Permanent residence
Green Cards · EB-1 / EB-2 / EB-5
When a key person is staying for the long term, the conversation turns from visas to permanent residence. The employment-based green-card categories each suit a different profile — and the right one is usually decided years before anyone files.
What it is
Several routes to permanent residence
The employment-based preference categories cover distinct profiles: EB-1 for multinational executives and managers, extraordinary ability, and outstanding researchers; EB-2 for advanced-degree professionals, including the National Interest Waiver; and EB-5 for qualifying investors.
EB-1C and the L-1 bridge
For European companies, the EB-1C multinational-manager route is often the cleanest path to permanence — it maps directly onto an L-1A transfer, so a manager moved on an L-1A can frequently transition to a green card without changing the underlying story.
EB-2 NIW and EB-5
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver can suit individuals whose work is in the U.S. national interest, sometimes without employer sponsorship. EB-5 is an investment route to residence, with its own capital and job-creation requirements. Each demands early, careful structuring.
What Privello handles
- Choosing the category that fits the person and the timeline
- Sequencing temporary status so it supports the green card
- Building EB-1 and EB-2 evidence to a permanent standard
- Coordinating EB-5 investment structuring where relevant
- Keeping the data-protection side aligned throughout
See how the L-1 feeds the EB-1C route
Common questions
Questions European companies ask
Which green card suits a transferred manager?
Often EB-1C, the multinational-manager category, because it aligns closely with an L-1A transfer and reuses much of the same evidence.
Do all green cards need an employer?
No. The EB-2 National Interest Waiver and EB-1A extraordinary-ability routes can, in the right cases, proceed without employer sponsorship.
How early should we plan?
As early as possible. The temporary status someone enters on can either support or complicate a later green card, so it is best designed with the permanent goal in mind.
Begin
Talk through your move with Privello
Tell us what you're planning. We'll outline the realistic options — and how the immigration and data-protection steps line up — in a first conversation.