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General Procedure for Filing a Labor Certification Applicati
USINFO | 2013-10-23 14:54
PERM labor certification is an extremely complicated process. It involves a thorough review of the alien beneficiary’s qualifications, the position offered, the employment setting, the wording of the job requirements, the detailed arrangement and follow-up of recruitment schedules, the employer’s compliance with recruitment procedures, and the proper documentation and technical information in the forms. The general process for filing a PERM labor certification is described below:
1.Employer agrees to sponsor the alien beneficiary for PERM Labor Certification;
2.Employer retains an immigration attorney for filing PERM Labor Certification, and establishes Attorney-Client Relationship;
3.Attorney collects information needed for labor certification, including detailed job description, petitioning employer information and alien beneficiary’s qualifications and work experience;
4.Employer registers on the PERM online filing system following attorney’s instruction and assigns a sub-account to the attorney;
5.Attorney communicates with the employer and alien beneficiary and designs job descriptions and determines the requirements for the position based on this communication;
6.Attorney obtains prevailing wage determination from the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC);
7.Attorney designs the job recruitment advertisements including job title, job duties and job descriptions;
8.With assistance from the attorney, the employer will arrange the recruitment schedule and advertise the job posting with the proper internal and external media in accordance with the DOL provisions;
9.Recruitment activities must be completed within 30-180 days before submitting the application (employer should document all recruitment activities);
10.Employer screens and reviews US workers’ job applications, and conducts phone or on-site interviews if any applicant meets the minimum job requirements;
11.If sufficient qualified US workers are not found for the position, the employer is eligible to submit the PERM application;
12.Attorney works on the recruitment reports based on the recruitment documents provided by the employer;
13.Attorney prepares the online PERM application and provides a copy to the employer and the alien beneficiary for review before filing;
14.Attorney submits the online PERM Labor Certification Application upon approval from the employer and the beneficiary. The date the labor certification application is received by the DOL is known as the filing date and is used by USCIS and the Department of State as the priority date;
15.Attorney receives an e-mail from the DOL confirming the PERM Labor Certification has been received and submitted for processing;
16.If the DOL agrees that the employer conducted the required recruitment and found no qualified and available U.S. workers for the position, the DOL usually certifies (approves) the PERM Labor Certification within 45-90 days from the date of filing, although some cases may be approved in just a couple of days;
17.Cases may be audited if the DOL finds the labor certification application suspicious or selects it for random checking. If the DOL chooses to audit the application, the employer should submit the required documents to the DOL within 30 days. If the employer fails to submit documents within 30 days, the DOL will not only deny the specific application but may also require future applications from the same employer to go through a supervised advertising and posting process. After reviewing the employer’s documents submitted in an audited case, the DOL may certify the labor certification petition, deny the petition, or ask the employer to go through the supervised recruitment process.
