Green Card

Must the notice of filing contain the rate of pay for an application filed on behalf of a college or university teacher selected in a competitive selection and recruitment process?

According to the Labor Department:

No, a rate of pay does not need to be included in a notice of filing for an application filed on behalf of a college or university teacher selected in a competitive selection and recruitment process. However, the notice of filing must include the required advertisement information in § 656.18(b)(3), i.e., the job title, duties, and requirements as well as the information specified in § 656.10(d)(3).

According to the Labor Department:

No, the address does not need to be included. However, advertisements must indicate the geographic area of employment with enough specificity to apprise applicants of any travel requirements and where applicants will likely have to reside to perform the job opportunity. Employers are not required to specify the job site, unless the job site is unclear; for example, if applicants must respond to a location other than the job site (e.g., company headquarters in another state) or if the employer has multiple job sites.

According to the Labor Department:

The PERM regulation is effective March 28, 2005, and applies to labor certification applications for the permanent employment of aliens filed on or after that date.

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Under PERM, is it permissible for an employer to have more than one labor certification application actively in process for the same alien for the same job opportunity at any given time? What should an employer do if it has already filed multiple applications for the same alien for the same job opportunity?

According to the Labor Department:

Under the old and new permanent labor certification regulations, DOL certifies that there are not available U.S. workers for a particular "job opportunity." See, e.g., 20 CFR 656.10(c) (new PERM regulation) and 656.20(c) (prior regulation). DOL's longstanding policy has been that an employer is not prohibited from filing applications for the same alien involving different, legitimate job openings to which U.S. workers may be referred. See, e.g., Field Memorandum 48-94 (May 16, 1994) (Policy Guidance on Alien Labor Certification Issues at § 6). However, DOL has not processed or certified multiple labor certifications for the same alien and same job opportunity on grounds that the additional applications cannot represent a bona fide different job opportunity available to U.S. workers.

Filing Timeframes

Alien Experience

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According to the Labor Department:

No, while the majority of the recruitment must take place within the 30 - 180 day timeframe, one of the three additional steps required for professional occupations may consist solely of activity which takes place within 30 days of filing. However, none of the steps may take place more than 180 days prior to filing the application.

Refiling

Under "Schedule A", these qualified individuals are deemed to be "pre-certified" and do not have to undergo the Labor Certification procedure (which is often quite lengthy).

According to the Labor Department:

The Department of Labor does not provide counsel as to questions of this nature. However, employers are reminded refiled labor certification applications must conform to the provisions of the PERM regulation.

Is it possible to provide more specific guidelines for drafting PERM advertisements? For example, where there are multiple openings for the job offered which of the following, if not all, would be acceptable: "5 Attorneys," "Attorneys" or "Attorneys, multiple openings"?

According to the Labor Department:

As stated in the advertising requirements provision, the advertisement must provide a description of the vacancy specific enough to apprise U.S. workers of the job opportunity for which certification is sought. At issue in evaluating whether the advertisement meets this criterion is whether the advertisement is written to attract the interest of the greatest number of qualified U.S. workers and encourage them to apply, not whether specific words or phases have, or have not, been used. The advertisement will be reviewed to ensure that it reasonably describes the vacancy and reflects the job opportunity as described on the ETA Form 9089. With respect to the examples, any one of the three can be used as long as it is specific enough, under the circumstances, to apprise U.S. workers of the job opportunity. In any event, if employers feel it necessary, employers may always include more detail.

According to the Labor Department:

The standards used in making labor certification determinations under the new system will be substantially the same as those used in arriving at a determination in the former system. The determination will continue to be based on:

• whether there are not sufficient United States workers who are able, willing, qualified and available;
• whether the employment of the alien will have an adverse effect on the wages and working conditions of United States workers similarly employed;
• and whether the employer has met the procedural requirements of the regulations.

PERM Frequently Asked Questions. This section lists some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding PERM.

According to the Labor Department:

The employer must file a completed Application for Permanent Employment Certification, ETA Form 9089.

Except as required for applications filed under § 656.5, Schedule A, supporting documentation need not be filed with the application, but the employer must provide the required supporting documentation if the employer's application is selected for audit or if the Certifying Officer otherwise requests it.

The chart below provides a list of the primary avenues for obtaining U.S. Permanent Residency (“Green Card” status) (also known as “Immigrant Classifications and Visas”). The chart is divided into three main groupings: (1) “General Family-Based Immigration” concerns the general types of family relationships which U.S. immigration law recognizes as providing a right to file a petition for permanent residency of the respective family members, and which is available for all nationalities; (2) “Employment-Based Immigration” concerns the general types of employment relationships, investments, or occupations which U.S. immigration law recognizes as providing a right to file a petition for permanent residency; and (3) “Other Immigrant Channels” concerns various miscellaneous avenues of petitioning for U.S. permanent residency.

In Borat! The Movie (full name Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan), Borat Sagdiyev, who claims to be a Kazakhstani journalist, travels to America in order to make a documentary about the United States, at the behest of the Kazakh Ministry of Information. This raises the question: is Borat an illegal alien?

Our office recently received a request for "corporate documents" from the BPC. The petition was for a housekeeper. Is this request sent in error or how do we respond?

According to the Labor Department:

If the application is for a domestic servant in a private household, the employer should provide a recent tax return and/or leases, utility bills, etc. that establish the domestic employer at the address on the application.