Good News !! For law firms ( more good news for Fragomen), Employers and employees can be now worry free as DOL decided to put an end to the audit it started on labor applications filed by a law firm.

I wrote in my previous post the brewing controversy between DOL and Fragomen in perm application. DOL issued guidance bulletin on June 13 supporting the stand that employers should involve in validating immigrant employee's qualifications and not the lawyers.

In the latest developments in DOL vs. Fragomen issue reached climax today with DOL calling off the audit as reported in WSJ law blog. The reasoning is that DOL's own prior rulings had created confusion about the proper role of immigration attorneys in the green-card application process. Now Fragomen and other law firms can breathe as the fight is over. Fragomen followed the DOL's guidance when both employer and employee is sponsored. The DOL has clarified that going forward its regulations will apply to firms that represent only an employer.

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Labels: Fragomen, Immigration, labor, PERM. GreenCard

DOL recently announced that they would audit each and every PERM application filed by largest US Immigration firms attorneys at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP. The act brought all firms together and DOL issued a statement to clarify the role of attorneys in recruiting requirements for labor certifications.

DOL releases clarification on June 13. 2008 in its guidance bulletin - PERM Program Guidance Bulletin on the Clarification of Scope of Consideration Rule in 20 CFR 656.10(b)(2)

DOL justifies its stand by making clear that "The employer, and not the attorney or agent, must determine whether a U.S. applicant's credentials meet the minimum qualifications for the position ..." -- Do all th employers have luxury or skills to evaluate each and every application ? A practical "NO" is the answer. This makes us believe that DOL wants every employer in US to be immigration skillful. Why would any employer invest its time and resources on such not value-added task ? This is the same reason that employers hires attorneys to represent their cases.

The fight continues -- DOL stance is to avoid fraud done by some of firms in filing unlawful PERM applications thereby denying the job prospect for citizens. Clearly DOL cannot audit all the Fragomen' applications given its resource strengths and continuing back logs at the DOL centers. Sure political pressures like large employers lobbying may change the situation in future on this particular DOL vs Fragomen issue. It remains at large to see how influential US employers react to this situation staged by DOL on immigration firms.

Check this DOL site for latest updates

Labels: Immigration, Lawyers and Law Firms, PERM. GreenCard, United States, US