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PUERTO PENASCO (AP) -- Mexican and U.S. governors called for help from Washington Friday in alleviating massive traffic jams at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the U.S. security concerns shouldn't mean long bottlenecks. The demands arose at the annual ...

Oct. 1, 2007: The much criticized US passport rule returns in full force today as the administrations summer reprieve comes to a halt. As of today, US citizens returning from air travel overseas, including the Caribbean, will need a valid passport to ...

Although the world's longest undefended border has been defended a lot more vigorously since 9/11, and rightly so, it would be naive to think every kilometre is under constant watch. That didn't stop U.S. Democratic senators from howling with shock and ...

Mexico criticizes US border plans Mexican President Felipe Calderon has made it clear to the governor from US Border States that illegal immigration cannot be resolved by erecting walls. ...

The US government has made public the 100 questions that will be on the new citizenship test that a million immigrants from around the world take to become Americans every year. Thousands of Indians taking the test have found it relatively easy thanks to ...

Immigration News from around the Web.

Standards/ Major Differences

According to the Labor Department:

Yes, the system provides the employer with the choice, upon finishing an online session, of either saving an application as a draft or submitting it to a National Processing Center.

In view of the past practice of allowing the filing of multiple applications by the same employer for the same alien if the job opening was different, why, under PERM, is the employer precluded from having more than one application for the same alien actively in process at any given time?

According to the Labor Department:

We have removed the response to this question posted on August 8, 2005. The Department is considering questions and information stakeholders have submitted in response to this FAQ posting, and will be developing and posting a clarified response in the near future.

According to the Labor Department:

As explained in an earlier FAQ on this subject, if the application was filed on-line, the application can be withdrawn by accessing the account wherein the application was filed and simply marking the appropriate box. If the application was filed by mail, a withdrawal request, in writing following the procedure below, must be sent to the National Processing Center to which the application was originally submitted.

In the event employers are unable to withdraw electronically as stated above, employers should send a withdrawal request by e-mail to the appropriate National Processing Center at: PLC.Chicago@dol.gov (for Chicago) or PLC.Atlanta@dol.gov (for Atlanta). To ensure your request is processed expeditiously, please include the following information in the e-mail request:

• Show the words "Withdrawal Request" and the employer’s name in the subject line of the e-mail
• In the body of the e-mail, include the following information:
  • Case Number
  • Employer's Name
  • Employer's EIN
  • The reason for withdrawal
  • Name and title of individual requesting withdrawal

According to the Labor Department:

The employer is required to retain all supporting documentation for five years from the date of filing the Application for Permanent Employment Certification, ETA Form 9089.

According to the Labor Department:

Applications submitted by mail must contain the original signature of the employer, alien, and preparer, if applicable, when they are received by the processing center. Applications filed electronically must, upon receipt of the labor certification, be signed immediately by the employer, alien, and preparer, if applicable, in order to be valid.

NOTE: Where the employer provides a copy of an application to a Certifying Officer pursuant to an audit or otherwise, the copy must be signed.

According to the Labor Department:

No, only an employee or owner of the employer entity may register to use the Permanent On-line System because employers must make the attestations required for the permanent application process and a PIN will only be assigned to an employer. The registration must be submitted by an individual with actual hiring authority for the employer. The individual listed under the "Employer Contact Information" section of the registration page must be the individual with actual hiring authority for the employer and cannot be the attorney or agent. During the registration process, the employer may create sub-accounts for attorneys or agents. We will cancel or deny registrations submitted by non-employers. Submission of a permanent labor certification application using a PIN assigned to a non-employer will be grounds for denial or revocation of a permanent labor certification.

NOTE: To withdraw or delete a registration account (as in a situation where the original registration was set up showing an attorney or representative as the "user" and/or where the contact person for the employer is not a person with actual hiring authority), please e-mail PLC.HELP@dol.gov, provide the user name and password, and request the account be deleted. At that point, the person with actual hiring authority can re-register with the correct information.

Can the employer refile a labor certification application filed under the previous permanent labor certification regulations under the new streamlined system and retain the filing date of the original application?

