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Green Card Labor Certification Combination
The green card labor certification combination includes:
- Form ETA 9089 (PERM Labor Certification)
- Form I-40 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker)
- Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), along with accompanying forms
What is the benefit of a green card labor certification combination?
You will pay less in fees by filing a combination application than if you were to file for both case types separately.
What is a PERM Labor Certification (Form ETA 9089)?
An employer can petition to have a permanent position certified in order to hire certain foreign workers. The US Department of Labor uses the PERM process (Program Electronic Review Management) for these labor certifications.
The PERM process requires petitioning employers to “test the labor market” by conducting various forms of recruitment, to prove that there are no qualified US workers for the position they want to certify. 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 US employer must agree to pay the individual the designated prevailing wage when the green card is approved.
The petitioning employer must conduct the following mandatory recruitment procedures:
- 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 no more than 180 days may have passed between conducting these mandatory recruitment steps, and 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):
- Participation in job fairs;
- Advertisement on employer’s website;
- Advertisement on job search website, such as monster.com, careerbuilder.com, etc.;
- Engagement in on-campus recruitment (may not be appropriate for high level positions);
- Advertisement with trade or professional associations;
- Utilization of private employment firms;
- Institution of an employee referral program (or use of a pre-existing referral program);
- Placement of an ad with campus placement office (may not be appropriate for high-level recruitment);
- Advertisement in local or ethnic newspaper; and/or
- Utilization of 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. As part of filing your case, the employer must provide VISANOW with a copy of each recruitment activity that they engaged in.
Following the recruitment process, the employer is required to gather and review any resumes received in response to it, as well as to conduct any interviews that may be appropriate. The employer must provide a lawful job-related reason as to why the applicant is not qualified for the position. The employer must provide VISANOW with the resumes and the reasons by which each candidate was found not to be qualified for the position.
Once VISANOW receives all the recruitment materials, we will prepare Form ETA-9089 for the both the employer and the employee to review.
After the 30-day “cooling off” period has ended, VISANOW will file the Form ETA 9089 online 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 and potentially longer.
What is Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker)?
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. This petition (Form I-140) is the form used to petition to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for an immigrant visa based on employment, and is the next step in the green card labor certification process.
Following the preparation of Form I-140, VISANOW will gather the supporting documents and file the I-140 petition with the USCIS.
What is Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) and what are the 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 applying to adjust to permanent resident status.
VISANOW will prepare and submit Form I-485 on behalf of the employee. At this time, the employee should then open separate I-485 applications for his or her dependents as part of the green card labor certification process.
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, and the date that it becomes current is determined by Department of State’s monthly visa bulletin. The category of employment and the employee’s country of birth play a factor in these determinations.
There’s no need to wait – you can initiate your account with VISANOW and begin your green card labor certification process today! Start your green card application online with VISANOW’s safe, secure, innovative online technology.
