Labor pending since Feb 2008

[adimut79]

Hello,

This is a great forum to clear our doubts through general expertise and personal experiences of other people!

Here's my situation:

My labor-certification application was submitted to DOL in Feb' 2008. It was audited in April 2008 and it is still in pending status as of today (Dec 2008). I have 2 options:

1. Wait for 1-2 months hoping that DOL provides either an approved/rejected answer on the application. If approved, it's all good and I can proceed for my I-140 (what are the chances of approval with so much wait though?). If rejected, I will have to re-apply for labor (I hear DOL might be auditing more cases with the current economy).

2. Send a letter to DOL requesting to withdraw the pending application (no waiting for an answer then) and then submit a new application hoping that it would not get audited again.

My questions are:

1. Maximum how long should the DOL take to provide an answer to an audited case? Usually is the case approved after such a long delay?

2. While the labor-cert is pending, can the H1 be extended beyond 6 years? (The 6 years to my H1-B will expire in Aug 2010, so Aug 2009 should be the end of 5 years)

I appreciate your guidance.

Thanks,
Adi

[whitemimauz3]

according to current statistics, audit cases are taking around 18 months. You can extend your h1b in increments of 1 year even when labor is pending

[02icarus]

Can you extend H1b in yearly increments if you missed out on applying for extension 365 days before H1b expiration?

[fecundity]

Labor appeal takes typically 2 years. Waiting is definitely beneficial as you will retain your priority date, but with the 50% risk that it might get denied as well.
But if you want to re-apply, decide soon. Because as months pass by and your case remains in pending status, it becomes all the more harder to re-apply with the burden to let the older priority date go off. Mine got approved after 2 years of wait in an appeal case.

With the current economy and unemployment, I don't know what effect will it have on Labor clearance cases--check with Rajeevji or your lawyer on this.
I would like to thank Rajeevji for his help and good work by helping us out here in these forums.

All the best.