What jobs EB-3 actually covers, counted across 1,612 Bangladeshi cases
The law names no list of jobs. But the DOL file lets you count what is really being filed. Cleaning alone accounts for 330.
Bangla Vibes · 28 October 2021 · updated 18 September 2026How To Apply for EB3 VISA - EB3 VISA for Bangladeshi #BanglaVibes #EB3The video is older than this article, which was researched separately, so the two may not cover exactly the same ground.
Ask what jobs fall under EB-3 and you usually get a list of examples. Nanny, caregiver, cleaner, cook.
The list is not wrong, but it is illustrative rather than factual. There is a way to know what is actually being filed: the DOL PERM file records the occupation on every case.
So I counted.
First, the law names no list
Clear up one misconception. US immigration law contains no schedule of "these jobs qualify for EB-3".
What the law contains is three sub-category definitions:
| Sub-category | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Professional | A bachelor's degree, for a job that genuinely requires one |
| Skilled worker | At least 2 years of training or experience |
| Other worker (unskilled) | Under 2 years, or none |
So the job title is not what matters. What matters is how much the job requires. The same work, advertised with different requirements at two employers, can land in two different sub-categories.
That split matters more than it sounds, because the queues are different lengths. More on that below.
What Bangladeshis actually filed for
1,612 Bangladeshi PERM cases in FY2024, split by occupation:
| Job | Cases |
|---|---|
| Janitors and cleaners | 330 |
| Production helpers | 177 |
| Fast food and counter workers | 106 |
| Food batchmakers | 79 |
| Maids and housekeeping | 79 |
| Home health aides | 62 |
| Personal care aides | 61 |
| Software developers | 53 |
| Materials engineers | 43 |
| Labourers and freight movers | 40 |
| Cleaners of vehicles and equipment | 34 |
| Food preparation and serving | 33 |
| Team assemblers | 31 |
| Slaughterers and meat packers | 22 |
| Restaurant cooks | 19 |
| Retail supervisors | 17 |
The top seven come to 894 cases, more than half the total. Cleaning, food and care, throughout.
How many of these jobs require nothing
The PERM form makes the employer state the minimum education the job requires. Across the Bangladeshi cases:
| Minimum education | Cases |
|---|---|
| None | 1,286 |
| Master's | 104 |
| Bachelor's | 87 |
| Doctorate | 61 |
| High school | 50 |
| Associate's | 21 |
80% of cases asked for no education at all. On experience, 1,424 of the 1,612 asked for none either.
One more. 1,216 cases, 75%, sit at government wage "Level I", the most entry-level tier there is.
Now the part that is actually useful
All of that is description. This next bit you can act on.
I cross-referenced the education requirement against how each case ended.
| Minimum education for the job | Cases | Denied | Denial rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 1,286 | 231 | 18.0% |
| High school | 50 | 3 | 6.0% |
| Master's | 104 | 5 | 4.8% |
| Bachelor's | 87 | 2 | 2.3% |
| Doctorate | 61 | 1 | 1.6% |
| Associate's | 21 | 0 | 0% |
Read that carefully. The jobs requiring nothing are the ones getting denied. 18% against 2.3%, roughly eight times.
The reason is not mysterious. For a job requiring no qualifications, convincing DOL that no American is available is the hardest case to make, and that single question is what PERM exists to test.
So what can you do about it
If you hold a degree, or more than two years in a trade, do not hide it. Use it to be filed into the skilled or professional sub-category.
Here is the size of the difference.
| Skilled and professional | Unskilled | |
|---|---|---|
| Denial rate where education is required | around 2% | 18% |
| Backlog today | 25 months | 53 months |
| Queue cleared in the last 11 months | 17 months | 8.5 months |
Large on both counts: risk of denial, and years of waiting.
The point
There is no statutory list of EB-3 jobs, so do not believe anyone who produces one.
In practice, more than half of Bangladeshi filings are cleaning, food and care work. Those are also the ones denied most often and queued longest.
And the 53 software developers and 43 materials engineers sitting in that same list are standing in a completely different line. Same visa, different reality.