Chicago Regional DOL Tracker
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- Start date
higcoptimist
Registered Users (C)
H1B 7th year renewal
Hi Guys,
My file is with Chicago Labor since July 04. God only knows, when would we see some movement in Chicago.
Meanwhile, my 6th year for H1B is coming to an end in Feb 05. My company has applied for the 7th year extension, about a week back. LCA for this purpose been obtained. How long does it take to get the approval? Has anybody have a similar expirence with the Nebraska center, in the recent past.
Thanks in advance
Vijay
Hi Guys,
My file is with Chicago Labor since July 04. God only knows, when would we see some movement in Chicago.
Meanwhile, my 6th year for H1B is coming to an end in Feb 05. My company has applied for the 7th year extension, about a week back. LCA for this purpose been obtained. How long does it take to get the approval? Has anybody have a similar expirence with the Nebraska center, in the recent past.
Thanks in advance
Vijay
higcoptimist said:
My H1-B 7th year extension was sent to NSC in August along with extension for my son and wife. NSC sent receipt for my wife and son but did not do any thing with my app. In October my lawyer wrote to NSC asking about my receipt and then they sent it to my lawyer. My son and wife have receipt date of August and my case has reciept date of October. According to NSC it takes 3-5 month for H1-B/H-4 extension. Hopefully I will hear something from NSC before my H1-B expires.
According to the recent USCIS schedule NSC is working on July 2004 App. for I-129 H1-B extensions.
well if the season for H2 runs for 10 months every year and carry more priority,why is it only this year that it has delayed the rest of the cases?
finally the response says that some staff have been shifted back to temp processing..so does that mean one more year of waiting? i don't get it..
all this is not good enough as to why they are still working on cases prior to dec 24 if all they did was to transfer SOME staff to H2 processing
finally the response says that some staff have been shifted back to temp processing..so does that mean one more year of waiting? i don't get it..
all this is not good enough as to why they are still working on cases prior to dec 24 if all they did was to transfer SOME staff to H2 processing
Feb04 said:
info on LC/PERM/NPC (from another thread)
Dear L/C applicants:
Following is the info that u all may find very interesting. In addition, never loose hope, u never know! There is always light at the end of the tunnel and everything that gets started gets ended too. Good luck to all
Following is the info that I got from my lawyer:
The Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration (“ETA”) of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued a Fiscal Year 2005 Transition Guidance memorandum (“TG memo”) to all state workforce agencies (“SWAs”).
The TG memo states that the role of SWAs will be diminished, and labor certification adjudication will be centralized at two national processing centers whether or not the PERM program is implemented.
According to the TG memo, the DOL is proceeding on the assumption that the final PERM regulation will be published before the end of 2004, but outlines a contingency plan in the event the long-awaited PERM regulation is not published.
The TG memo outlines its current 2005 plan, its 2005 contingency plan, the role of the SWAs, and backlog reduction shipment schedules. A summary of these points is as follows:
DOL’s Current Plan:
The final PERM regulation is still pending clearance at the Office of Management and Budget.
If the PERM regulation is published, the SWAs will no longer accept labor certification applications.
After the PERM effective date, the role of the SWA with respect to labor certification review will be limited to prevailing wage determinations.
The TG memo confirms that the DOL is proceeding on the assumption that the final PERM regulation will be published before the end of the 2004 calendar year, and that the new program will be operational within sixty (60) days of the publication date, not 120 days as previously reported by the DOL.
DOL’s Contingency Plan:
The TG memo provides for a contingency plan in the event that the PERM regulation is not published. Regardless of whether PERM is published, the SWA role will change in 2005. Processing will shift from a state-federal system to a primarily federally-administered program.
In July 2004, the DOL published a backlog reduction interim final rule to allow the transfer of labor certification cases pending at either a DOL regional office or a SWA to one or more centralized processing locations. This rule also allows the DOL to consolidate state and federal processing functions in a central location. This permits SWAs to accept cases from employers, but no longer allows them to review applications.
To implement this backlog reduction regulation, the DOL has established two backlog elimination centers, one in Dallas and one in Philadelphia.
The DOL has moved federal staff from DOL regional offices to these two backlog centers.
Both contractor and federal staff training has started, and the TG memo reports that labor certification applications will soon be adjudicated by the backlog reduction centers.
Dallas and Philadelphia will initially process the DOL regional office backlogs and then begin to handle cases currently backlogged at the SWAs.
