New Labor Condition Application (LCA) Procedure for H-1s
Posted Apr 20, 1999

Many readers of the Law Office of Sheela Murthy Bulletin may be aware of a new LCA fax procedure that came into effect, with some fits and starts, in March 1999. The new LCA is completed using special "form filler" software, and there are new fax numbers (one for the eastern half of the country, one for the west) for sending the forms.

The Department of Labor indicated that the LCAs would be faxed back in 7 days, but many law offices, including the Law Office of Sheela Murthy, have sent out LCAs that never came back. DOL now says, as of April 5, 1999, that it all should be working. We will withhold judgment until we have had the chance to see for ourselves that it does indeed work. Our clients can all benefit from prompt LCA approvals since we know that the Department of Labor has been in violation of the law which requires LCA certifications within 7 days.

For now, we and many other law offices are filing each LCA using both the new and the old systems. Once we are sure that the new system is really working, we will discontinue the use of the old LCA forms as a back-up.