Two questions decide whether a PERM case ends in EB-2 or EB-3: what the job requires, and where each line stands for the worker's country. This note answers both with figures read live from the records, so it's current on the day you read it. To compare the two lines for your own country and priority date, use PERM Tracker's free EB-2 or EB-3 tool, which counts the people ahead of you in each line from USCIS's and State's own figures.
A PERM doesn't carry a category, but the I-140 filed on it does. The job's minimum requirements, as written on the ETA-9089, decide which categories it can use. The EB-2 or EB-3 guide covers the rules and the downgrade. This note covers the numbers.
How many PERM jobs meet the EB-2 bar?
This figure counts recent PERM jobs whose own requirements meet the EB-2 bar: a master's or higher, or a bachelor's and five years of experience. It reads each job's requirements from its wage request, in DOL's published files.
- Meets the EB-2 bar
- 50%
- 92,060 jobs
- EB-3 only
- 50%
- 93,226 jobs
Every PERM job whose wage DOL set from July 2025 to June 2026, the jobs being filed and decided now, by its required education and experience and any alternative (8 CFR 204.5(k)(2)). A job that meets the bar can still go EB-3. The two lines’ cutoffs are on the EB-2 and EB-3 comparison.
Which line did the I-140s actually go to?
It depends more on the worker's country than on the job. USCIS counts every I-140 it approves by class and by the beneficiary's country of birth, and this split shows what employers filed on a PERM in the newest complete fiscal year.
- Every country 105,418 approved
- EB-2 46% EB-3 54%
- India 43,933 approved
- EB-2 77% EB-3 23%
- China 9,360 approved
- EB-2 65% EB-3 35%
- Philippines 7,317 approved
- EB-2 3.5% EB-3 96%
- Brazil 2,789 approved
- EB-2 14% EB-3 86%
- Vietnam 7,484 approved
- EB-2 1.6% EB-3 98%
- EB-2, advanced degree
- EB-3, skilled, professional or other worker
The national interest waiver is left out, because it needs no PERM. Each bar counts petitions USCIS received that year and has approved since, so a year's figures still rise a little as its last petitions are decided.
Where do the two lines stand for your country?
For one priority date, this comparison shows what this month's bulletin prints for EB-2 and EB-3, and how many people stand ahead in each. Pick your country and your date.
Compare the two lines
Pick a priority date and this sets EB-2 and EB-3 next to each other: what this month's bulletin prints for each, and how many people stand ahead of you in each line.
It names one line as having fewer people ahead only when the two ranges don't overlap. Where they do, the records can't tell them apart.
Why does the answer change by country?
Both categories draw on the same share of the yearly employment-based total, and a cap limits each country's use of it. So a country with heavy demand can wait years in both lines while others are current.
For India and China, which line is ahead changes, and each change has brought a wave of downgrade petitions. India's own years show the biggest one.
84,221
- Still filling
| Period | Approved |
|---|---|
| FY2014 | 28,216 |
| FY2015 | 37,046 |
| FY2016 | 56,689 |
| FY2017 | 48,757 |
| FY2018 | 46,377 |
| FY2019 | 53,570 |
| FY2020 | 42,733 |
| FY2021 | 84,221 |
| FY2022 | 60,368 |
| FY2023 | 49,511 |
| FY2024 | 45,423 |
| FY2025 | 43,933 |
| FY2026 | 31,202 so far |
- EB-2, advanced degree
- EB-3, skilled, professional or other worker
From the August 2020 bulletin to November 2021, EB-3's final action date for India ran ahead of EB-2's. By September 2021 it stood at January 1, 2014, against September 1, 2011 for EB-2. Many employers filed a second, EB-3 petition for workers already approved in EB-2, and the fiscal 2021 column is the result. EB-2 moved back ahead in the December 2021 bulletin, and the rush eased. Switch the country in the comparison above to see where each line stands today.
What this can't tell you
This note can't tell you whether your own job's requirements support EB-2, which line will move first next year, or whether a downgrade is worth its fee for your case. Those are questions for the attorney on the case. Nothing here is legal advice.
Related
- EB-2 or EB-3: what's the difference?, the rules and the downgrade.
- The EB-2 or EB-3 tool, the comparison above on its own page.
- The green card line, one line at a time, with where the people ahead sit.
- Every visa bulletin line, each category and country with its history.
- Approved and waiting for a visa number, USCIS's I-140 counts by category and country.
