DOL Proposes New PERM Process Rules for Green Card Sponsorships

DOL proposes new rules for PERM process, putting employers sponsoring Green Cards under greater scrutiny.

Green Card is the most coveted permanent residency status for visa holders as this lays the pathway to obtain citizenship. There are many ways to get a Green Card -- through marriage, family, employment, entrepreneurship, etc. The US Department of Labor is planning to overhaul the PERM process for employers who sponsor Green Cards for their employees. The US Department of Labor issued a permanent labor certification after the employee files sponsorship through Program Electronic Review Management (PERM). The DOL is planning to overhaul this PERM process, which is a test employers must clear before they can sponsor a foreign worker for a green card. Bloomberg reported that the PERM process has come under major scrutiny from the government as part of a crackdown on what it sees as abuses of the H-1B specialty occupation visa program. The administration has overhauled the annual lottery to award visas, and the DOL has issued draft regulations to significantly increase wage floors for H-1B workers. Since PERM regulations were last updated in 2004, DOL said it's high time that the process was modernized using technology. The proposal will modernize how the agency reviews employers’ PERM applications, with a focus on standards for recruiting qualified US workers and safeguards for American workers affected by layoffs, according to the regulatory agenda published Friday.

What are the possible changes?

At this point, this is just a proposal which the administration has not released. But officials may revisit the labor-market testing requirements that sit at the center of the PERM process. Potential changes could include stricter documentation standards, expanded recruitment obligations, enhanced scrutiny of employer hiring efforts or additional safeguards designed to ensure US workers receive priority consideration before permanent positions are offered to foreign nationals.

Existing PERM rules

Employers ensure that no qualified, willing and available US workers can fill the position before hiring a foreign national for permanent employment.

Employers must also show that employing a foreign worker would not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of similarly employed US workers.

To meet these requirements, employers generally complete a recruitment process before filing a PERM application.

This generally includes obtaining a prevailing wage determination, placing mandatory job advertisements, including two Sunday newspaper ads for most professional positions, posting an internal workplace notice, listing the job with the relevant State Workforce Agency, and, for professional occupations, conducting at least three additional recruitment steps such as online job postings, campus recruiting, job fairs or employer websites.

Employers must review applicants in good faith and document why any US candidates were not qualified.