meet specific criteria:
- The applicant must be employed as a manager or executive of a multinational company with a branch, subsidiary, or affiliate in the United States.
- The applicant must have worked abroad for at least one continuous year in a managerial or executive capacity within the past three years before filing the EB-1C petition.
USCIS defines these roles as follows:
- Manager: An individual who supervises employees’ daily tasks, oversees their wages, schedules, and overall employment status.
- Executive: A professional who manages managers, exercises wide decision-making authority, and operates with minimal or no supervision.
If these conditions are met, the U.S. employer may file an I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker on the applicant’s behalf. Unlike most employment-based visas, the EB-1C does not require a PERM Labor Certification, eliminating the need to prove prevailing wage compliance or to recruit U.S. workers for the role.
Another major advantage is that the EB-1C belongs to the first preference category (EB-1), which typically offers shorter waiting times compared to EB-2 and EB-3 visas—even for heavily backlogged countries like India and China. Furthermore, unlike EB-1A and EB-1B visas, the EB-1C does not demand proof of extraordinary ability or outstanding research achievements. While this makes the EB-1C highly accessible, it also creates opportunities for misuse.
EB-1C Abuse: How Companies Exploit the System
Compared to the rigorous standards of the EB-1A (extraordinary ability) and EB-1B (outstanding professors and researchers), the EB-1C has more lenient requirements. For EB-1A and EB-1B petitions, applicants often must demonstrate Nobel Prize-level recognition or significant international contributions. In contrast, for the EB-1C, serving as a manager abroad for a multinational company may be sufficient.
This difference has led some outsourcing firms to exploit the EB-1C. A common abuse scenario looks like this:
- A foreign worker—often from India, where EB-2 and EB-3 backlogs are decades long—is quickly promoted to “manager” by an outsourcing firm.
- After one year, the worker qualifies for an EB-1C and is transferred to the United States.
- The firm repeats the cycle by rapidly promoting new managers abroad.
- Once in the U.S., the EB-1C employee often replaces higher-paid American workers, bypassing prevailing wage requirements because the EB-1C skips the PERM process.
This practice not only undermines fair wages but also puts U.S. workers at a disadvantage. Moreover, unlike professionals who have built careers in the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas, many EB-1C applicants may never have worked in the U.S. before being fast-tracked to permanent residency.
Proposed Solutions to Prevent EB-1C Abuse
Several reforms have been suggested to address EB-1C exploitation:
- Stricter Qualification Standards – Adding the term “extraordinary” or “outstanding” to the EB-1C requirements, ensuring that only truly high-level executives—not entry-level managers—qualify.
- Preference Category Adjustment – Moving multinational managers to the EB-2 category, while reserving EB-1C for executives. This would prevent outsourcing firms from bypassing EB-2 backlogs.
- PERM Requirement – Requiring labor certification for EB-1C applicants to ensure prevailing wages and fair recruitment of U.S. workers.
- Minimum Salary Threshold – Setting a high compensation floor (e.g., $150,000–$200,000 annually) to prevent low-wage transfers and align EB-1C roles with genuine executive positions.
- Elimination or Modification of Overseas Work Requirement – Revisiting the rule that mandates one year of overseas work, which disadvantages professionals already working in the U.S. while doing little to deter outsourcing companies.
- Complete Elimination of EB-1C – Some argue that the category is outdated and unfairly based on position rather than individual merit.
As of now, these are proposals only—no official changes have been implemented by USCIS or Congress.
How Green Card Link Immigration Attorneys Can Help
If you are uncertain whether your case could be affected by EB-1C abuse concerns, or if you want to pursue an EB-1C petition in the correct and lawful way, the immigration attorneys at Green Card Link can help. With extensive experience handling employment-based green card cases, our attorneys guide clients through every stage of the EB-1C process—ensuring petitions are built on solid legal grounds and avoiding risks associated with improper filings.
From gathering the necessary evidence to filing the I-140 petition, at Green Card Link, its immigration attorneys are committed to helping you achieve your goal of permanent residency the right way.
Schedule a consultation with an immigration attorney at Green Card Link today to discuss your case and explore the best immigration options available for you.