Green-card sponsors that skip H-1B
The biggest employers sponsoring permanent residency (green cards / PERM) almost entirely outside the H-1B route, meat & poultry plants, food & ag, trucking, facilities, and healthcare aides. Ranked by green-card cases, FY2017–2026.
Why they don't use H-1B. H-1B requires a specialty occupation (bachelor's-degree level), so line jobs like poultry cutting can't use it. But the green-card/PERM process has an EB-3 “other workers” (unskilled) lane that needs no degree, so these employers sponsor permanent residency directly, recruiting most workers from abroad (consular). Almost none came through H-1B first (near 0% here, vs ~80–90% for tech). (Many also use H-2B seasonal visas, which aren't in this dataset.)
| # | Employer | Green cards | Via H-1B | Came from | Median wage | Top role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FPL Foods | 3,551 | 0% | Abroad93% | $30k | Meat Cutter and Trimmer |
| 2 | Wayne Farms LLC | 3,065 | 0% | Abroad87% | $27k | Poultry Cutter and Trimmer |
| 3 | Consolidated Catfish Producers, LLC | 2,552 | 0% | Abroad81% | $22k | Fish Cutter and Trimmer |
| 4 | JCG Foods of Georgia, LLC | 2,300 | 0% | — | $26k | Poultry Processors |
| 5 | Labor Guys, LLC | 2,263 | 0% | Abroad77% | $30k | Helpers-Production Workers |
| 6 | Stoughton Trailers, LLC | 1,854 | 0% | Abroad75% | $37k | Assembler |
| 7 | South Georgia Pecan Company | 1,840 | 0% | Abroad72% | $20k | Pecan Packers |
| 8 | Case Farms Processing Inc. | 1,574 | 0.1% | Abroad90% | $28k | Poultry Production Line Worker (General Labor) |
| 9 | Merit Logistics | 1,441 | 0% | Abroad67% | $26k | Freight Handler |
| 10 | Skilled in Management | 1,331 | 0% | Abroad100% | $31k | Nursing Aide |
| 11 | National HealthCare Corporation | 1,100 | 0% | Abroad100% | $33k | Nursing Assistant |
| 12 | Peco Foods, Inc | 1,033 | 0% | Abroad92% | $29k | Poultry Processing Worker |
| 13 | GDI Services Inc. | 986 | 0% | Abroad98% | $23k | Janitor |
| 14 | Abbyland Foods, Inc | 968 | 0.4% | F-1 student62% | $28k | General Labor Line Worker |
| 15 | Prestigious Placement | 854 | 0% | Abroad98% | $21k | Order Packer |
| 16 | Akash Management LLC | 837 | 0% | — | $32k | Crew Member |
| 17 | Defender Services, Inc. | 810 | 0% | Abroad96% | $17k | Packers and Packagers, Hand |
| 18 | George's Processing, Inc. | 662 | 2.7% | F-1 student65% | $23k | Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers |
| 19 | Dakota Provisions, LLC | 647 | 2.2% | F-1 student75% | $25k | Packers and Packagers, Hand |
| 20 | Perdue Foods LLC | 637 | 1% | Temporary Protected Status62% | $23k | Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers |
| 21 | May Trucking Company | 607 | 0% | Abroad100% | $43k | Truck Driver |
| 22 | Omega Compliance Solutions | 572 | 0% | B-1 business98% | $48k | Truck Driver |
| 23 | Controlled Contamination Services | 564 | 0% | Abroad91% | $30k | Janitor |
| 24 | Norman W. Fries, Inc | 559 | 0% | F-1 student100% | $24k | Poultry Processor |
| 25 | PruittHealth | 546 | 0% | Abroad100% | $33k | Nursing Assistant |
| 26 | Williams Sausage Company, Inc. | 536 | 0% | F-1 student78% | $23k | Meat Processor |
| 27 | West Liberty Foods, LLC | 531 | 0% | F-1 student53% | $33k | Meat Packer |
| 28 | Harrison Poultry Inc | 503 | 0% | Abroad89% | $20k | Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers |
| 29 | Marjac Poultry, Inc | 314 | 0% | Abroad50% | $18k | Poultry worker |
| 30 | Morgan Truck Body LLC | 279 | 0% | Abroad97% | $36k | Production Associate [Mtb-Wi0003] |
| 31 | Riverview LLP | 148 | 5.2% | TN professional76% | $44k | Animal Scientist |
| 32 | Koch Foods | 24 | 0.2% | Abroad48% | $24k | Poultry Processor |
| 33 | MVT Services LLC, | 0 | 0% | Abroad100% | $31k | Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers |
Among the green-card (PERM) cases that disclose entry status (FY2017–2024): “Via H-1B” is the share who were on H-1B, “Came from” is their most common non-H-1B entry status, and “Abroad” means sponsored from overseas (consular processing), not converting from a U.S. visa. See green-card paths for the full breakdown.