PERM Clears the Office of Budget Management

The Program Electronic Review Management System (known as "PERM") has finally cleared the Office of Management and Budget. This step in the process clears the way for publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register, an action we have been awaiting for years. The purpose of the PERM program is to create a quick electronic attestation and audit program for permanent employment cases, similar to the electronic system for labor condition applications (LCA) 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. Upon receipt of the electronic application, a 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.

Under this PERM program, a prevailing wage will be secured and recruitment conducted during the six month period prior to filing. 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 to those steps. Where the system finds a problem in an application, it will be forwarded for an audit. There will also be random audits, for quality control. The DOL has indicated that this program will depend on its post-approval enforcement actions to assure the integrity of the system, as the original applications will receive little or no human review. The DOL has also stated that post-approval investigations will not jeopardize a foreign national’s permanent resident status.

The technology for this program will be similar to the current LCA faxback system, though the DOL anticipates that it will expand its phone lines and fax equipment sufficiently to successfully implement the system. The PERM program will allow for fax filings as well as hard copy filings at a central processing location. The application for this program will involve a multi-page form, which should be filed without supporting documentation; if supporting documentation becomes necessary, the DOL can request it after the initial filing. Additionally, the DOL expects to eventually expand the PERM program for Internet filing.

Now that the proposed rule for the PERM program has cleared the Office of Management and Budget, the rule has returned to the DOL for final approval and publication in the Federal Register. It is anticipated that the Federal Register publication will take place by June of this year. It is important to note, however, that actual implementation of the program is expected to commence no earlier than in the latter part of the second quarter of the year 2003.

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