change Old RIR case into PERM and keep the same PD
One of my friend got this news in his company
any body has any idea about it or any suggestion to
" Change Old RIR case to Perm and can keep the same Priority date."
DOL to Permit RIR Conversion at Backlog Elimination Centers
On October 6, 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will publish a notice in the Federal Register indicating that it will allow employers who filed traditional labor certification applications prior to March 28, 2005 (which was the date that the DOL's new PERM program went into effect) to request that such cases be converted to Reduction in Recruitment (RIR) processing. In essence, DOL is extending the eligibility date it uses in determining whether RIR re-application requests are timely. Currently, only labor certification applications that were filed prior to August 3, 2001 are eligible for RIR conversion. Conversion cases must meet all RIR requirements, and only traditional cases for which a job order has not yet been placed are eligible. The effective date of the DOL's notice is October 6, 2006, the date of its publication.
Background
Prior to March 28, 2005, DOL regulations governing the permanent labor certification program dictated that DOL process most employer applications for permanent certification under a "traditional recruitment" (TR) standard whereby employers seeking to test their local labor markets for available, qualified U.S. workers were supervised in their recruitment activities.
The TR process was time-consuming and contributed to the growth of a large backlog of applications. Accordingly, DOL began to encourage employers to utilize a streamlined "Reduction in Recruitment" (RIR) process. Specifically, in a General Administration Letter issued in October 1996 (known as GAL 1-97), DOL instructed its regional officers and State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) to encourage reduction in recruitment on applications for occupations for which there was little or no availability, which had no restrictive requirements, and for which employers could show adequate recruitment through sources normal to the occupation and industry within the six months prior to filing. On August 3, 2001, DOL published a regulation establishing a process for converting TR case into RIR cases. The regulation only applied to applications that had been filed before August 3, 2001.
Despite implementation of the streamlined PERM process for labor certification applications filed on or after March 28, 2005, DOL still has an extensive backlog of older cases at its two Backlog Elimination Centers (BEC) located in Philadelphia and Dallas. As RIR application processing at the BECs has been considerably faster than TR application processing, DOL has determined that extending the benefit of RIR conversion to applications filed under the regulation in effect prior to March 28, 2005 will assist the agency in reaching its backlog elimination goal.
Implication of RIR Conversion
By extending the RIR conversion date, DOL is permitting employers who have filed traditional labor certification applications on behalf of foreign employees to switch to RIR processing while maintaining the filing date of the traditional case as the priority date, which designates a place in line for an immigrant visa. In employment-based cases requiring labor certification applications, the priority date is established on the day that the labor certification application is filed with the state employment office. The date is particularly significant for individuals who are subject to cut-off dates for visa processing in the second (EB-2) and third (EB-3) employment based immigrant visa categories.
In addition, in some cases employers may wish to convert traditional cases to RIR processing with an eye toward then re-filing the RIR application as a PERM application. The PERM regulation provides that an employer can re-file a pending application as a PERM case, and maintain the original priority date, only if the applications are identical. In some cases, the RIR conversion process may allow the employer to amend a traditional application in such a way that subsequent re-filing under PERM (where processing is much faster in most cases than processing at a BEC) is possible. We recommend that employers consult their immigration counsel to discuss whether or not it makes sense to convert any particular traditional case to an RIR case.
Constraints on Converting to RIR Processing
The conversion option applies to traditionally filed cases filed on or before March 28, 2005, which was the effective date of the DOL's PERM regulation, under which all labor certification applications had to be filed according to the new PERM requirements. Additionally, the option is available only to cases for which the DOL has not yet placed a 30-day job order under 20 CFR § 656.21(f)(1) of the pre-PERM regulation.
How to Request that a Case be Converted to RIR Processing
DOL's notice does not include specific instructions for how employers can request RIR conversion. However, DOL will post a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to its website with specific procedural instructions. We expect that the procedure will be similar to how RIR conversions were handled in the past by the SWAs. Under the original RIR conversion rule, requests for conversion were to be accompanied by documentary evidence of good faith recruitment conducted within the six months immediately preceding the date of the request. This would include the advertising and other types of recruitment in which employers typically engaged under the RIR process. Typically, RIR recruitment consisted of at least one print ad, along with recruitment at job fairs, on the Internet, and by other means that demonstrated the employer's good faith recruitment.
It is not yet clear whether DOL will permit employers to contact a BEC and request that a case be put on hold while it engages in RIR-compliant recruitment. We are hopeful that the DOL's FAQ will address this matter
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any comments about it?
