Category: PERM Center

For a PERM green card case, it is important to confirm the educational requirements and a specific list of skills that a prospective candidate must possess to perform the job. These requirements and skills and will lead to the Department of Labor’s determination of the prevailing wage rate, and even more importantly, drive the recruitment […]

Once a job description and requirements have been hammered down, the next step in the PERM process is to obtain a prevailing wage determination from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) requires that the hiring of a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of […]

One of the key points within the PERM process is the recruitment phase. The recruitment process is an essential step to the PERM process because it tests the labor market to prove there are no authorized and qualified U.S. workers available for the job an employer is trying to hire a foreign national to fill. […]

The last step in the green card process is asking the U.S. government to create the physical green card. This can be done in two ways, either through Adjustment of Status (AOS) or through Immigrant Visa Processing (IVP). Each option has their own benefits and faults, it is important to look at current processing times […]

Congress limits the number of foreign nationals that may immigrate permanently to the U.S. each year. Since there are more people who apply than the number of immigrant visas that will be issued on an annual basis, a backlog is created. In addition to setting an overall limit on the number of green cards that […]

If a company has been acquired, merged or had a significant change in its ownership, this may have an impact on a foreign national’s PERM application.  If the legal entity of the employer changes while the PERM application is pending with DOL, the application may become invalid unless the new company meets several criteria to qualify […]

Sometimes, foreign nationals wish to take a new position with their same employer or even with a different company during the green card process. This may be permitted so long as the new job offer is in the “same or a similar” occupational classification as the job offer for which the Form I-140 petition was […]

Once the PERM process is complete and the PERM has been certified by DOL, the sponsoring employer next files Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker with U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). The petitioner must provide evidence that the applicant holds the qualifying educational credentials and skills requirements, and that the company has the […]

In an employment-based green card case based on a PERM labor certification, there are two possible categories: EB2 and EB3. Some of you watching might know that the difference between these two categories is significant, boiling mostly down to concerns with processing times. The EB-2 or EB-3 category impacts the timing of the applicant’s ability […]

In PERM green card cases, you might often hear the term “priority date.”  So what exactly is that, and how does it relate to the Visa Bulletin? Well, the number of employment-based green cards issued each year is limited to a statutory threshold. Since there are more people who apply than the number of immigrant visas […]