DOL Transition Watch : Region VI Update
Posted Dec 17, 2004
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We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. have been receiving many questions from clients, MurthyBulletin subscribers, and MurthyDotCom visitors regarding the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) transition issues. One of the most frequent questions is whether, or when, permanent labor certifications will be moving to Backlog Elimination Centers (BECS) or National Processing Centers (NPCs). On December 13, 2004, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) liaisons shared the results of their meeting with the Region VI Department of Labor (DOL) and the California State Workforce Agency (SWA). These reports identify challenges that this region, and very likely that the other regions, are facing in this transition.
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DOL / SWA TELECONFERENCE
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Region VI (San Francisco, CA)
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The DOL Regional Director indicated that all 20,000 cases transferred from Region VI (San Francisco, CA) to the BECs were the cases with the oldest Regional Office (RO) receipt dates. There are still 8,000 to 10,000 cases with the RO. The Regional Director speculated that it is possible Atlanta, GA and Chicago, IL will also work on the backlog reduction if PERM is not implemented. RIR and regular cases received from the California SWA after September 2004 will not be entered into the RO database or processed in any way. The RO is awaiting instructions on how to deal with these cases. This means that a person who needs a receipt notice for an H1B one-year incremental extension will not be able to receive that receipt until the file has been sent to a BEC, an NPC, or has been cleared to be processed at the RO.
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For RIR cases, the RO is continuing to work on California cases with RO receipt dates of December 2002 to March 2003. The remaining cases with RO receipt dates from July 2003 through September 2004 were transferred out of the RO. Non-waiver California cases with RO receipt dates of October 2003 or later will be transferred. The RO will continue to process California cases received January 2003 through September 2003. The RO is retaining enough work for the next six months. The Regional Director speculated that it is still possible for the DOL to have six major processing centers: Dallas, TX; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; and San Francisco, CA. There has been no final word on such a plan, however.
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Region VI has lost all temporary employees. This means that the analysts are also performing clerical work as part of their job duties.
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Washington SWA
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The Washington SWA gave its definition of what constitutes an "open" case. The Washington SWA interprets "open" to mean "start processing" or to review the application and accompanying documentation and either sending an assessment letter or transmitting the application to the DOL for further processing.
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After January 1, 2005, the Washington SWA will only work on cases that have had an assessment letter sent to the employer or the employer's attorney by December 30, 2004. The Washington SWA is not going to send out letters for the cases it transfers, but cases filed after January 1, 2005 will receive a receipt letter. This receipt letter will indicate that they will transfer the case to the Chicago NPC upon receipt of instructions from the DOL. The Washington SWA stopped opening non-RIR applications on November 15, 2004 since it takes them 10 weeks or more to process a non-RIR case from start to finish. They have also stopped performing Prevailing Wage Determinations for non-RIR applications. The BECs are expected to complete Prevailing Wage Determinations. The Washington SWA will continue to process RIR applications until December 30, 2004.
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Nevada SWA
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The Nevada SWA indicated that it defines "open" as a case that has been picked up for assessment and on which work has begun. The Nevada SWA is continuing to work on RIR and non-RIR cases.
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California SWA
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The California SWA is working on applications received in April 2001. They are inputting any new cases into the system but they will not progress unless someone is available to work on them. The SWA backlog is 2-3 years. They are trying to finish open RIR cases and regular permanent cases in recruitment and final documentation stages. They are not starting new recruitment on traditional labor certifications at this time.
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California SWA Teleconference
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As of December 9, 2004, the California SWA had approximately 62,000 cases and a staff of eleven. There are roughly 37,000 cases with priority dates between April 27, 2001 and December 31, 2002. There is concern that the SWA will only be able to ship around 15,000 of these cases by December 31, 2004, although they are all due at the Dallas (TX) BEC by this date. The California SWA has approximately 25,000 cases filed after December 31, 2002, and receives on the order of 1,500 new cases per month. It currently takes the California SWA about 3 weeks to issue a receipt. They are not sure if they will have all backlogged cases to the Dallas BEC by March 31, 2005.
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The California SWA is looking into a system to indicate which cases are still with the SWA and which cases have been transferred. They have not, however, made a final plan as yet. They still have eleven Special Handling cases, and many of these require assessment notices, so they intend to seek guidance from the DOL. The California SWA continues to receive remands, which are in boxes. They plan to open these to return them to the regular labor certification queue according to priority date.
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There are miscellaneous cases that require certain requested information. The California SWA asks that all requested data be sent to them as quickly as possible.
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Conclusion
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We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. hope that this information provides a glimmer into the transition process. It shows that it may be some time before all transfers are completed and the BECs have all of the cases they intend to process. We will continue to monitor these developments, to keep MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers apprised of the situation.