DOL Transition Update
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1. DOL Transition Watch : Region VI Update
We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. have been receiving many
questions from clients, MURTHYBULLETIN subscribers, and MurthyDotCom
visitors regarding the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) transition issues.
One of the most frequent questions is whether, or when, permanent labor
certifications will be moving to Backlog Elimination Centers (BECS) or
National Processing Centers (NPCs). On December 13, 2004, American
Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) liaisons shared the results of their
meeting with the Region VI Department of Labor (DOL) and the California
State Workforce Agency (SWA). These reports identify challenges that
this region, and very likely that the other regions, are facing in this
transition.
DOL / SWA TELECONFERENCE
Region VI (San Francisco, CA)
The DOL Regional Director indicated that all 20,000 cases transferred
from Region VI (San Francisco, CA) to the BECs were the cases with the
oldest Regional Office (RO) receipt dates. There are still 8,000 to
10,000 cases with the RO. The Regional Director speculated that it is
possible Atlanta, GA and Chicago, IL will also work on the backlog reduction
if PERM is not implemented. RIR and regular cases received from the
California SWA after September 2004 will not be entered into the RO
database or processed in any way. The RO is awaiting instructions on how to
deal with these cases. This means that a person who needs a receipt
notice for an H1B one-year incremental extension will not be able to
receive that receipt until the file has been sent to a BEC, an NPC, or has
been cleared to be processed at the RO.
For RIR cases, the RO is continuing to work on California cases with RO
receipt dates of December 2002 to March 2003. The remaining cases with
RO receipt dates from July 2003 through September 2004 were transferred
out of the RO. Non-waiver California cases with RO receipt dates of
October 2003 or later will be transferred. The RO will continue to process
California cases received January 2003 through September 2003. The RO
is retaining enough work for the next six months. The Regional Director
speculated that it is still possible for the DOL to have six major
processing centers: Dallas, TX; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL;
Boston, MA; and San Francisco, CA. There has been no final word on such
a plan, however.
Region VI has lost all temporary employees. This means that the
analysts are also performing clerical work as part of their job duties.
Washington SWA
The Washington SWA gave its definition of what constitutes an "open"
case. The Washington SWA interprets "open" to mean "start processing" or
to review the application and accompanying documentation and either
sending an assessment letter or transmitting the application to the DOL
for further processing.
After January 1, 2005, the Washington SWA will only work on cases that
have had an assessment letter sent to the employer or the employer's
attorney by December 30, 2004. The Washington SWA is not going to send
out letters for the cases it transfers, but cases filed after January 1,
2005 will receive a receipt letter. This receipt letter will indicate
that they will transfer the case to the Chicago NPC upon receipt of
instructions from the DOL. The Washington SWA stopped opening non-RIR
applications on November 15, 2004 since it takes them 10 weeks or more to
process a non-RIR case from start to finish. They have also stopped
performing Prevailing Wage Determinations for non-RIR applications. The BECs
are expected to complete Prevailing Wage Determinations. The Washington
SWA will continue to process RIR applications until December 30, 2004.
Nevada SWA
The Nevada SWA indicated that it defines "open" as a case that has been
picked up for assessment and on which work has begun. The Nevada SWA is
continuing to work on RIR and non-RIR cases.
California SWA
The California SWA is working on applications received in April 2001.
They are inputting any new cases into the system but they will not
progress unless someone is available to work on them. The SWA backlog is 2-3
years. They are trying to finish open RIR cases and regular permanent
cases in recruitment and final documentation stages. They are not
starting new recruitment on traditional labor certifications at this time.
California SWA Teleconference
As of December 9, 2004, the California SWA had approximately 62,000
cases and a staff of eleven. There are roughly 37,000 cases with priority
dates between April 27, 2001 and December 31, 2002. There is concern
that the SWA will only be able to ship around 15,000 of these cases by
December 31, 2004, although they are all due at the Dallas (TX) BEC by
this date. The California SWA has approximately 25,000 cases filed after
December 31, 2002, and receives on the order of 1,500 new cases per
month. It currently takes the California SWA about 3 weeks to issue a
receipt. They are not sure if they will have all backlogged cases to the
Dallas BEC by March 31, 2005.
The California SWA is looking into a system to indicate which cases are
still with the SWA and which cases have been transferred. They have
not, however, made a final plan as yet. They still have eleven Special
Handling cases, and many of these require assessment notices, so they
intend to seek guidance from the DOL. The California SWA continues to
receive remands, which are in boxes. They plan to open these to return them
to the regular labor certification queue according to priority date.
There are miscellaneous cases that require certain requested
information. The California SWA asks that all requested data be sent to them as
quickly as possible.
Conclusion
We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. hope that this information
provides a glimmer into the transition process. It shows that it may be
some time before all transfers are completed and the BECs have all of
the cases they intend to process. We will continue to monitor these
developments, to keep MurthyDotCom and MURTHYBULLETIN readers apprised of
the situation.
(c) 2004 The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. All Rights Reserved
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