Immigration Update

The US Department of Labor is still working through its backlog of H-2B Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWD) is has to process pursuant to a court order. (Click here to read our last client alert on the PWD issue.) In the meantime, how are they processing other applications? The official answer is unclear and contradictory. They said they were not processing any PERM-related PWD's, yet requests filed in June are slowly trickling out. They said processing of other DOL filings, like Labor Condition Applications (LCA's) and PERMS were not affected, and yet, the processing time for LCA certifications has doubled in the last few weeks. Employers seeking to file H-1B petitions should expect the LCA certification to take 2-3 weeks, rather than the 5 day processing time we were seeing before the H-2B court order. As yet, processing times for PERMS have lengthened only slightly, but this may change.  As the October 1st court deadline gets closer, we expect to see further delays, and if the DOL does not make the 10/1 deadline, perhaps even more delays next month. If you have any questions on how these delays may affect any case we are currently handling for you, do not hesitate to communicate with your MVA Immigration Team Contact to address any concerns you may have.