How Long Does an EB-3 Green Card Take for a Chef?

A chef sponsored under EB-3 skilled workers should plan on roughly two and a half to three years from the first paperwork to a green card, assuming no audit and the queue keeps advancing at 2026's pace. A role classified as EB-3 other workers, which covers many sushi and line cook jobs, should plan on years longer: that line sits more than four years behind the calendar and has barely moved. This guide shows how to redo both calculations yourself each month.

1. The two clocks in an EB-3 case

An EB-3 case runs on two separate clocks, and most planning mistakes come from adding them together wrongly.

• Clock one is processing. Prevailing wage, recruitment, the PERM labor certification and the I-140 petition. The Department of Labor and USCIS control the pace.
• Clock two is the queue. The chef's place in line is the priority date, the date the PERM application is filed. A green card can only be issued once that date is earlier than the cut-off in the monthly Visa Bulletin.

The queue clock starts when PERM is filed, not when it is approved, so the wait for a PERM decision also counts as time in line. That overlap is the key to the arithmetic below.

2. Clock one: from first filing to priority date

Before a priority date exists, two steps must finish. Figures are from DOL's FLAG processing times page, rechecked September 2026:

After filing, the PERM is still being processed: DOL's analyst review is working on December 2025 priority dates, averaging 336 calendar days. Audited cases are also at December 2025 priority dates, with no published average. Once certified, you have 180 days to file the I-140; premium processing ($2,965 since 1 March 2026) gives a decision within 15 business days.

3. Clock two: where the queue stands

Japan has no column of its own in the Visa Bulletin, so Japanese chefs queue under "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed". The September 2026 bulletin:

The final action date decides when a green card can actually be issued. The date for filing lets applicants start document collection earlier and, when USCIS says so, file for adjustment of status inside the US; which chart applies is announced each month.

Which line your chef is in depends on the job you certify. A role requiring at least two years of training or experience goes in the skilled worker line; a role requiring less goes in "other workers", which is far slower. The October 2026 bulletin, the first of fiscal year 2027, had not been published when this guide was written.

4. How fast the line has moved

A single bulletin tells you where the cut-off is today. To estimate the wait, look at how far behind the calendar it runs and how fast it has moved. EB-3 final action dates for all chargeability areas:

What this shows:

• Skilled workers: from September 2025 to September 2026 the cut-off moved forward 17 months in 12 calendar months, narrowing the gap from about 29 to about 24 months.
• September figures can mislead. The September 2024 bulletin reflected a retrogression as issuances neared the annual limit near fiscal year-end. The September 2026 bulletin warns of the same possibility again before the year ends.
• Other workers: the cut-off moved only about 9 months in the year to September 2026, and the gap behind the calendar widened from about 50 to about 53 months. At that pace the wait gets longer each year, not shorter.

For FY2026 the bulletin gives the worldwide employment-based limit as 186,317 and the per-country limit as 28,862. These totals reset each fiscal year from 1 October.

5. Two worked examples starting in October 2026

A restaurant decides in October 2026 to sponsor a cook. Using the published processing figures and assuming no audit, the outcome depends entirely on which EB-3 line the role is certified in.

The processing steps are identical for both lines; only the queue differs, enormously. The skilled worker case takes roughly two and a half to three years in total on these assumptions. The other worker case shares the same 18-month front end through I-140 approval, then joins a line that has been getting longer, not shorter, so a number of years on the remaining wait is closer to a guess than an estimate. If a role could plausibly be certified as skilled worker (two years' training or experience), pursue that classification even if the job title reads as a line cook.

Three variables move the skilled worker estimate: the bulletin's future pace (faster advance shrinks the post-I-140 wait; retrogression grows it), an audit (slower to certify), and the wage rule (DOL's 27 March 2026 proposed rule would raise PERM wage levels; still a proposal in September 2026, but finalisation before your determination raises the required wage).

6. The retrogression risk

Retrogression is when a Visa Bulletin cut-off date moves backward instead of forward, usually because annual per-country or worldwide limits are close to being reached before the fiscal year ends on 30 September. It is not rare: the September 2024 bulletin retrogressed for exactly this reason, and the State Department's September 2026 bulletin carries the same warning for the weeks ahead.

For a chef's case, retrogression matters most at two points. First, if the priority date is already current and the chef has not yet completed adjustment of status or the consular interview, a retrogression can close that window before the case finishes. Second, a fiscal year-end retrogression is often reversed once the new fiscal year's allocation opens on 1 October, so a case caught by it often loses only weeks, not years. Either way, file every step the moment it becomes available, and never schedule anything irreversible, such as a resignation date in Japan, around a projected date rather than an actual one.

7. Planning around the wait

• Bridge with a temporary status. The chef needs to be in the kitchen during the wait, usually on an E-2 (Japanese-owned business) or O-1B (documented distinction). Compare them in US visa options for restaurants.
• Start earlier than feels necessary. The queue clock starts at PERM filing, so every month you delay the prevailing wage request is a month added at the end.
• Watch the 180-day window. A certified PERM expires if the I-140 is not filed within 180 days.
• Budget for ability to pay from the priority date to the green card, about two years of tax returns or financial statements above.
• Check the bulletin monthly, especially August, September and the new fiscal year's October dates.
• File the moment a date becomes current. Given the retrogression risk, do not wait for a more convenient month.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Visa Bulletin dates and processing times change monthly, and the projections here are estimates, not predictions. Use an experienced US immigration attorney for any PERM case.