What we handle
Employers of every size, from a first sponsorship to a program of dozens of cases a year.
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PERM applications
Professional and nonprofessional positions, including the special procedure for college and university teaching jobs.
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Prevailing wage requests
Form ETA-9141, and requests for review when the wage level looks wrong for the job.
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Recruitment and recruitment reports
Placing every required advertisement on time and documenting how each applicant was considered.
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Audits and supervised recruitment
Answering Department of Labor audit letters and running recruitment under its supervision.
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Reconsideration and appeals
Requests for reconsideration and appeals to the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals.
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I-140 petitions and the green card
The petition that follows certification, and the employee’s adjustment of status or immigrant visa.
How the process works
Six steps, in this order. Government processing times change month to month, so we check the current figures for each case.
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Define the job and its requirements
We work with the hiring manager on the job description and the minimum education and experience. These carry through every later step, so they are settled first.
Who: the employer and the firm
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Request the prevailing wage
We file Form ETA-9141. The Department of Labor sets the minimum wage for the job and location, and the offer must meet or exceed it.
Who: the firm files; the Department of Labor decides
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Recruit
For a professional job: a 30-day job order with the state workforce agency, two Sunday print advertisements and three more recruitment steps from the Department of Labor’s list. A notice of filing is posted at the worksite for 10 consecutive business days.
The job order, the two print advertisements and the notice must all fall between 30 and 180 days before filing. Only one of the three additional steps may take place in the last 30 days. Every applicant is considered, and the result is recorded.
Who: the employer reviews applicants; the firm places ads and keeps the record
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File ETA Form 9089
We file the application online through the Department of Labor’s FLAG system. The employer keeps the recruitment file for five years in case of audit.
Who: the firm, with the employer’s sign-off
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The Department of Labor decides
It certifies, denies or audits the application. We answer audits and, when a denial is wrong, ask for reconsideration or appeal. A certification is valid for 180 days.
Who: the Department of Labor; the firm responds
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File the I-140, then the green card
The employer files Form I-140 with USCIS within those 180 days. When the employee’s priority date is current in the Visa Bulletin, the employee applies for the green card in the United States or at a consulate abroad.
Who: the firm files for the employer and the employee
When labor certification is not required
Some employees can skip PERM recruitment and go straight to the I-140 petition. We check these first.
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EB-1
Extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers and multinational managers
For people with sustained acclaim in their field, recognized professors and researchers, and managers or executives transferred from an affiliate abroad.
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EB-2
National interest waiver
For people with an advanced degree or exceptional ability whose work has substantial merit and national importance.
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Schedule A
Occupations the Department of Labor has pre-certified
Registered nurses, physical therapists, and people of exceptional ability in the sciences or arts. There is no recruitment. The labor certification form goes to USCIS with the I-140.
Representative matters
A few recent PERM matters, described without client names.
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University
Certification for an assistant professor of chemistry under the special recruitment procedure for college and university teachers.
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Audit
Answered a Department of Labor audit for a structural engineering firm. The application was certified without supervised recruitment.
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Appeal
Won reversal at the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals of a denial based on the wording of a print advertisement.
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Acquisition
Kept twelve pending PERM cases moving after a software company was acquired, by documenting the buyer as successor employer.
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts.