DOL Backlog Processing Centers Wrap Up LC Cases
Posted Oct 19, 2007
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), announced on October 1, 2007 that they have cleared the labor certification (LC) backlog, and did so within their scheduled timeframe. The announcement indicates that 99 percent of the original 363,000 backlogged LC cases are completed. The remaining LC cases await responses from the petitioning employers, rather than action on the part of the DOL.
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DOL Report Appears Accurate
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In comparing the DOL report to our own experience with cases at the Backlog Processing Centers (BPCs), it appears to us at the Murthy Law Firm that the DOL report is accurate. When the BPCs began their work in March 2005, many cases were moved to those centers. These cases were filed over the course of many years; some as early as 2001. At this time, we have only a handful of cases remaining at the BPCs. It is correct that they are waiting for action from the employers / sponsors on these cases. Several of our pending cases have been approved recently, but the actual certified forms are yet to arrive from the DOL in the mail.
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Bumpy and Slow BPC Processing Seems to be Resolved
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Many of us in the immigration community were quite skeptical as to the DOL's ability to process and adjudicate the backlogged cases by their original goal of September 30, 2007. The process was not always smooth, particularly in the beginning. The DOL initially did not have systems for employers or their attorneys to verify the existence and location of pending cases. There was no way to assure clients that their cases were filed and pending, and no way to obtain proof of the filings, which was required in order to file and obtain H1B extensions in many instances. This was resolved, fortunately, with an eMail system that worked well.
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The DOL's procedure of sending out continuation letters (also known as 45-day letters), also did not go smoothly at first. In an effort to narrow their caseload to only the cases that were still viable, the 45-day letter system created its own work and new set of problems. Once the DOL actually did begin adjudicating the LC cases, the case approvals trickled in slowly, and the promised method of First-In / First-Out (FIFO) was nonexistent. It was difficult to see how this task would ever be completed.
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Conclusion
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In the end, the DOL did get through this enormous undertaking of relocating all pending labor certification filings, from both state and regional offices, to the two BPCs, and then adjudicating them in two and a half years. This backlog reduction effort and the new PERM system for labor certification filings have made the labor certification system much fairer, in terms of processing times. In the past, the location of the LC filing made the difference between a processing time measured in months, and one measured in years. With PERM, while there are still marked differences between the processing times at the two centers, the processing is measured in months, if not weeks. We at the Murthy Law Firm congratulate the DOL on the completion of this daunting task and on the improvements that are now in place, in terms of timing and consistency in the labor certification process.