What are the advantages and disadvantages to the special immigrant visa petitions that do not require recruitment?
• In the past when the labor certifications were taking years to process, a special immigrant visa petition was the only way to avoid the delays. However, now that the labor certifications are taking months instead of years, there is no great time advantage. • Some special immigrant visa petitions, such as the national interest waiver (EB-2) and the extraordinary ability petitions (EB-1) do not require sponsorship by an employer. In other words, the alien can self-petition or sponsor himself. The PERM labor certification requires sponsorship by an employer, and the alien should not have a significant ownership interest or influence or control over the employer. • Since there is no recruitment with the special immigrant visa petitions, there is no competition for the position and no added expense to the case. • There is no prevailing wage requirement with the special immigrant visa petitions, although the higher the salary the stronger the case in showing the recognized skill of the ali
