Employers and foreign workers one time learned earlier this year that the PERM applications had been certified in a short period of time this year, in one week or mostly in one month for the "clean" cases. However, the April 2011 report of processing times reflects somewhat slow-down of the processing times, albeit minor. Careful readers must have noticed the difference in report cut dates between March and April 2011. The cut off date in March report was March 9, while the cut off date in April 2011 was April 25. The clean cut case processing time in March report was February 2011 and the same for April was March 2011. However, because of the cut-off date difference, it appears that there is practically about two weeks or so delays as of April 2011 as opposed to March 2011. Information indicates that employers start receiving clean-cut case certifications which were filed early March or February 2011. We have no information as to any potential further delays in processing times, but the employers should be aware of the foregoing record in planning for filing of PERM applications. AILA reports that approximately 50% of cases are in Supervised Recruitment & Audit track, approximately 20% of cases are Appeals track, and only approximately 30% of cases in Analyst Review track, clearly reflecting changing environment of PERM processing. The report also indicates that denial rate has been substantially increased. This changed environment is caused by the OFLC reenforcement of integrity (fraud) investigations and this is likely to continue. The DOL SOC/OES wage data is expected to change as of July 2011. Considering the recent trend of inflation rate, the wage date for 2011 which will be released and controlling for the prevailing wage determination is likely to reflect upward changes in the wage rates. Currently, OFLC's ETA 9141 prevailing wage determination takes "three weeks," with a valid period of 90 days. It means that unless ETA 9141 is filed at least three weeks or earlier of July 1, 2011, the employers will be subject to potentially higher prevailing wage determination for the labor certification. Prudent employers may thus take care of the prevailing wage determination request by May at the latest. Just a reminder. http://www.greencardapply.com/news/news11/news11_0503.htm
