President Obama Announces Executive Action on Immigration: Department of Labor to Modernize PERM Program
From: USADNEWS Volume VIII, Issue 8 December 2014
On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced a series of executive actions to reform and streamline the immigration process in the United States. His initiatives covered multiple areas of immigration, including the expansion of Deferred Action Programs, improving the current visa processing system, and establishing a Task Force on New Americans to address the issues of integration and citizenship. The executive orders also outlined reforms to employment-based visa programs, such as the Optional Practical Training Program, L-1B visas for “intracompany transferees,” and H-1B visas for temporary workers.
Among the reforms to employment-based visas was an instruction to modernize the PERM process, which has not been thoroughly examined since it was instituted ten years ago. The Department of Labor (DOL) acknowledges that during the past decade both the labor force and standard recruitment methods have changed. As more than 70,000 PERM applications were submitted last year, the regulations that govern the labor certification process need to be reviewed to ensure that they are up to date with current employment needs and practices.
According to a FactSheet from the Department’s website, the DOL will initiate a new rulemaking process, specifically seeking input on the following:
- Options for identifying labor force occupational shortages and surpluses and methods for aligning domestic worker recruitment requirements with demonstrated shortages and surpluses;
- Methods and practices designed to modernize U.S. worker recruitment requirements;
- Processes to clarify employer obligations to insure PERM positions are fully open to U.S. workers;
- Ranges of case processing timeframes and possibilities for premium processing; and
- Application submission and review process and feasibility for efficiently addressing nonmaterial errors.
The specific effect this will have on the recruitment requirements for labor certification applications is unknown at this time. USADWEB will provide information as it becomes available. Further details on the executive action can be found at www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction.
