H1B Visa Lawyer Blog

The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently affirmed the final determination of a Certifying Officer (CO) denying certification. The Employer filed an Application for Permanent Labor Certification for an alien worker for the position of “Programmer.”

An Audit Notification was issued on September 11, 2007 for the purpose of providing evidence of recruitment and documentation. The Employer submitted the necessary forms for the audit: a copy of the ETA Form 9089, recruitment report, prevailing wage determination, Notice of Filing, copy of the job order; evidence of employee referral program, and copies of newspaper advertisement. The CO denied certification due to the lack of documentation from the Employer that showed the job was advertised on its website and job search websites. The employer then requested a review on December 13, 2007 stating there was no copy of these postings and they couldn’t make a print out due to an internal error. The CO issued a letter of reconsideration indicating the Employer did fail to provide adequate documentation and did not overcome the deficiencies in the determination letter. The Employer filed a Statement of Intent to Proceed with the appeal and an appellate brief but the CO still asserted that there wasn’t enough documentation and that was a valid reason for denial in its appellate brief.

PERM regulations 20 C.F.R. §656.17 (e) (1) (ii) controls and it provides that when an employer advertises a professional occupation, there are additional steps they can take advantage of: advertising the position on the company website and advertising the positing on job search websites. These steps should be documented and all applications for employment filed with the Department of Labor must be kept by the employer for 5 years. In the instant case, the Employer failed to provide enough documentation that the position was indeed advertised on multiple websites. The only supporting data from the Employer was a signed recruitment report.