OFLC Annual Report Details DOL Employment Visa Processing

The Department of Labor (DOL) has released the most recent annual report for the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC).    Even though the report was recently released, it is for the 2012 fiscal year (FY2012) which covered the period between October 1, 2011 and September 30, 2012.    While we understand that the relevant period is not very recent, the annual report provides a very detailed picture and analysis of the various visa application processes handled by DOL and also provides very detailed statistics and graphs.

Highlights of the OFLC Report

The report is a 136-page document full of interesting statistics and patterns.  We will not provide a very detailed analysis of most of the areas in the report; however, we would share some interesting points we saw in the report.

• In FY2012 OFLC processed almost half a million applications for 1.2 million positions.
• The H-1B and H-2A programs saw increased in the number of applications (16% increase for H-1Bs); while PERM and H-2B decreased (10% decrease in PERM and 4.5% decrease for H-2B).
• The PERM approval rate was approximately 81%.
• The most active occupations were, not surprisingly, IT positions (Software Developers, Analysts, Electronics Engineers), followed by Admin Services Managers and Accountants/Auditors.
• India is the leader in PERM cases (55%), followed by China (6%), Canada (5%), South Korea (5%) and Philippines (3%).
• California is the state with most PERM cases, followed by New Jersey (decreasing trend), New York (decreasing trend), Texas (stable) and Washington (increasing trend – mainly due to Microsoft).
• The majority (70%) of the certified PERM applications were for STEM degree holders (of which, about 95% were for IT/Engineering).    The same proportion was noted in the H-1B/LCA filings.

Conclusion

We invite our clients and readers who have an interest in the extensive details provided in the report to review it.   Our summary is simply intended to draw some interesting (to us, at least) highlights.   Although the report reflects a time period ending more than two years ago, especially in certain fast-pace industries, it still provides a valuable description of the process and some interesting trends and patterns among the various DOL immigration processes.

We invite you to contact us if our office can be of any assistance in your immigration matters or you have any questions or comments about this article.      Also, please visit us again or subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to ensure that you obtain this and related immigration-related news and announcements.