Eaton Peabody

PERM Update - November 18, 2005

As discussed previously in PERM at a Glance, the labor certification process for employment-based immigration changed effective March 28, 2005. The following are some observations by our firm about the PERM labor certification process so far.

• Registration by employers on the Department of Labor (DOL) PERM website has been relatively trouble-free.
• Job orders placed with Maine Workforce Agency generally have had a lag of one day between placement of the job order online and the actual posting to the job website.
• To date, the DOL’s average processing time for the PERM applications filed by our firm has been 34 days, with the shortest processing time being 5 days and the longest being 75 days. There is no rhyme nor reason to why processing times for virtually identical applications vary so widely.
• Effective November 7, 2005, PERM certifications issued by the Department of Labor are printed on blue paper, and a multi-colored certification stamp is no longer used.

Please contact Matthew S. Raynes, mraynes@eatonpeabody.com, for further information.

This paper is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.