H-1B to green card: the routes and a realistic timeline

How long does it take to go from H-1B to a green card? For the standard employer route, our arithmetic from the Labor Department's published queues gives more than a year of Labor Department steps before USCIS sees your petition, and much longer overall if you were born in India or China. DOL's average time for PERM analyst review was 336 calendar days in August 2026. After that comes the I-140 petition, and then a wait for your priority date in the Visa Bulletin. Below: each step, the routes that skip PERM, and how AC21 extends your H-1B past six years.

What are the routes from H-1B to a green card?

There are two kinds of route. In the employer route, your employer sponsors you through PERM for EB-2 (advanced-degree professionals or people of exceptional ability) or EB-3 (skilled workers, professionals and other workers) (8 CFR 204.5(k) and (l)). In the self-petition routes, you file for EB-1A (extraordinary ability) or the EB-2 national interest waiver (NIW) yourself, with no labor certification (8 CFR 204.5(h)(5); USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5).

The H-1B is built for this. The statute says that seeking permanent residence "shall not constitute evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence" for an H-1B visa or status, as long as certain conditions are met (8 U.S.C. 1184(h)).

What are the steps in the PERM route?

PERM is the Labor Department's permanent labor certification. Its purpose is set out in the regulation:

"Under section 212(a)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA or Act) (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(5)(A)), certain aliens may not obtain immigrant visas for entrance into the United States in order to engage in permanent employment unless the Secretary of Labor has first certified to the Secretary of State and to the Secretary of Homeland Security that:" 20 CFR 656.1(a)

DOL certifies that there are not enough able, willing, qualified and available US workers, and that hiring you will not adversely affect US wages and working conditions (20 CFR 656.1(a)). Times below appear only where official data or the regulation supports them.

Two details change the math. First, your priority date (your place in the green card queue) for a PERM case is the date DOL accepted the labor certification, not the I-140 date (8 CFR 204.5(d)). So the time your PERM application spends at DOL counts toward your queue position; the prevailing wage and recruitment steps come before that date. Second, if your priority date is already current, you can file the I-485 together with the I-140 (USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 3).

What this means in practice: steps 1 to 3 mostly run one after another, so adding the current DOL queues to the minimum recruitment period, the Labor Department side alone generally takes more than a year. That is our arithmetic from the figures above, not an official DOL estimate. A pending DOL proposal to change how prevailing wages are calculated (91 FR 15454, March 27, 2026, docket ETA-2026-0001) is a proposed rule only and is not in effect (Federal Register).

Can you skip PERM?

Yes, if you qualify for EB-1A or the NIW. Neither needs a labor certification, and both can be self-petitioned, so your employer does not have to run recruitment (8 CFR 204.5(h)(1) and (h)(5); 8 CFR 204.5(k)(1) and (k)(4)(ii)). Your priority date is the date the completed I-140, with initial evidence and the correct fee, is properly filed with USCIS (8 CFR 204.5(d)). Premium processing is available for both: 15 business days for EB-1A and 45 business days for an NIW (USCIS premium processing).

EB-1A requires sustained national or international acclaim, and the NIW requires an advanced degree or exceptional ability plus the three Dhanasar prongs. Our guide to green card routes without PERM compares them.

What this means in practice: you can run both at once, a PERM case through the employer and a self-petition on the side. An approved I-140 generally lets you keep its priority date for a later petition, so the earliest date wins (8 CFR 204.5(e)).

What happens when you reach six years on H-1B?

The statute caps H-1B time: "the period of authorized admission as such a nonimmigrant may not exceed 6 years" (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(4)). The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000 (AC21) created two exceptions.

One-year extensions: AC21 section 106

Section 106(a) was rewritten in 2002. The current text reads:

"The limitation contained in section 214(g)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(4)) with respect to the duration of authorized stay shall not apply to any nonimmigrant alien previously issued a visa or otherwise provided nonimmigrant status under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C.1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b)), if 365 days or more have elapsed since the filing of any of the following:" AC21 § 106(a), as amended by Pub. L. 107-273, § 11030A(a)

The two qualifying filings are a labor certification application (where certification is required or used to obtain the green card category) and an immigrant petition (I-140). Section 106(b) then says: "The Attorney General shall extend the stay of an alien who qualifies for an exemption under subsection (a) in one-year increments until such time as a final decision is made", and lists the decisions that end it: a denial of the labor certification application (or, if it is granted, of the I-140 filed on that basis), a denial of the I-140, or a decision to grant or deny the immigrant visa or adjustment of status application (Pub. L. 107-273, § 11030A; original text at Pub. L. 106-313). The USCIS regulation implements it:

"An alien who is in H-1B status or has previously held H-1B status is eligible for H-1B status beyond the 6-year limitation under section 214(g)(4) of the Act, if at least 365 days have elapsed since: (i) The filing of a labor certification with the Department of Labor on the alien's behalf, if such certification is required for the alien to obtain status under section 203(b) of the Act; or (ii) The filing of an immigrant visa petition with USCIS on the alien's behalf to accord classification under section 203(b) of the Act." 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D)(1)

Approvals come "in up to 1-year increments" (8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D)(2)). The regulation adds limits, for example that you cannot add together the time from two different filings to reach 365 days, and that you can lose eligibility for this exemption if you have an approved petition and do not file for the green card within one year of a visa becoming available.

