Maryland SESA Tracker

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It is known fact that EB3 visa numbers have retrogressed. Just a matter of time for EB2 to retrogress with PERM in effect.

Lot of people like me are at crossroads, not being able to decide whether to withdraw pending BRC(BackLog Retrogression Center-:)) labor application and convert it into PERM Or wait in the BRC queue till the cows come home and realize I have missed the boat!!!

1) If I wait in BRC queue, PERM flood will sweep remaining EB2 visa numbers.

2) If I convert the existing BRC application and join the crowd in PERM, I have to go through recruitment process AGAIN under new regulations and not to mention PERM's rigid rules causing approval probability to stand at 50%. Then it will be as if I took my own priority date and flushed it down the toilet!!

I am just wishful thinker. But folowing things would have made sense to me if

1)All peanut brains had NOT collectively come up with equally fair and slow processing for all nonimmigrants pertaining to labor application process by introducing BRC. Hey! Some states are slow? Some are fast?? Make everyone slow!!!

2)The conversion rule for pending application to PERM had not required the drama of recruitment again. Who cuts grass better? Citizen or immigrant??

3)EAD/Advance Parole were to be given to the 140 applicants on interim basis as opposed to I485 applications until the imbalance caused by BRC,NPSC and PERM is balanced out!

4)Someone could estimate the time for priority dates to progress instead of analyzing the retrogressed.

Please share your views guys. We can chew on this till we acquire taste for bitterness!
 
12/27/2004: DOL Published PERM Final Regulation Today

Hi AbstractVision,

12/27/2004: DOL Published PERM Final Regulation Today

As predicted, the DOL published today in the federal register the PERM Final Rule. It states that this final rule is effective on March 28, 2005,and applies to labor certification applications for the permanent employment of aliens filed on or after that date. Please click the following for the full official text:

http://www.immigration-law.com

Cheers...
 
Thanks Venu2000 for confirmation.

Filing a Labor Certification Under PERM

An employer wishing to sponsor a foreign national for an employment-based green card through the PERM labor certification process must submit an ETA Form 9089. This form can be filed electronically or by mail. If it is submitted electronically, the form is the ONLY DOCUMENT that will be submitted with the initial application. The PWD information will be placed onto the form by the employer based on the information the SWA has provided to the employer. Once the CO has electronically certified the application, the employer must sign it immediately in order for it to be valid. Applications submitted by mail must contain the original signature of the employer, the foreign national, and the attorney (and/or agent) when they are received by the application processing center. The USCIS will not process I-140 petitions unless they are supported by an original certified ETA Form 9089 that has been signed by the employer, foreign national, attorney, and/or agent.

The Department of Labor (DOL) may require the use of user identifiers, passwords, or personal identifier numbers (PINs). These will be issued to individuals and may only be used by these individuals. Any electronic transmissions submitted with a personal identifier will be presumed to be a submission by the individual assigned that personal identifier.

Non-electronically filed applications accepted for processing will be date-stamped. Electronically filed applications will be considered filed when submitted. These dates will be the priority dates for the labor certification applications.

Re-Filing a Non-PERM Case Under PERM

If a job order has not been placed for a pending, non-PERM labor certification application, the application may be re-filed under PERM without loss of the priority date under certain conditions. In order to re-file and maintain the priority date, the PERM application must be submitted pursuant to all PERM requirements and it must contain an identical job opportunity.

Withdrawal of Prior Case

In order to re-file under PERM and preserve a priority date from an earlier case, the original labor certification application must also be withdrawn. One significant issue is that filing an application and stating the employer's desire to use the original filing date will be deemed to be a withdrawal of the original application. This deemed withdrawal occurs even if the request to use the original filing date is denied.

If a non-PERM labor certification is withdrawn prior to filing a PERM application, preservation of the existing priority date requires that the PERM application must be submitted within 210 days of the withdrawal of the original application. The employer should be prepared to send a copy of the original application, including amendments, to the CO, if requested.

A job opportunity is identical if the employer, foreign national, job title, job location, job requirements, and job description are the same as those in the original application. The original application includes all accepted amendments up to the time that the application was withdrawn.
 
Update

As of today MD processing RIR cases 5/28/2004

Starting today MD state shipping out all pending cases(up to 12/31/2003) to BEC.
 
The lady told me they will ship all peninding cases up to 12/31/2003. Starting today, they will ship those out since they are not able to ship all together, they will ship in batches.
 
NMRA said:
The lady told me they will ship all peninding cases up to 12/31/2003. Starting today, they will ship those out since they are not able to ship all together, they will ship in batches.
Click to expand...

Did she give any other details, i.e. by when all the cases (upto 12/31/2003) will be shipped, and are they shipping RIR and Non-RIR in parellel or something else?
 
All Cases but in batches because they are not able to ship all in one day. She didn't mention any time frame. She told me that you don't need to call here any more here(if your case is before 2003) since we are sending all those to BEC.
 
Shipping to BRC

MD State staff are busy with packing stuff. They don't want disclose the dates and also they have lot of unanswered questions at this point.

If anybody know more please post it here and give more hopes...
 
Question?

Hi,
A couple of month ago, I read about the SWA/SESA sending letters to pending cases checking if the applicants are still wanting to continue the proccess and reply within a specific time. Were those letters sent out ? were they sent out to all cases? My receipt date is 1/28/2003 and have not received anything... Where those for Federal Labor Cert only? Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Status of Backlog Reduction Work and Anticipated Processing Times

The Backlog Processing Centers (BPC) must complete several stages of activities before they can adjudicate any cases. The first step is to receive the backlog cases from the former Regions and SWAs in 50 states. The second step is to perform data entry and development of national database system for establishment of national "queue" for Traditional Cases and RIR pursuant to the policy of processing of First In First Out (FIFO) order. Once the development of national database system is completed, they will be ready to adjudicate the backlog applications. At this time, the BPCs are at the stage of receiving shipments from the states and the Regions. As soon as they receive the shipments, the contractors start making data entry to the national database.
The shipments are undertaken per the DOL Transitional Guidelines (TG). Those cases which were received before 01/01/2002 were scheduled to be shipped to the BPC by 12/31/2004 and remaining cases are scheduled to be shipped to the BPC by March 31, 2005. The shipments include only "unopened" cases. For the opened cases, the DOL has sent out instructions to the SWAs to complete the entire opened backlog cases by 03/31/2005.
The first shipment was made from San Francisco Region. Total 20,000 oldest cases. 10,000 cases were shipped to the Dallas BPC and 10,000 cases were shipped to the Philadelphia BPC. These cases have been data-entried and part of the inquiry letters have been sent out to the employers and their attorneys. The BPCs have also received 24,000 cases from 17 states as of the end of the year, and expects to receive altogether 100,000 within January 2005.
As for the backlog cases in the Regional Offices, total is tallied at 55,000 nationwide. These cases need to establish the national queue for FIFO processing.
The backlog reduction cases are handled by the two BPCs and the two satellite centers in San Francisco Regional Office and the Boston-New York Regional Office. These two Regional Offices cannot actively perform the backlog reduction work because they are not hooked upto the national database system. They are scheduled to be hooked upto the national database system along the way. These satellite centers will participate in the backlog reduction work for one year and will be phased out.
The timing of actual adjudication of cases will depend on two factors: One is the volume of conversion cases after the launch of PERM program on 03/28/2005. The larger the conversions are in number, the smaller the total numbers for the BPC will end up. The second factor is the timing of completion of shipment and data entry. DOL anticipates that it is not going to be for a while that the BPCs actually adjudicate and decide any cases. The entire backlog cases are predicted to be removed not in 24 months but from 24 month to 30 months from 03/28/2005. People should keep patience.
01/11/2005: Report from Chicago: Filipino Veteran VA Healthcare Benefits Proposed
 
DOL anticipates that it is not going to be for a while that the BPCs actually adjudicate and decide any cases. The entire backlog cases are predicted to be removed not in 24 months but from 24 month to 30 months from 03/28/2005. People should keep patience.
Click to expand...

:eek: :D :D :D

There you go, backlog reduction - federal govt style! My case would have been processed within approximately 6 to 8 months if they didn't introduce this crooked system, now I have to wait for another couple of years.
 
MD Update

As of Friday 1/14/2005 all unprocessed 2001 & 2002 cases has been forwarded to BRC/BEC.

You can find same message in 410 767 2058
 
Does PERM make sense?

Hello All,

i have LC RIR from maryland filed Aug 2003. I just talked to my lawyer about a possibility of switching to PERM.

She said PERM is much tougher to get approved through, since you have to advertise in 4 places including a job order with DOL. it will cost about 1,000 for all the ads on top of a 2,000 lawyer fee (ripping people off as usual).

And the backlog reduction centers are supposed to clear the backlog in 2 years. (we know how well the government works )

Im not sure what to do. Did anyone else run into a similar dilema?

thanks,
NB
 
Yes it sucks!

The latest news is that BRC ,NPC or whatever the heck they call it, is NOT going to treat RIR and NON-RIR cases in a distinguished manner. All cases are going to go through the same FIFO queue. This means, NON-RIR cases that have been pending since year 2000 will take precedence over your case which is filed in Aug' 2003 regardless of RIR or NON-RIR category. Mine is filed in April 2003. Sailing the same boat pal!

While it is too early to say that conversion case has less chances of getting approved, I believe it is better to wait for 2 more years and see how this ridiculous immigration process manifests its idiocracy.

Running fast and getting a labor certification is not that beneficial unless priority dates allow us to apply for adjustment of status. Based on my estimation, by the time RIR cases for 2003 are being processed, priority dates would also catch upto be 'current' for 2003. This might happen 2 years down the line.

Instead of taking risk with converting one's case into PERM and loosing priority date in the event it gets disapproved, it is better to wait biting the bullet. Or, file a new case altogether under PERM leaving the old case to BRC as it is.

I am not a liar, so please consult a professional one before taking any action-:)
 
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