Schedule A Group II Explained: A Shortcut to Permanent Residency

By: Shela Ward

When it comes to U.S. immigration, most employment-based green card applicants face a big hurdle in proving there aren’t qualified American workers available for the job. The standard PERM labor certification process can be long, complicated, and stressful, involving a time-consuming labor market test. Schedule A Group II is a special category of green cards that provides a shortcut for certain individuals with exceptional ability in the sciences or arts.

What is Schedule A Group II?

Instead of going through the lengthy recruitment process, Schedule A Group II allows employers to sponsor individuals directly for a green card. To qualify, the individual must receive a job offer for a position requiring their exceptional ability and demonstrate proof of their exceptional achievements such as awards, original contributions, or widespread coverage of their work.

Unlike many other visa types, Schedule A Group II does not allow individuals to self-sponsor. Instead, they must be sponsored by an employer, and the employer must attest to paying prevailing wages.

In April 2024, USCIS updated its policy to expand the definition of qualifying occupations for Schedule A Group II filings, making this path more accessible to a wider range of people. Since then, there’s been an uptick in applications for Schedule A Group II as many rush to take advantage of this faster path to permanent residency.

How Park is Handling Schedule A Group II Cases

At Park Evaluations, we stay on top of trends in immigration filing practices so we can help you and your clients navigate the Schedule A Group II process to secure approval. In a recently approved case, we supplied an expert opinion letter for a candidate with exceptional ability in the sciences, specifically in artificial intelligence and machine learning in portfolio management.

In this letter, we discussed two of the exceptional ability criteria for this candidate: original scientific contributions and participation as a judge of the work of others in the field. We gathered information about the candidate’s work, including testimonies from the candidate’s professional acquaintances and evidence of their service on various industry panels. We also conducted independent research into the national impacts of the candidate’s work such as economic benefits and technological innovation.

Expert opinion letters are an important piece of a permanent residency case, as they give independent, third-party insight into an individual’s exceptional ability. They’re an opportunity to showcase your client’s status within their field while also proving the national importance of their work, and they give your client’s application more credibility.

To get started with an expert opinion letter for your client’s Schedule A Group II case, or to determine if this is the best strategy for your client, reach out to us today.