Stern Elkind Curray & Alterman News and Updates
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
USCIS Expands Premium Processing Program
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced the expansion of the premium processing to include certain employer petitions, beginning August 28, 2006. Premium Processing allows petitioners to pay an additional $1,000 filing fee in exchange for 15-calendar-day processing of the case.
Beginning August 28, 2006, employers filing immigrant petitions on form I-140 for Professionals and Skilled Workers in the EB-3 category. "Professionals" are defined as individuals with a bachelor's degree who are members of the professions, and "Skilled Workers" are those defined as those capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of education, training or experience. Only individuals with I-140 petitions in these categories will be eligible to participate in the premium processing program.
Please note that Premium Processing will not be available for petitions in the EB-2 category, or for "Other Workers" in the EB-3 category.
Beginning August 28, 2006, employers filing immigrant petitions on form I-140 for Professionals and Skilled Workers in the EB-3 category. "Professionals" are defined as individuals with a bachelor's degree who are members of the professions, and "Skilled Workers" are those defined as those capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years of education, training or experience. Only individuals with I-140 petitions in these categories will be eligible to participate in the premium processing program.
Please note that Premium Processing will not be available for petitions in the EB-2 category, or for "Other Workers" in the EB-3 category.
Glitch at BEC Results in Erroneous Labor Certification Withdrawals
A recent glitch at DOL resulted in the withdrawal of some pending Traditional and RIR labor certification applications at the BECs if a PERM was filed or approved for the same employer and employee, even if question 1A on the PERM application was answered "no". Some received notices of the withdrawals, and others did not but are showing up in the case status system as "withdrawn".
The DOL is working on resetting all these cases, except the ones where question 1A on the PERM application was answered "yes", and expects to finish the process by November 30, 2006. It is unlikely that reset cases will show up on the system as corrected until November 30.
DOL states that the reset cases will be returned to their former places in the processing queue and that original priority dates will be retained.
DOL asks that, if you have one of these cases, you please refrain from inquiring with them until December 1. If, as of December 1, your case is still showing withdrawn, a mechanism will be worked out to address it. DOL is also asking that, if you have one of these cases, you NOT check the case status system until December 1, as the volume of checks has become quite high as the result of this problem and there is concern that the system will crash.
DOL will shortly issue an announcement regarding this problem and the solution, which will address, among other things, what to do with any ETA 750 forms that were returned in connection with the erroneous withdrawals.
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification has received reports that some employers/attorneys were sent back an original 750 with the inadvertent withdrawal. Since the Backlog Elimination Centers (BECs) have a second original 750 for these cases, the case will continue to be processed. The employer/attorney does not have to take any action at this time. In the unlikely event that the BEC requires the first original 750, the employer/attorney will be notified."
Information provided by AILA.
The DOL is working on resetting all these cases, except the ones where question 1A on the PERM application was answered "yes", and expects to finish the process by November 30, 2006. It is unlikely that reset cases will show up on the system as corrected until November 30.
DOL states that the reset cases will be returned to their former places in the processing queue and that original priority dates will be retained.
DOL asks that, if you have one of these cases, you please refrain from inquiring with them until December 1. If, as of December 1, your case is still showing withdrawn, a mechanism will be worked out to address it. DOL is also asking that, if you have one of these cases, you NOT check the case status system until December 1, as the volume of checks has become quite high as the result of this problem and there is concern that the system will crash.
DOL will shortly issue an announcement regarding this problem and the solution, which will address, among other things, what to do with any ETA 750 forms that were returned in connection with the erroneous withdrawals.
The Office of Foreign Labor Certification has received reports that some employers/attorneys were sent back an original 750 with the inadvertent withdrawal. Since the Backlog Elimination Centers (BECs) have a second original 750 for these cases, the case will continue to be processed. The employer/attorney does not have to take any action at this time. In the unlikely event that the BEC requires the first original 750, the employer/attorney will be notified."
Information provided by AILA.
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