Work at the backlog reduction centers will be augmented by case processing occurring at the DOL regional offices and the SWAs. The DOL expects the Dallas and Philadelphia backlog centers to complete their work within two years, at which point they will be closed. In addition, the DOL is in the process of establishing national processing centers in Atlanta and Chicago, where all labor certification applications (except for those backlogged cases being processed in Dallas and Philadelphia) will be adjudicated. These national centers are expected to be operational by January 1, 2005. If PERM is not implemented, Atlanta and Chicago will serve as two additional backlog reduction locations.
State Workforce Agency Role:
If the PERM regulation is published, SWAs are instructed to stop accepting labor certification applications sixty-one (61) days after the publication of the regulation.
The DOL will issue specific guidance as to where SWAs will forward remaining applications.
SWAs will continue to accept and review cases until January 1, 2005, at which point, SWAs will not start review of any applications, but simply date stamp and log applications in order to establish a filing date (priority date). After January 1, 2005, cases at SWAs that are in the process of SWA review should be completed and then forwarded to Atlanta or Chicago.
SWAs will continue to accept but not open and review cases filed by employers after January 1, 2005. These applications will be forwarded to either Atlanta or Chicago based upon a schedule to be provided to the SWAs.
SWA cases that are under review up until January 1, 2005, will be sent to the currently assigned DOL regional office.
Backlog Reduction Center Shipment Schedules:
The ETA estimates that by March 31, 2005, all SWA backlog cases will be transferred to one of the backlog reduction centers in Dallas or Philadelphia, or assigned to a DOL regional office for completion of processing.
All cases received at backlog centers will be processed in order of priority date to ensure the oldest cases are worked on first.
Traditional and Reduction in Recruitment (“RIR”) cases will continue to be reviewed in two different tracks at the backlog reduction centers.
The DOL regional office in San Francisco has already transferred 20,000 pending labor certification applications to the backlog centers.
This transfer will assist in reducing the oldest federal backlog of cases. Applications that a regional office has already started to review will not be transferred in order to avoid case disruption.
The first shipment of cases from the SWAs was scheduled in October 2004. This consists of those cases at the state level with the oldest priority dates, regardless of geographic location. Therefore, not all SWAs have been involved in this first round because the DOL’s concentration is focused on the oldest case backlogs.
The final round of case shipments will begin in January 2005, and should be received by the backlog centers no later than the end of March 2005. This will include all cases received by all SWAs prior to December 31, 2004, for which case review has not started.
What this means:
The following points summarize the most significant changes to labor certification processing that will begin on January 1, 2005:
The national processing of labor certification applications will use a first-in, first-out policy, regardless of the location where the case was originally filed in order to apply an equitable and fair approach.
Because of the national processing approach to labor certification review, there will be no processing advantage to filing in one geographical location versus another.
The backlog reduction centers will review cases in order of priority date, and that will benefit the most severely backlogged states: California, New York, and New Jersey.
The 20,000 cases that have been shipped from the San Francisco DOL regional office have not yet been identified, and it is unknown to which backlog reduction center they have been shipped.
As the backlog reduction plan is rolled out, the DOL will send to attorneys of record notification of where cases are being sent, as well as a request for confirmation that the employer intends to continue the application.
If PERM is not implemented, the Atlanta and Chicago national processing centers will serve as two additional backlog reduction sites.
If PERM is not implemented, labor certification applications submitted after January 1, 2005, will continue to be filed with SWAs, and then transferred, in order of priority date, to either a backlog reduction center, or to one of the national processing centers in Atlanta or Chicago.
Cases will be forwarded from SWAs based upon a schedule from the ETA division of DOL.Therefore, cases filed with a SWA after January 1, 2005 will not receive any sort of priority in adjudication.
Substantial and significant reduction in both the traditional and RIR backlogs is expected in 2005, particularly for cases filed in California
Dear L/C applicants:
Following is the info that u all may find very interesting. In addition, never loose hope, u never know! There is always light at the end of the tunnel and everything that gets started gets ended too. Good luck to all
Following is the info that I got from my lawyer:
The Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration (“ETA”) of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued a Fiscal Year 2005 Transition Guidance memorandum (“TG memo”) to all state workforce agencies (“SWAs”).
The TG memo states that the role of SWAs will be diminished, and labor certification adjudication will be centralized at two national processing centers whether or not the PERM program is implemented.
According to the TG memo, the DOL is proceeding on the assumption that the final PERM regulation will be published before the end of 2004, but outlines a contingency plan in the event the long-awaited PERM regulation is not published.
The TG memo outlines its current 2005 plan, its 2005 contingency plan, the role of the SWAs, and backlog reduction shipment schedules. A summary of these points is as follows:
DOL’s Current Plan:
The final PERM regulation is still pending clearance at the Office of Management and Budget.
If the PERM regulation is published, the SWAs will no longer accept labor certification applications.
After the PERM effective date, the role of the SWA with respect to labor certification review will be limited to prevailing wage determinations.
The TG memo confirms that the DOL is proceeding on the assumption that the final PERM regulation will be published before the end of the 2004 calendar year, and that the new program will be operational within sixty (60) days of the publication date, not 120 days as previously reported by the DOL.
DOL’s Contingency Plan:
The TG memo provides for a contingency plan in the event that the PERM regulation is not published. Regardless of whether PERM is published, the SWA role will change in 2005. Processing will shift from a state-federal system to a primarily federally-administered program.
In July 2004, the DOL published a backlog reduction interim final rule to allow the transfer of labor certification cases pending at either a DOL regional office or a SWA to one or more centralized processing locations. This rule also allows the DOL to consolidate state and federal processing functions in a central location. This permits SWAs to accept cases from employers, but no longer allows them to review applications.
To implement this backlog reduction regulation, the DOL has established two backlog elimination centers, one in Dallas and one in Philadelphia.
The DOL has moved federal staff from DOL regional offices to these two backlog centers.
Both contractor and federal staff training has started, and the TG memo reports that labor certification applications will soon be adjudicated by the backlog reduction centers.
Dallas and Philadelphia will initially process the DOL regional office backlogs and then begin to handle cases currently backlogged at the SWAs.
Work at the backlog reduction centers will be augmented by case processing occurring at the DOL regional offices and the SWAs. The DOL expects the Dallas and Philadelphia backlog centers to complete their work within two years, at which point they will be closed. In addition, the DOL is in the process of establishing national processing centers in Atlanta and Chicago, where all labor certification applications (except for those backlogged cases being processed in Dallas and Philadelphia) will be adjudicated. These national centers are expected to be operational by January 1, 2005. If PERM is not implemented, Atlanta and Chicago will serve as two additional backlog reduction locations.
State Workforce Agency Role:
If the PERM regulation is published, SWAs are instructed to stop accepting labor certification applications sixty-one (61) days after the publication of the regulation.
The DOL will issue specific guidance as to where SWAs will forward remaining applications.
SWAs will continue to accept and review cases until January 1, 2005, at which point, SWAs will not start review of any applications, but simply date stamp and log applications in order to establish a filing date (priority date). After January 1, 2005, cases at SWAs that are in the process of SWA review should be completed and then forwarded to Atlanta or Chicago.
SWAs will continue to accept but not open and review cases filed by employers after January 1, 2005. These applications will be forwarded to either Atlanta or Chicago based upon a schedule to be provided to the SWAs.
SWA cases that are under review up until January 1, 2005, will be sent to the currently assigned DOL regional office.
Backlog Reduction Center Shipment Schedules:
The ETA estimates that by March 31, 2005, all SWA backlog cases will be transferred to one of the backlog reduction centers in Dallas or Philadelphia, or assigned to a DOL regional office for completion of processing.
All cases received at backlog centers will be processed in order of priority date to ensure the oldest cases are worked on first.
Traditional and Reduction in Recruitment (“RIR”) cases will continue to be reviewed in two different tracks at the backlog reduction centers.
The DOL regional office in San Francisco has already transferred 20,000 pending labor certification applications to the backlog centers.
This transfer will assist in reducing the oldest federal backlog of cases. Applications that a regional office has already started to review will not be transferred in order to avoid case disruption.
The first shipment of cases from the SWAs was scheduled in October 2004. This consists of those cases at the state level with the oldest priority dates, regardless of geographic location. Therefore, not all SWAs have been involved in this first round because the DOL’s concentration is focused on the oldest case backlogs.
The final round of case shipments will begin in January 2005, and should be received by the backlog centers no later than the end of March 2005. This will include all cases received by all SWAs prior to December 31, 2004, for which case review has not started.
What this means:
The following points summarize the most significant changes to labor certification processing that will begin on January 1, 2005:
The national processing of labor certification applications will use a first-in, first-out policy, regardless of the location where the case was originally filed in order to apply an equitable and fair approach.
Because of the national processing approach to labor certification review, there will be no processing advantage to filing in one geographical location versus another.
The backlog reduction centers will review cases in order of priority date, and that will benefit the most severely backlogged states: California, New York, and New Jersey.
The 20,000 cases that have been shipped from the San Francisco DOL regional office have not yet been identified, and it is unknown to which backlog reduction center they have been shipped.
As the backlog reduction plan is rolled out, the DOL will send to attorneys of record notification of where cases are being sent, as well as a request for confirmation that the employer intends to continue the application.
If PERM is not implemented, the Atlanta and Chicago national processing centers will serve as two additional backlog reduction sites.
If PERM is not implemented, labor certification applications submitted after January 1, 2005, will continue to be filed with SWAs, and then transferred, in order of priority date, to either a backlog reduction center, or to one of the national processing centers in Atlanta or Chicago.
Cases will be forwarded from SWAs based upon a schedule from the ETA division of DOL.Therefore, cases filed with a SWA after January 1, 2005 will not receive any sort of priority in adjudication.
Substantial and significant reduction in both the traditional and RIR backlogs is expected in 2005, particularly for cases filed in California
puhrince said:
I am wondering about some terms in above message.
The whole memo is for SWA not for DOL. (or maybe I am reading something else).
How it's going to affect cases at DOL (not at SWA).
What they mean by review cases till Jan 1 2005? What DOL will do with all reviewed cases?
any idea? or just wait and watch for years....
Hi all,
As we are not seeing any progress at Chicago DOL, can we take some initiative, to contact Senators, as elections over already. everybody can contribute if there is an expense, this will be helpful for everybody. what do you say friends. All Other DOLs are makeing progress except Chicago.
thanks
Kamma
As we are not seeing any progress at Chicago DOL, can we take some initiative, to contact Senators, as elections over already. everybody can contribute if there is an expense, this will be helpful for everybody. what do you say friends. All Other DOLs are makeing progress except Chicago.
thanks
Kamma
i had proposed this 3 months back - LongestLabor even assembled everyone's names,but later everyone said cases are being processed now - so drop it..
there is a thread on this in the labor cert. forum - you might want to restart it..but i doubt contacting senators will be of any use now since they are going to say that the DOL is reorganizing and all that
there is a thread on this in the labor cert. forum - you might want to restart it..but i doubt contacting senators will be of any use now since they are going to say that the DOL is reorganizing and all that
kamma said:
puhrince said:
As the email suggests that the Chicago office has taken additional responsibility of MO regoinal office, that is where all these H2 cases workload is very high.
About staff moving, I think it does mean that things are not going to be fast anytime soon.
Current processing time for I-485 application at NSC is May 31,2002
So if someone whose LC applications was sent in Jan 2004 - would his PD be used as a reference for I-485 application ?
Assuming that someone with Jan 2004 PD gets approval from Chicago tomorrow - he cannot apply for I-485 , just I-140 ?
So if someone whose LC applications was sent in Jan 2004 - would his PD be used as a reference for I-485 application ?
Assuming that someone with Jan 2004 PD gets approval from Chicago tomorrow - he cannot apply for I-485 , just I-140 ?
help4lc said:
Current Processing Date has nothing to do with PD.. Current Processing Date is "ND" ( Notice Date : Date on which I-140 / I-485 filed)...
PD Cutoff will be established by USCIS based on LC approved in recent past & it is said to be Mid of 2002 (EB3 - India, China & Philippines )... So if a Person born in any of these countries gets approval with Labor PD date Jan-04, he/she will have to wait for PD cutoff becomes Jan-04 for filing I-485
PD for substitute labors.
Hi gp111,
You had earlier replied to one of my queries regarding the
PD for Substitute labors. Are you sure that for such cases, PD is the date
of filing I140 and NOT the date on which the old LC (substitute one) was filed?
Does this differ from each of the Service centers or is this always the case?
Can you please clarify? Sincerest apologies for repeating this question to you...
Regards...
Hi gp111,
You had earlier replied to one of my queries regarding the
PD for Substitute labors. Are you sure that for such cases, PD is the date
of filing I140 and NOT the date on which the old LC (substitute one) was filed?
Does this differ from each of the Service centers or is this always the case?
