New York PERM Labor Certification Lawyer
We Can Help You With All of Your USCIS Employment Immigration Needs
What is PERM?
If you are an employer seeking permanent residence for foreign workers to enter the U.S. and work for your company legally, you will be required to prove to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that there are no qualified American workers from the local labor pool to fill the position that you are offering the foreign worker.
Ten years of helping employers meet their labor certification requirements
Ames Immigration has been helping employers in Syracuse, New York, and across the U.S. with employment immigration needs for 10 years. Because we focus exclusively on immigration law, we stay abreast of the ever-changing laws.
Contact us to talk directly with attorney Sharon Ames about your company’s needs.
What is a labor certification?
In order to obtain approval of an immigrant worker petition, for most employment categories, the petitioning employer must obtain a certification from the Department of Labor that there are no qualified U.S. workers available to fill the particular position that is being offered to the foreign national. This certification is obtained by advertising for the position according to the Dept. of Labor rules and showing the Dept. of Labor that there are no U.S. workers who are qualified and available for the position.
This “labor certification” process underwent a significant change in 2005, and the process is now called “PERM“, which stands for Program Electronic Review Management.” Under PERM, the application for the labor certification is filed electronically. However, the complexity of the process has remained the same, and although the current process is somewhat shorter than before, the approval can still take years to get if the Dept. of Labor issues an audit of the application.
The Dept. of Labor is auditing more and more of these applications, so employers must be able to document every decision made in the hiring and recruitment process. In the event of an audit by the Department of Labor, the employer must be able to produce documentation to back up each question on the labor certification application form. Employers and attorneys must therefore work together to prepare for an audit in each and every case filed.
Among the steps necessary to obtain permanent residence for a valued employee, the labor certification process will be your primary focus and it is extremely important that you understand it completely. Decisions made in the labor certification process can affect the outcome of the subsequent immigration applications. As an experienced immigration law firm, we have the knowledge to see “the big picture” and focus on your ultimate goal: getting the permanent work visa your employee needs.
