LABOR DEPARTMENT LCA FAXBACK PROGRAM STILL RACKED WITH PROBLEMS

After several months, the US Department of Labor’s Labor Condition Application Faxback program continues to be plagued by technical problems and has not lived up to the promise of "one-minute" processing.

H-1b regulations require that applicants for specialty occupation visas get the Department of Labor to approve a Labor Condition Application documenting that they are being paid the prevailing wage and their being hired will not worsen working conditions for American workers.

This past spring the Department of Labor rolled out a new system where LCAs would be printed out on an applicant’s computer and then faxed to the Department of Labor for approval. Using scanning software, the DOL computers could instantly approve or deny the application and send the applicant the decision via fax.

Unfortunately, the software has done anything but make life easier for H-1B applicants. American Immigration Lawyers Association members are reporting that LCAs are being denied improperly or they are not receiving any response at all.

One problem after another has been corrected by DOL and AILA members have been told on a number of occasions to refax their pending applications. Many AILA members are going back to the old non-software faxing system where an application was reviewed by hand. AILA is also reporting that the DOL has not been responsive in correcting inadvertent and erroneous denials.

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