Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination includes the PERM Labor Certification, Form ETA 9089; the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140; and, the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-485 and accompanying forms.
What is a VISANOW Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination?
What is the Benefit of the Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination?
What is the PERM Labor Certification, Form ETA 9089?
What is the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140?
What is the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-485 and accompanying forms?
What is a VISANOW Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination Application?
VISANOW Green Card (Labor Certification)® includes the following applications:
- PERM Labor Certification, Form ETA 9089
- Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140
- Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-485 and accompanying forms
What is the Benefit of the Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination Application?
You will pay a lower fee by requesting a VISANOW Green Card (Labor Certification) Combination Application than by opening separate cases for each application.
What is a PERM Labor Certification, Form ETA 9089?
The PERM Process (Program Electronic Review Management System) is the U.S. Department of Labor’s most recent program for the labor certification applications for the permanent employment of certain foreign workers in the U.S.
The PERM process requires petitioning employers to "test the labor market", by conducting various forms of recruitment, to prove that there are no qualified U.S. workers for the position sought to be certified. Before PERM recruitment can begin, a prevailing wage determination must be requested from the State Workforce Agency (SWA). In order to sponsor an individual for a green card, the U.S. employer must agree to pay the individual the prevailing wage when the green card is approved.
The petitioning employer must conduct the following "mandatory" recruitment:
- Two advertisements on two different Sundays in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of intended employment (or one Sunday print ad and one ad in a trade journal);
- A job-order with the SWA; and
- A posted notice at the place of intended employment as well as use of any and all other in-house media normally utilized to advertise open positions.
Please note that these mandatory recruitment steps may not be more than 180 days old at the time of filing the PERM application. In addition, the recruitment may not have occurred within the 30 day "cooling off" period preceding the filing of the PERM application.
The petitioning employer must also conduct three of the following additional recruitment activities for professional level positions (i.e. positions that require a bachelor's degree or higher):
- Participate in job fairs;
- Advertise on employer’s website;
- Advertise on job search website, such as monster.com, careerbuilder.com etc.;
- Engage in on-campus recruitment (may not be appropriate for high level positions);
- Advertise with trade or professional associations;
- Utilize private employment firms;
- Institute an employee referral program (or use a pre-existing referral program);
- Place an ad with campus placement office (may not be appropriate for high-level
- Advertise in local or ethnic newspaper; and/or
- Conduct a radio or television advertisement.
These additional recruitment steps also may not be more than 180 days old at the time of filing the PERM application. In addition, only one of the three additional recruitment steps may run into the 30 day "cooling off" period preceding the filing of the PERM application. The employer must provide VISANOW with a copy of each recruitment activity undertaken.
Following the recruitment, the employer is required to gather and review any resumes received in response to it. The employer must provide a lawful job related reason as to why the applicant is not qualified for the position. Thus, each resume must be reviewed and, in some cases, candidates must be interviewed. The employer must provide VISANOW with the resumes and the reasons each candidates were not qualified for the position in question.
Once VISANOW receives all the recruitment materials, we will prepare Form ETA-9089 for the employer and employee's review.
After the 30 day "cooling off" period has ended, VISANOW will file the Form ETA 9089 on-line on behalf of the petitioning employer. The application could be adjudicated in as little as 3 months, unless the case is audited by the Department of Labor. An audit will delay the processing of the ETA 9089 by a further 4-6 months, possibly longer.
What is the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, Form I-140?
After the position in question has been certified and VISANOW receives the certified copy of Form ETA 9089 from the Department of Labor, we will prepare the Immigrant Petition, Form I-140, for the employer and the employee’s review.
Form I-140 is the form used to petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for an immigrant visa based on employment.
Following the preparation of Form I-140, VISANOW will gather the supporting documents and file the I-140 petition with the USCIS.
What is the Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, Form I-485 and accompanying forms?
Form I-485 is regarded as the final step in the "green card process". It is the form used by a person who is in the U.S. to apply to USCIS to adjust to permanent resident status.
VISANOW will prepare and submit Form I-485 on behalf of the employee. The employee should open separate I-485 applications for his/her dependents when VISANOW is ready to prepare the I-485 application on his/her behalf.
Form I-485 may be filed with the I-140 petition for certain immigrant workers i.e. those with a current priority date. An employee’s priority date is determined by the date the labor certification was filed on the employee’s behalf. The date that priority date becomes "current" is determined by Department of State’s monthly visa bulletin, in which the category of employment and the employee’s country of birth play a factor.