On July 21, 2004, the Department of Labor (DOL) published an interim rule in the Federal Register in order to address the backlog of pending applications for permanent labor certification of foreign workers.  The rule proposes allowing the National Certifying Officer to transfer to a centralized ETA processing center(s) applications now awaiting processing by State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) or ETA Regional Offices.

The DOL is proposing this rule in conjunction with its plans to roll out the new PERM efiling labor certification system this fall. PERM promises to dramatically reduce processing times for the vast majority of labor certification cases.

The current process for obtaining a labor certification requires employers to actively recruit U.S. workers in good faith for a period of at least 30 days for the job openings for which aliens are sought. The employer's job requirements must conform to the DOL’s regulatory standards.

The DOL’s Employment and Training Administration's Permanent Labor Certification Program is currently experiencing a large backlog in pending applications for permanent employment of immigrants.  To address the backlog, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded a study to identify strategic options for reducing the backlog. The study recommended establishing centralized processing centers, which could process large numbers of applications in one location and consolidate the functions currently performed separately by the SWAs and the ETA Regional Offices. Building upon this recommendation, ETA initiated a pilot program testing the feasibility of centralized processing, which indicated that the backlog of applications could be substantially reduced.

The interim rule proposes amending 20 CFR part 656 by adding a new section 656.24a to provide that the National Certifying Officer (Chief, Division of Foreign Labor Certification) has the discretion to direct SWAs and ETA Regional Offices to transfer pending labor certification applications to centralized processing centers for completion of processing. The centralized processing centers will perform the required functions of the SWAs and ETA Regional Certifying Officers, consolidating the steps now performed separately by the SWAs and the ETA Regional Offices.  The Chief will issue a directive to SWAs and the ETA Regional Offices stating how pending applications are to be identified for centralized processing, and where they are to be sent.