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Posted on Mon, Mar. 28, 2005

Foreign labor certification goes online
By Ann M. Simmons
Los Angeles Times

Immigration attorneys are cautiously optimistic about a change in the way U.S. employers apply to sponsor foreign-born workers for permanent residency -- a change scheduled to take effect today on the Internet.

Under the Program Electronic Review Management system, or Perm, employers will for the first time be able to apply for foreign labor certification online rather than through the mail. Applications will no longer first go to a state agency and then be passed on to a regional office of the U.S. Labor Department, a process that, in California, would typically take two years.

With the new system, the Labor Department's role is expected to be compressed to between six to eight weeks.

``Nobody does change well, and when change involves technology, as this does, it can be a little nerve-racking. But we're hoping that the change would be for the better,'' said Crystal Williams, deputy director at the Washington-based American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Labor Department officials said the new system was designed to streamline and nationalize the foreign labor-certification process, while continuing to ensure that the domestic job pool was properly exploited before U.S. employers turned to foreign candidates.

Under the law, a business can hire foreign workers if it can demonstrate to the Labor Department that there are no Americans who are qualified and available. Those requirements have not changed. But with Perm, employers will not have to submit supporting documents to the government unless asked to do so.

The Labor Department has posted information on the topic on its Web site: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign.