I know at this point this is irrevalent since we are almost done with 245i crap. But I found the response of labor petition we all have signed.
Mr. Dale M. Ziegler, Chief, Division of Foreign Labor Certification, US Department of Labor commented that the
primary reason for delays in labor certification processing was the lack of funding for the program. According to
him, because of Section 245(i), approximately 35,000 applications were added into an already burdened system. He
said that approximately 42 million dollars had been proposed for this program by the President for the Fiscal Year
2004 budget (FY 2004 begins October 1, 2003). That money, if approved, may help eliminate the backlog within
two years. Mr. Zeigler stated that it was the US Department of Labor's position that in the current economy there
were sufficiently qualified US workers available for most jobs. He did concede, however, that there may be
positions (even in the high technology industry) where specific skill sets were unavailable within USA. Mr. Ziegler
concluded his remarks with the observation that the proposed PERM regulations (expected September
2003) would help streamline the process.
