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PERM The Department of Labor (“DOL”) published the long-awaited Program Electronic Review Management (“PERM”) regulations on December 27, 2004. These new regulations, which significantly amend the rules governing the filing and processing of labor certification applications (“LC”), will become effective on March 28, 2005. The new system requires employers to conduct recruitment before filing their applications. Employers will now be required to conduct both mandatory and alternative recruitment steps. The PERM procedures are anticipated to significantly reduce the average time needed to process labor certification applications; it is projected that cases filed under PERM will be processed by the DOL in 45-60 days. PERM will allow applications to be filed electronically or by mail. Some applications will be selected for an audit, at which time the DOL will request documentation of the recruitment efforts from the employer. An employer will have 30 days to respond to this audit notice. LC applications that have already been filed under the old regulations may be converted to the PERM type of processing and will be allowed to keep their original filing date so long as stringent standards are met, including the requirement that the job opportunity with respect to the PERM application is identical to the original LC application. Once the DOL has completed processing, it will certify an application, deny an application or order supervised recruitment. Once an application has been certified it will be ready for immigrant visa processing. For more information about PERM, please visit the DOL’s Web site, at http://atlas.doleta.gov/foreign/ Should you have any questions or concerns regarding PERM, please do not hesitate to contact our office to discuss further. POSTED: JANUARY 5, 2005

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