What is BALCA? The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) is an administrative body which reviews mainly denials of PERM labor certification cases but it also handles a number of Department of Labor review cases. With respect to PERM denials, BALCA is the appellate body which reviews appeals for PERM denials. BALCA currently has [...]
Our office handles a substantial number of ETA Form 9089 - Permanent Labor Certification ("PERM") applications and we are closely monitoring the current PERM processing times not only for the benefit of our clients but also to be able to predict longer-term trends in PERM processing. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update [...]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of August 31, 2010. Most notable is the decreased processing time for regular PERM applications -- down to 4-5 months now. The processing times are as follows: Regular processing: May 2010. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates [...]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of May 31, 2010. They are as follows: Regular processing: August 2009. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates in August of 2009. This suggests that there is certain forward movement for regular PERM processing. Accordingly, regular PERM [...]
The June 2010 Visa Bulletin was released earlier today by the State Department. The ninth visa bulletin for the fiscal year 2010 brings gradual forward across most employment-based categories except EB-2 India (no change this month, for the third month in a row). The State Department added another country to the list of oversubscribed countries [...]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of April 30, 2010. They are as follows: Regular processing: July 2009. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates in July of 2009. This suggests that there is very slight forward movement for regular PERM processing. Accordingly, regular [...]
As many of our clients and readers know, the H-1B program allows stay in the U.S. on H or L status of up to six years. Time spent abroad during this period may be "recaptured" and added towards the six years of H-1B time. However, many foreign nationals who are not eligible to extend their [...]
Effective January 1, 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) centralized all prevailing wage determinations needed in connection with certain programs - PERM, H-1B, H-2B and E-3. All prevailing wage requests now must be submitted to DOL for processing and not to the state workforce agencies, as it was done before. Because DOL was not ready [...]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of December 31, 2009. They are as follows: Regular processing: March 2009. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates in March of 2009. This suggests that there is certain forward movement for regular PERM processing. Accordingly, regular PERM [...]
The Department of Labor ("DOL") has provided an update on the current PERM processing dates as of November 31, 2009. They are as follows: Regular processing: February 2009. DOL is processing PERM applications with priority dates in February 2009. This suggests that there is certain forward movement for regular PERM processing. Accordingly, regular PERM processing [...]