The US government will be reopening after the two-week October 2013 shutdown. This is welcome news for those needing and or wanting to file H-1B, H-2B petitions and PERM labor certifications. The Department of Labor (DOL), which was closed during the shutdown, is responsible for certifying the Form ETA 9035 Labor Condition Application (LCA), which must be filed with an H-1B petition. Also, the DOL is responsible for providing prevailing wage determinations for H-1B and PERM labor certification applications. Finally, the DOL has jurisdiction over the PERM labor certification applications. With cases frozen in the pipeline during the shutdown, let’s hope that there is not a significant delay in the processing of new LCAs and PERMs, although it is quite unfortunate to note that such backlogs and delays in processing are almost expected in the immigration law community.
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