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The U.S. Department of Labor has released PERM statistics for the first eight months of the fiscal year that began last October. Of the 43,100 applications it processed, 27,600 (64%) were certified, 83% were for H-1B and H-1B1 visas, 44% were for IT-related fields, and 55% were for applicants from India. The minimum education requirement was an advanced degree for 51% of those certified, and a bachelor degree for 39%. The Department certified more applications in the last two months than in either of the prior three-month periods.

The current prediction that the priority dates for employment based green card applications are likely to retrogress again has brought a lot of speculation and questions from our clients and our community. Let me clarify some of the questions and concerns.

Q. What happens if my priority date ('PD') retrogresses while my I-485 is still pending?

The following questions were asked in today's community conference call. I feel the answers should be of use use to many folks.

Q. How soon can I leave my petitioning employer once I get my green card approval?

There was an interesting question in today's community conference call we host every other Thursday. The link to the question is here: http://forums.immigration.com/showth...onference-Call
PERM filing issue

Trying to get an F-1 while an AOS/I-485 is pending has been a recurring theme in our community. Last year in May/June we had spent two hours talking about this theme in our community conference calls. A lot of people wanted to do their MBA and were not able to wait for their green cards to join school.

Generally speaking when you have exhibited immigrant intent, getting an F-1 becomes difficult. On top of that, USCIS has said that F-1 is not compatible with a simultaneous I-485. But USCIS has never told us what happens if do file for an F-1 while an I-485 is pending.

At the October 28, 2010, stakeholder meeting with the U.S. Department of Labor, DOL discussed their increased staffing capability and a corresponding increased scrutiny of cases where the employer fails to respond to an Audit Notification letter or submits an incomplete response to such a letter. Where DOL identifies a substantial failure by the employer to provide required documentation in response to an Audit Notification letter, DOL indicated that we can expect to see more debarment and/or revocation proceedings.

USDOL has posted the following FAQ

1. Under what authority can the Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification select an employer's application for supervised recruitment?

7. What documentation and/or notice is needed when an employer undergoing Supervised Recruitment changes its attorney/agent?

In a recent meeting, Nebraska Service Center has clarified why, some times, in cases of pending I-485 applications, USCIS approves AOS interchanging the applications of the derivative and principal applicant:

Here is a set of questions posed to me recently by one of our clients:

I am Mr. Jones, the employer. The employee, Mr. Smith, is no longer employed with us because of company's budget issue. However, we may hire him in the near future if circumstance changes.

My question:
Q1. Do we need to withdraw PERM LC for him that was submitted 2009?
The status is still in process now. I would like to know if this PERM LC still has any goods for him. Let me know the pros & cons between withdraw it and not withdraw it.

Q. Now that I received my GC through employment, does my employer need to change my position to the one filed in the Labor Certification?

Here is another question from one of our clients posted in our extranet forclients.com.

Qo. My Priority date became current as per August bulletin.

I and my wife are applied for I-485 on July 2007 (PF is done and got EAD and AP docs). At that time my son was in India and i could not apply for him.

Right now i am working on his I-485 paperwork and targeting to send his application to INS/Nebraska on August first itself (through your Law firm).