DOL Resumes Processing of Temporary and Permanent Labor Certifications Despite Ongoing Federal Shutdown

Today, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has resumed accepting applications for PERM, H-2A, and H-2B labor certifications and prevailing wage determination requests under a broader plan for continuation of limited activities at the agency. However, the plan does not appear to include the resumption of labor condition application (LCA) processing for the H-1B, E-3, and H-1B1 programs.

DOL has not yet announced plans for PERM labor certifications that could not be timely filed between October 1 and today. After past federal shutdowns, the agency gave employers a grace period following the resumption of operations, during which it would accept PERM applications with expired recruitment. We await further guidance from DOL on these issues.

Employers should work with their immigration counsel to resume filing PERM, H-2A, and H-2B labor certification applications and prevailing wage determinations but should be prepared for slowdowns and technical issues as DOL takes the FLAG application system back online.

Though the agency’s limited continuation plans do not appear to include LCA processing, it may be possible to submit an LCA to await certification after the federal government reopens. Preparers may also now be able to print out previously certified LCAs that were inaccessible during the period the FLAG system was offline.

Employers should await further instructions from DOL with respect to the filing of labor certifications for which recruitment expired between October 1 and today.