DOL

US Department of Labor is charged with protecting the labor market and investigation and enforcement activities related to that.

DOL Resource Page on H-2A and H-2B Forms Update

The Office of Management and Budget has approved the Department's request to extend the ETA Form 9142, Appendices A.2 and B.1 and associated instructions which were previously set to expire on April 30, 2012. The new expiration date for these forms is October 31, 2012.

As of the date of this announcement, future H-2A applications should be filed using the extended ETA Form 9142 and Appendix A.2 which reflect the October 31, 2012 expiration date.

DOL States 2012 H2-B Final Rule Not Implemented

On April 26, 2012, the Temporary Non-agricultural Employment of H-2B Aliens in the United States, Final Rule, 77 FR 10038, Feb. 21, 2012 was preliminarily enjoined by the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division in Bayou Lawn & Landscape Services, et al. v. Hilda L. Solis, et al., 12-cv-00183-RV-CJK, and was never implemented.

PERM Approval after two denials

It is HIGHLY unusual for a PERM case to have such a convoluted history, but here is one where success came after two denials.

We filed a PERM application under EB-2 for a Physicist’s position for which no formal training was required. The job also did not require employment experience, but did require hands-on work in a university research laboratory with a particular equipment.  DOL denied the application stating essentially that the job requires training.  According to them, “hands on work” is the same as formal training.

Team Notes
Santosh Pisharody

Profession/Occupation

Agency

DOL Releases New FAQ Document on H-2B Final Rule

On March 14th, 20th and 27th, the Department conducted three webinars intended to educate program users and other interested stakeholders on the requirements of the 2012 H-2B Final Rule. Today the Department posted Round 1 of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). The FAQs are largely based on questions received from the webinar participants and other members of the regulated public and are published to assist employers, workers, and other interested parties in understanding the 2012 Final Rule as it goes into effect.

H-2A Email Notification Program Expanded

The Chicago National Processing Center has announced that it will be expanding its E-Mail Notification Program to all H-2A stakeholders who elect to participate in the program. In addition, all H-2A employers who elect to participate in the program will no longer receive hard copy notifications of the following actions: Notice of Deficiency, Notice of Acceptance, Denials, Withdrawals, Extensions, and Redeterminations.

NOTE: Certifications and partial certifications will continue to be issued to H-2A stakeholders via electronic transmission and by hard copy.