February 21, 2002

PERM Clears the Office of Management and Budget

The Program Electronic Review Management System (known as "PERM") has finally cleared the Office of Management and Budget. The purpose of this program is to create a quick electronic attestation and audit program for permanent employment cases, similar to the electronic system for labor condition applications used in temporary employment cases. It is projected that the cost of the filing of a labor certification application under this program will require a $1,000 fee. Under this program, recruitment will be conducted prior to filing, and supervised recruitment will be necessary only in problematic cases. The Department of Labor (DOL) plans to publish a specific list of mandatory recruitment steps and alternatives. Upon receipt of the electronic application, a DOL computer system will process the application within seven (7) to twenty-one (21) days from the time of submission. A tremendous difference from the current processing times of a year or two in many jurisdictions. Where the system finds a problem in the application, it will be forwarded for an audit. There will also be random audits, for quality control.

Now that the proposed rule for the PERM program has cleared the Office of Management and Budget, the rule will go back to the DOL for final approval and publication in the Federal Register. It is anticipated that the Federal Register publication will take place in the next few weeks. It is important to note, however, that actual implementation of the program is expected to commence no earlier than in the year 2003.