In this video we'll break the secrets of the Labor certification process, also known as
PERM.
What it is, how do we do it?
Stay tuned.
In this video, I want to talk about the Labor Certification specifically also known as PERM
PE-R-M.
So what is the Labor certification?
A labor certification is required because we want to make sure that we can…the government
wants to make sure that U.S. workers are not being affected by the hiring over the foreign
national.
And so we have to go through this labor certification process to show the government that we've
done everything that they require and not discriminate against the U.S. worker.
The first step in the process is, step number one, is that we have to file a prevailing
wage request with the state workforce agency.
And the prevailing wage requests essentially is a very important step because it tells
us what is the wage that should be paid to that foreign national when they get approved
for their green card.
So that is the wage that determines everything, our advertising, what we put on the form,
the level of skill and jobs, so that is a very important step.
It has to be done correctly on the correct form.
And it also is important too when creating the prevailing wage request to make sure that
the job duties are done correctly because those are the ones that are going to be used…continuously
be used throughout the case.
It cannot be changed later on.
So any mistakes that are happening in this stage are going to be adversely affecting
the whole successful application of a Perm per petition.
Once we filed the application for the prevailing wage it's going to take a few months and then
we're going to get certified, a certified the prevailing wage determination from the
Labor Department.
Once we have that and only once we have that, it's recommended…there are some cases where
you can start recruitment before you have a certified prevailing wage determination.
But I typically do not recommend to do that.
And it's better to have a certified prevailing wage determination and then start the recruitment
process, which is step number two.
Step number two is the actual recruitment.
What does that mean?
It means that the government would like to see that we actually publicize the job so
people are…American workers are aware of that and they have a fair chance to apply
and there are certain kinds of ads.
There was one ad for example that it must be placed with the state workforce agency
and they are going to have that on their website.
There are two Sunday ads in a major newspaper circulation that are required.
There are few other steps and a few other ads that are required, maybe like an Internet
ad and things like that.
There's a list of those that we can put a link for those ads as well in this video description.
But it's important to make sure that all the ads are done at the same time.
And the reason is because you don't want to stretch that process too long because the
Labor Certification once approved is only good for 180 days.
If those ads are out of the 180 day stretch, they're not going to be useful anymore and
you won't be able to file your, your panel application or the green card subsequently.
So it's very important to try to group those ads as close as possible and so because you
only have 180 days to use that approved labor certification so we want to maximize that
time.
Once we're done with the ads typically it's recommended to wait about 30 days and then,
so you might want to give some cooling period and make sure enough people are able to apply.
And then step number three is actually filing the ETA 9089 which is the Perm application
itself.
You file it electronically and there are some things that you have to do.
You have to get an account with the Labor Department and all these things and an employer
can do that.
And once the Perm application is filed a few things can happen.
First application takes a few months.
And timing, timing depends on the time of the year of course, but it's either going
to be approved certified via email or is going to be denied or it's going to be referred
to an audit if there's an audit, which it happens.
It doesn't mean it's a bad thing, but it can happen sometimes.
You know, we have special things that can trigger an audit.
Maybe you request a language requirement, maybe you know the job is in multiple locations.
Anything that can trigger an audit.
Maybe you already have a family member that is sponsoring you in that same company.
Anything like that can trigger an audit and it's fine.
If there's an audit the only drawback is it's just going to take longer.
But it's, you know, there's always a way to respond to an audit.
We've done many, many audits successfully.
But if one of those three things happen, if it's approved, obviously you can proceed to
the next step, which is filing the case with immigration, the I140 and we've done a video
on that as well talking about the general process.
If it's denied, then there's a way to appeal it or sometimes we can just refile.
It depends on the reason and if it's referred to an audit, then you have to deal with an
audit.
Typically when we do the recruitment, we always recommend to do a recruitment report, keep
all the ads and tears of the newspaper in a very specific place because if there's an
audit then you just take all these documents that you've saved and you can present them
to the adjudicator and you don't have to scramble and look for them, so therefore during the
recruitment process.
We recommend to keep a recruitment file with all the ads and all the documents in there
in case in audit.
So that's in general the process of labor certification, also known as Perm.
Hopefully it was helpful.
It's been helpful to you to understand that if you have questions, please post them in
the comments or email them to me and I'll be more than happy to answer.
And again, thank you for watching our videos and we look forward to seeing you in the next
one.