Despite the fact that the PERM regulations took effect on March 28, 2005, almost 13 years ago, PERM practitioners continue to struggle with the Department of Labor (DOL) regarding what must be listed in PERM advertisements. Issues surrounding this ongoing battle were discussed in my blogs here, here, here and here. As they say, the […]
USCIS’ current ferocious attack on H-1B petitions has been discussed here, here and here. Backed by the Trump administration, USCIS has openly declared war on H-1Bs. What is most frustrating, in my opinion, is not only the fact that there appears to be a concerted effort to find some way to reject each and every […]
As PERM practitioners, we are all familiar with Department of Labor’s (DOL) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Going as far back as 2005, the year of the inception of the PERM program, there have been various rounds of DOL FAQs on a wide range of topics including on how to file or withdraw a PERM application; […]
The employer’s review of resumes received from applicants continues to be one of the trickiest issues in the PERM labor certification process. The process might seem straightforward enough because, after all, employers filing PERM applications are likely quite used to evaluating resumes from applicants. But such thinking is probably where the first wrong step is […]
In one move that we did not see coming, USCIS has announced that, starting April 3, 2017, it will temporarily suspend premium processing service for all H-1B petitions. Petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, for a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker which requests the H-1B […]
Overturning nearly two decades of precedent on how an individual qualifies for the National Interest Waiver (NIW), the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a precedent decision, Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016) which vacated Matter of New York State Dep’t of Transp. [NYSDOT], […]
While we have no idea what the labor certification process will look like under the Trump administration, it still behooves all PERM practitioners to keep up with the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) decisions as they continue to directly affect how we prepare and file PERM applications. To that end, this blog will […]
Recently, in the representative case, Matter of Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp, 2013-PER-01488 (BALCA, September 29, 2016), the Board of Alien Labor Certifications Appeals (BALCA) reversed 382 PERM denials finding, most significantly, that the employer’s failure to apprise US workers of its wage adjustment – a variable amount of money to be paid to the […]
The most frequently asked question in response to my recent blog entitled, “A Closer Look At The Form I-983 – Training Plan for STEM OPT Students”, is whether a STEM OPT student can be employed at a third party client site or at multiple client sites. I would argue that the answer to this […]
As we previously blogged about here, on March 11, 2016 the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule amending regulations to expand Optional Practical Training (OPT) for students with U.S. degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM). This new rule will take effect on May 10, 2016 and will replace the 17-month […]