Can you please clarify? Sincerest apologies for repeating this question to you...
Regards...
santex24 said:
I am Sure from what I found in Various websites that PD for substitute Labor will be the I-140 filing date. All the service Centers follows the same guidelines.
Also, If a labor cert applied on your name before & not used anywhere, there is a way you can utilize your old PD as you PD with substitute labor.. How to do that & chances of sucess I am not sure, check with attorney.
hope this helps
god_is_hope
Registered Users (C)
stay course, lets talk only labor certification
Sorry, if title looks more bullish. Infact not a good day for me.
Back in Oct 2002, I switched from perm job to contract in anticipation of getting green card strait. Got it applied in Jan 2003 in RIR. Labor reached to Chicago regional on March 24 and since then it stuck there. Between I moved from chicago - San Diego - Wisconsin - Arkansas. Not to mentions bench period/location because bench is bench who cares where. Holding current assignment since Nov 2003 when Chicago regional was processing Nov 2003 labor, and it looked pretty stable until Manager offered fulltime in April 2004. Now got a deadline Dec 31, 2004, join as fulltime or leave. What can I do, convince my 5 years son in the middle of school year that Alaska is best place and has better school and daddy got 3 months project there? My recruiter(Desi) is happy,because he has confidence that I will find job myself and he will get referral commission again on top of monthly. What u call them, there is a word in hindi. Man/Madam, I want to kick some B.... , but I am a poor law abiding US educated, tax paying Non Immigrant, like most of you.
So Please don't get distracted from the labor certification topic. My dear fellow non-immigrant there are other theads where u can discuss cutoff date, I485 etc. etc. and would be mutually beneficial.
Writing senator is obviously a good idea covering all the facts. Otherwise it will take another 3 years to process my March 2004 labor by Chicago Regional. Bythat time I would have covered 46 more states and my son will have difficulties keeping track of school he attended.
Sorry, if title looks more bullish. Infact not a good day for me.
Back in Oct 2002, I switched from perm job to contract in anticipation of getting green card strait. Got it applied in Jan 2003 in RIR. Labor reached to Chicago regional on March 24 and since then it stuck there. Between I moved from chicago - San Diego - Wisconsin - Arkansas. Not to mentions bench period/location because bench is bench who cares where. Holding current assignment since Nov 2003 when Chicago regional was processing Nov 2003 labor, and it looked pretty stable until Manager offered fulltime in April 2004. Now got a deadline Dec 31, 2004, join as fulltime or leave. What can I do, convince my 5 years son in the middle of school year that Alaska is best place and has better school and daddy got 3 months project there? My recruiter(Desi) is happy,because he has confidence that I will find job myself and he will get referral commission again on top of monthly. What u call them, there is a word in hindi. Man/Madam, I want to kick some B.... , but I am a poor law abiding US educated, tax paying Non Immigrant, like most of you.
So Please don't get distracted from the labor certification topic. My dear fellow non-immigrant there are other theads where u can discuss cutoff date, I485 etc. etc. and would be mutually beneficial.
Writing senator is obviously a good idea covering all the facts. Otherwise it will take another 3 years to process my March 2004 labor by Chicago Regional. Bythat time I would have covered 46 more states and my son will have difficulties keeping track of school he attended.
puhrince said:
anandrajesh
Registered Users (C)
Letz do it
I am totally for it. May be we should highlight our difficulties to some Senators who will listen. In USA until you speak up nobody cares. If we need something we need to speak up. I cant wait 2 more years to get my labour done and then wait another few years to get the rest of the hurdles away. Maybe somebody should draft a letter to start with and we can pour in our suggestions.
I am totally for it. May be we should highlight our difficulties to some Senators who will listen. In USA until you speak up nobody cares. If we need something we need to speak up. I cant wait 2 more years to get my labour done and then wait another few years to get the rest of the hurdles away. Maybe somebody should draft a letter to start with and we can pour in our suggestions.
Lets' draft a letter and send it to someone (senator?). DO you think it is a good idea to contact a lawyer/attorney who can do this for us. I am willing to contribute and pay the lawyer's fees.
Whatever needs to be done should be done quickly. Otherwise, we keep posting on this forum and our 6 years on H1 will be over waiting for Labor
Thanks,
Ashish
Whatever needs to be done should be done quickly. Otherwise, we keep posting on this forum and our 6 years on H1 will be over waiting for Labor
Thanks,
Ashish