According to the Labor Department:

Yes, if a job order has not been placed pursuant to the regulations in effect prior to March 28, 2005, an employer may refile by withdrawing the original application and submitting, within 210 days of withdrawing, an application for an identical job opportunity which complies with all of the filing and recruiting requirements of the new PERM regulation.

NOTE: Indicating on the Application for Permanent Employment Certification, ETA Form 9089, the desire to use the filing date from a previously submitted application, i.e., marking "yes" to question A-1, is deemed to be a withdrawal of the original application.

NOTE: If a job order for an application has been placed by the State Workforce Agency (SWA) as part of the traditional recruitment process under the regulations in effect prior to March 28, 2005, the employer is prohibited from refiling the application and retaining the original filing date. However, if an employer placed a job order as a recruitment step in a reduction-in-recruitment application, the job order is not considered a job order placed by the SWA as part of the traditional recruitment process and the employer is permitted to withdraw and refile.

What is meant by the "employer's being able to place the alien on the payroll" under § 656.10(c)(4)? How does it differ from having funds available to pay the alien's wage or salary in § 656.10(c)(3)?

According to the Labor Department:

The employer may be required, depending on the circumstances, to establish that the position offered is actually available at the time of the alien's proposed entrance into the United States. For example, the employer may be asked to provide evidence that a plant or restaurant, which is in the planning stage or under construction at the time the application is filed, will be completed at the time of the alien's proposed entrance into the United States. While the employer may be fiscally able to pay the alien, other circumstances, such as non-viability of the business itself, may preclude the employer from placing the alien on the payroll.

Can notices of filing for college and university teachers recruited under the competitive recruitment and selection process be posted after the selection process has been completed?

According to the Labor Department:

Yes, for college and university teachers, notices of filing may be posted after the selection process has been completed. An application for a college or university teacher may be filed up to 18 months after the selection is made and a notice of filing must be provided between 30 and 180 days prior to filing the application either by providing notice to the bargaining representative, if one exists, or by posting notice at the facility or location of employment.

According to the Labor Department:

If the employer normally recruits for similar positions in the employer's organization through in-house media, then the employer must publish the notice of filing in its in-house media in accordance with the employer's normal procedures for recruitment of similar positions or for 10 consecutive business days, whichever is of longer duration.

Could the publishing of the notice of filing in the employer's in-house media be counted as one of the additional steps required in the recruitment for professional occupations provision?

According to the Labor Department:

No, posting of the notice of filing on in-house media, including an "Intranet," can not be counted as an additional recruitment step, as it is believed that potential job applicants would only view the notice as a legal or information notice, not as an advertisement for a job opportunity, and would not apply.

I have multiple positions available for the same occupation and job classifications and at the same rate of pay. May I post a Notice of Filing for the same occupation and job classifications with a single posting?

According to the Labor Department:

Yes, an employer can satisfy Notice of Filing requirements with respect to several positions in each of these job classifications with a single Notice of Filing posting, as long as the single posting complies with the Department of Labor's regulation for each application (e.g. contains the appropriate prevailing wage information and the Notice of Filing must be posted for 10 consecutive business days during the 30 to 180 day time window prior to filing the application). For instance, separate notices would have to be posted for an attending nurse and a supervisory nurse (e.g. nurses containing different job duties).

NOTE: At the time of filing the labor certification, the prevailing wage information must not have changed, the job opportunity must remain the same and all other Department of Labor regulatory requirements must be followed.

According to the Labor Department:

If the employer knows where the Schedule A employee will be placed, the employer must post the notice at that work-site(s) where the employee will perform the work and publish the notice internally using in-house media--whether electronic or print--in accordance with the normal internal procedures used by the employer to notify its employees of employment opportunities in the occupation in question. The prevailing wage indicated in the notice will be the wage applicable to the area of intended employment where the worksite is located.

If the employer does not know where the Schedule A employee will be placed, the employer must post the notice at that work-site(s) of all of its current clients, and publish the notice of filing internally using electronic and print media according to the normal internal procedures used by the employer to notify its employees of employment opportunities in the occupation in question. The prevailing wage will be derived from the area of the staffing agencies' headquarters.