DOL Pilot Program to Review Erroneous PERM Denials
Posted Jun 06, 2008
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has recently initiated a pilot program to review its denial of  PERM labor certifications. This program was the result of efforts on the part of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), which advocated for a process of identifying PERM cases erroneously denied by the DOL. As of the end of May 2008, the DOL had reviewed roughly 900 denied PERM cases, for which either appeals or Motions to Reopen (MTRs) were awaiting decision. The DOL is assessing these cases for "clear error" made by the government and, when appropriate, returning these cases for normal PERM processing. The level of clear error detected was quite high. So far, more than a third of the cases reviewed have been returned for processing, as the denials were found to be incorrect. Out of the 900 PERM cases reviewed, there were 350 cases returned that were found to have been denied due to DOL error.
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Examples of "Clear Error" by DOL
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Some examples of clear government error found during the screening process include obvious communication problems, such employers who do not receive audit letters, or audit responses from employers that are not matched with the correct PERM files. There are also instances of DOL data entry errors on PERM applications filed via hardcopy, rather than the preferred, online filing procedures.
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Conclusion
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Cases that go through the appeals or MTR process increase the DOL workload, bogging down the entire system. Since these cases can be easily fixed, the aim of this pilot program is to efficiently identify these errors, remove cases in which denials occurred due to clear errors on the part of the DOL, and to eliminate unnecessary and costly reviews by returning these cases for normal processing.