Secure Your EB-1 Green Card: Elite Earnings

Command Top Pay for U.S. Residency

Welcome to the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram’s EB-1 Green Card series! We’re thrilled to guide top earners to permanent U.S. residency through the High Salary category.

High Salary Defined

Per 8 C.F.R. 204.5(h)(3)(ix), this category demands proof of salary or remuneration in the top 10% (90th percentile) of your field, signaling exceptional demand for your skills.

Proving Your Earnings

• U.S. Workers: Submit W2s, including bonuses, to verify earnings.

• Non-U.S. Workers: Provide tax returns or official documents.

Use O*Net Online or BLS data (e.g., Financial Managers in California: $239,200+) to confirm top-tier status. Accountant letters can validate stock options or perks.

Let’s look at some working examples to demonstrate how to use this excellent resource.

Example 1:

Once you’re in O*Net Online, there is an “Occupation Keyword Search” field where you can search for almost any mainstream occupation.

For instance, enter  “Computer Systems Analyst” in the search field. The resulting data will include a reference number known as the Standard Occupational Code or SOC (15-1211.00). This SOC is recognized in other databases, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and by entering this number, you will cross-reference their salary data. Many government documents will also ask for the SOC code for their forms. So, it’s important to determine the correct SOC for your occupation.

Remember, job titles can change quite a lot from company to company, so it’s important to focus on your occupation, establish the relevant SOC, and then run your analysis that way.

In this example, we have determined that our client is a Computer System Analyst, and his SOC is 15-1211.00.

Ok, now let’s Scroll down this page until you get to the section called “Job Zone.” Under that section, you want to focus on these areas: the “Education”, “Job Training” section, and the “SVP Range.”

For the “Job Training” section, you want to see some commentary that indicates that a BA degree is usually required for this job or extensive training/experience.  In this example, for “Computer Systems Analyst,” only one to two years of training is required.

The “SVP Range” section is an indicator of the degree of skill required for the job. For BA-level and above-level jobs, you really want the SVP range to be 7 – 8+.

In this example, the SVP range is 6.0 to < 7.0.  Therefore, this is not a particularly skillful job.

For the “Education” section, it says, in essence, that only a modest amount of education is required, perhaps an Associate Degree. In the U.S., Bachelor’s degrees are earned over a four-year period. Some students will complete an Associate Degree, which is typically earned over a two-year period from Community College, but not always, and then the student will transfer to university and continue as a third-year student and complete their bachelor’s degree there. Some students may complete their Associate degree in a four-year University but then decide to transfer to another four-year University to complete their Bachelor’s degree.

For EB-1 Green Card applicants, whether your particular job requires a degree is not determinative on its own, especially in fields where talent weighs more heavily than academic education.

Ok, let’s look at another example.

Example 2:

In the search field, we are going to enter the job title “Financial Manager.” In this example, we were able to find a match for Financial Managers, and we also have the corresponding SOC.  11-3031.00

Under the “Job Training” section, the O*Net report provides further information about the years of training required to become established in this occupation.

If we then look at the “SVP Range,” which measures the degree of difficulty required for that job we can see that Financial Managers score between 7 and 8. A score of greater than 8 denotes the highest level of difficulty.

O*Net is a great resource to research any occupation.

Now that we have established the coding for the occupation, the next step is to review the earnings typically associated with this position. Our goal is to see if your earnings are above the 90th percentile or in the top 10 percent.

If you scroll further down this page, you will see a section called ‘Wages & Employment Trends’. This financial information comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To find out what the range of salaries are, click on the ‘Select a State’ drop down.

In this case, we’ve selected California. The median wage for a Financial Manager in California is $169,780. For EB-1 purposes, you will need to earn $239,200 or more to qualify in this category, as this is the amount those in the top 10% are currently able to command.

It is worth noting that many of our EB-1 candidates find their earning potential substantially increases once they can secure their green cards and are able to compete properly in the open market.

Why It Matters

High earnings showcase extraordinary ability. Post-Green Card, your market value often surges, unlocking new opportunities.

Act Now

Earn in the top 10%? Contact us for a free consultation to craft your EB-1 case. Meet three criteria and claim your Green Card today!