PERM Regulations Expected Soon
Posted May 03, 2002

For several years, we have been told that the U.S. Department of Labor's "PERM" program is "coming soon." It now appears that the PERM program's proposed regulations will be published in the first week of May - and maybe even today. According to information received by The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C., the regulations have already been sent by the Department of Labor to the Federal Register. The Federal Register is the publication where, by law, new and proposed regulations must be published.

The PERM program is a much-anticipated program designed to drastically improve the permanent Labor Certification process. The program involves major changes in the format and content of the Labor Certification Application and the way the applications are processed. The PERM program is designed as an improvement on the RIR (Reduction in Recruitment) procedure, which is quicker than the standard procedure but still is subject to substantial backlogs in most of the country.

At this point it is unclear exactly which of the prior proposed changes will appear in the PERM regulations. The program was designed initially when the economy was booming and reflected procedures appropriate to those conditions. These included filing the cases without documentary proof of advertising efforts and "spot checks" rather than individualized processing and review of each case. It is not clear that these methods will remain in the soft economy and following the March 20, 2002 policies and procedures set forth by Dale Ziegler, Chief, Division of Foreign Labor Certification. Details regarding the Dale Ziegler memo are contained in our April 05, 2002 article, DOL Issues RIR Guidance in Light of Layoffs. 

At the least, it is expected that the PERM program will make use of current technology, including the Internet, to allow for more efficient filing and processing. We will continue to check the Federal Register daily for the regulations and will post any updates in the MurthyBulletin and on MurthyDotCom.

The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, PC intends to play an active role with respect to the shaping of final PERM regulations, in order to promote favorable immigration policy and infuse the policy-making arena with practical experience. We will be working with AILA in the preparation of written comments on the regulations that will be reviewed and considered by the government prior to issuance of the final regulations.