EB3 / PERM application

[LDS01 2]

Hello,
My name is Luciana, I am 22 and I hold a student visa and look forward to getting a EB3 visa for after I graduate, this coming May in order to stay in the country. I am currently looking for jobs and employers who are willing to work the process with me. I am pretty familiar with how the process works but would like to have more in depth explanation. So, here's what I've learned so far: I need an employer who will offer a job letter. What do I do once I get the job offer? I was told that the employers would have to contact my immigration attorney to keep moving forward. However the immigration attorney I had was trying to charge me an insane amount of money $17k for the whole process. I understand that the process is costly however I don't think all that money sounds right at all . The second part of the process is applying for the PERM and once that gets approved I can change my status to resident. Right? And what's next? The green card? Is an immigration attorney really necessary because I know of people who never even needed one. 

Can someone guide me through this ? 
 

Thanks! 

Any insight will be greatly appreciated! 

Edited March 15, 2017 by Lucy Dornellas

[Mollie09 1,543]

You don't do anything, everything has to be handled through the company that wants to sponsor you. They will need a lawyer, and it will probably cost 10k-20k, so 17k is not outrageous - you will need to find an employer who is willing to go through a lot of time, money, and effort to keep you in the country. The vast vast majority of fresh college hires are not EB3 candidates. It also takes 6-7 years.

[LDS01 2]

I don't understand where all that money is for or where it goes. From what I've learned, the employer has to file the I-40 form which costs around $1000. Then what? Whats after that? What about the remaining money?

[Mollie09 1,543]

I don't thing you've read into this process enough to understand what it entails.

You can start here: http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/eb-3-visa-processing-time-backlog.html#

 

There's a lot of work that needs to be done, it's not just a filing fee. It's a multi-step process with a lot of room for error and YEARS of paperwork.