Three-year extensions: AC21 section 104(c)

"Notwithstanding section 214(g)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(4)), any alien who-- (1) is the beneficiary of a petition filed under section 204(a) of that Act for a preference status under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 203(b) of that Act; and (2) is eligible to be granted that status but for application of the per country limitations applicable to immigrants under those paragraphs, may apply for, and the Attorney General may grant, an extension of such nonimmigrant status until the alien's application for adjustment of status has been processed and a decision made thereon." AC21 § 104(c), Pub. L. 106-313

The regulation requires an approved petition, not just a filed one:

"An alien who currently maintains or previously held H-1B status, who is the beneficiary of an approved immigrant visa petition for classification under section 203(b)(1), (2), or (3) of the Act, and who is eligible to be granted that immigrant status but for application of the per country limitation, is eligible for H-1B status beyond the 6-year limitation under section 214(g)(4) of the Act. The petitioner must demonstrate such visa unavailability as of the date the H-1B petition is filed with USCIS." 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(E)

USCIS may grant these in increments of up to 3 years, and the H-1B employer filing the extension does not have to be the employer that filed the I-140 (8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(E)(1) and (4)). If your PERM is stuck, read the six-year limit and the PERM suspension.

How does the Visa Bulletin add waiting time?

The Visa Bulletin is the State Department's monthly list of priority date cutoffs by category and country. Each country is generally limited to 7% of the combined family and employment preference limits, which the October 2026 bulletin gives as 25,620, based on the minimum annual preference limits (Visa Bulletin for October 2026). That per-country limit is why India and China have their own, earlier cutoff dates. As published by the State Department for October 2026:

For October 2026, USCIS says employment-based applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart to file an I-485 (USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts). Compared with September, the rest-of-world EB-2 and EB-3 dates moved backward (retrogressed) at the start of fiscal year 2027.

The bulletin's dates can move forward or backward from month to month, so we do not give a wait estimate. An Indian-born EB-2 applicant whose priority date is November 1, 2013 or later cannot get final approval this month, however fast PERM and the I-140 went.

What this means in practice: while you wait, an I-485 pending 180 days or more can let you move to a job in the same or a similar occupational classification, if your I-140 is approved or is later approved, without losing the underlying petition (AC21 § 106(c), creating INA 204(j)). See what AC21 portability actually allows.

Where to start

Write down your dates first: H-1B start, time abroad, and any PERM or I-140 filing dates. Those decide which AC21 extension you can use and when.

Then check whether a self-petition could run alongside your employer's PERM. The free evaluation checks your resume against the EB-1A and EB-2 NIW criteria, with no account or card. If you are close, Frank finds real opportunities to fill the gaps; Frank Starter is $49 a month with a 7-day free trial. H-1B extensions and PERM cases are handled by attorneys at our independent partner firm, not by Frank. Green Card Guide is not a law firm, and this is not legal advice.

Sources

All checked October 2026.

• eCFR, 20 CFR part 656 (up to date as of October 7, 2026). Purpose of labor certification (quoted), recruitment, notice, prevailing wage and validity rules.
• DOL, FLAG processing times. PWD queue as of September 30, 2026; PERM queue as of October 5, 2026; average PERM analyst review time for the month of August 2026 (336 calendar days).
• eCFR, 8 CFR 214.2(h)(13). AC21 extension rules (quoted).
• Pub. L. 106-313 (AC21), congress.gov. Sections 104(c) (quoted) and 106 as enacted.
• Pub. L. 107-273, section 11030A, congress.gov. The 2002 rewrite of AC21 section 106(a) and (b) (quoted).
• 8 U.S.C. 1184 (Cornell LII). The six-year limit and H-1B immigrant intent.
• eCFR, 8 CFR 204.5. Priority dates, retention, EB-1A and NIW.
• USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 5. NIW self-petitioning.
• USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 3. Concurrent filing.
• USCIS, How Do I Request Premium Processing? (updated 03/23/2026). I-140 premium timeframes.
• State Department, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Final Action and Dates for Filing tables and the per-country limit.
• USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts (updated 10/01/2026). Chart in use for October 2026.
• Federal Register, 91 FR 15454 (March 27, 2026). DOL prevailing wage proposal, not final.

Frequently asked questions

Green Card Guide AI is not a law firm and this article is not legal advice. It describes evidence-building strategy in general terms; your attorney determines what belongs in your petition and how it's argued.