PERM is the U.S. Department of Labor's new way to process labor certification applications. It replaces paper-based labor certification filings (both Reduction in Recruitment -- RIR -- requests and traditional labor certification applications) that were filed with the State Departments of Labor or State Workforce Authorities (SWAs). PERM was officially promulgated on December 27, 2004. These are some of the key points of PERM:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a series of FAQs related to PERM, all available on the DOL Website.

Prior to filing the Application for Permanent Employment Certification, ETA Form 9089, the employer must request a prevailing wage determination from the State Workforce Agency (SWA) having jurisdiction over the proposed area of intended employment. The employer is required to include on the ETA Form 9089 the SWA provided information: the prevailing wage, the prevailing wage tracking number (if applicable), the SOC/O*NET(OES) code, the occupation title, the OES skill level (if applicable), the wage source, the determination date, and the expiration date. The SWA prevailing wage determination documentation is not submitted with the application for permanent labor certification, but must be retained for a period of five years from the date of filing the application by the employer. This documentation must be submitted if requested by the Certifying Officer during an audit.

Determining the appropriate wage level depends on full consideration of the experience, education, and skills required by the employer as indicators of the complexity of the job duties, the level of judgment required and the amount of supervision involved. A prevailing wage determination has a limited validity period as specified by the State Workforce Agency. The validity period may range from no less than 90 days to no more than one year from the determination date.

If an employer disagrees with the skill level assigned to its job opportunity, or if the SWA informs the employer its survey is not acceptable, or if there are other legitimate bases for such a review, the employer is afforded one opportunity to provide supplemental information to the SWA. Additionally, the employer may choose to file a new request for a wage determination or request review by the Certifying Officer. The employer may request a review by the Certifying Officer of a SWA prevailing wage determination by sending a request for review to the SWA that issued the prevailing wage determination within 30 days of the date of the determination.

For professional positions, the employer must recruit under the standards for professional occupations set forth in 20 CFR 656.17(e)(1).

The universal requirements are:

• Job Order placed with SWA for 30 days.
• Two Sunday print ads must be placed in a newspaper of general circulation in the geographic area of the proposed place of employment. Employers may substitute one national journal ad for one newspaper ad where the position requires experience and/or an advanced degree.
• Post an internal job posting with all required information by the DOL for a period of 10 consecutive business days; or give proper notice to bargaining representative if the position is a union position.

The optional requirements are:

Three additional recruitment steps required for "professional positions" - employers may submit documentation of any 3 of the following types of recruitment activities:

• Employer's website ads
• Job search website
• Job fair
• On-campus recruiting
• Trade or professional organizations
• Private employment firms
• Employee referral program with incentives
• Campus placement offices
• Local and ethnic newspapers
• Radio and television ads

Employers are required to maintain documentation of the recruitment efforts and the results thereof, including the lawful job-related reasons for rejecting any U.S. workers who applied for the job, but the documentation does not need to be submitted with the application. Employers are required to retain documentation of recruitment efforts for five years, measured from the date on which the application for labor certification is filed with DOL.

The employer must sign a report describing the recruitment steps undertaken and the results achieved, the number of hires, and if applicable, the number of U.S. workers rejected, and the lawful job related reasons for such rejections. Note that U.S. workers who can acquire the required skills in a reasonable period of on-the-job training cannot be lawfully rejected. Resumes and other documentation must also be maintained. In the event of an audit, the Certifying Officer may request the U.S. workers’ resumes or applications, sorted by reasons the workers were rejected.

If an application is selected for audit, the employer will receive an audit letter specifying additional documents within 30 days. The Certifying Officer may grant one extension up to 30 days from the initial 30 period in which to respond to the audit letter. If DOL determines that the documentation is complete and consistent with responses on the ETA 9089, it will certify the application. If the documentation is deemed deficient by the DOL, the certification may be denied. Alternatively, the Certifying Officer may request additional documentation or order supervised recruitment. DOL has indicated that an application cannot be withdrawn once it has been selected for audit. If an application is selected for audit, the employer cannot forego the audit by claiming the application is no longer valid or applicable.

The supervised recruitment under PERM requires the placement of advertisements in conjunction with a 30-day job order. Unlike the process in the past, however, the recruitment is supervised by DOL Certifying Officers rather than a state office. At the completion of supervised recruitment, the employer has 30 days to document in a recruitment report the outcome of the effort, and the lawful job-related reasons for not hiring any U.S. worker applicants. Upon receipt of the employer’s recruitment report, the Certifying Officer will either certify or deny the application.

In April 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released PERM statistics covering the period from March 28, 2005, when the first cases were accepted for PERM processing, to March 17, 2006; essentially cover PERM's first year:

Number of cases filed between March 28, 2005 through March 17, 2006: 80,272
Number of cases certified (“approved”) to date: 36,687
Number of cases denied to date: 23,205
Number of audits commenced to date: 24,960

Green Card via Labor Certification will involve 3 steps: