PERM Labor Application Processing Time - Slow Advancement

 

 DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of  05/31/2023 -

	Priority Date	Average Number of Days to Process Applications
Analyst Reviews:	July 2022	283
Audit Review:	April 2022	443
Reconsideration Requests:	August 2022

Processing time of PERM labor application has getting longer in the past year.  If this trend continues, it will take close to one year to get a labor application certified, even without an audit.

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule legal consultation.) 

PERM Labor Certification Processing Times

 DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of  04/30/2021 -

	Priority Date	Average Number of Days to Process Applications
Analyst Reviews:	October 2020	221
Audit Review:	June 2020	348
Reconsideration Requests:	November 2020

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule legal consultation.) 

Wonder why your immigration applications are delayed?

Some immigration applicants may find that their case is taking an abnormally long time to process. They wait for weeks or months longer than expected and the case does not move forward. The processing times are advancing very slowly. It is as if the application is stuck in limbo. What on earth could be going on behind the scenes?

It is no secret that USCIS has a huge backlog of cases.  The net backlog for FY 2018 is estimated to be 2,415,573 cases, bringing the accumulated gross backlog to 5,691,839 cases.  This compares to  543,859 case net backlog and 3,290,668 case gross backlog in FY 2014. This backlog is immense and continues to accumulate at an astounding rate.

In February, Congress sent an inquiry to USCIS requesting explanations and statistics on the backlog. USCIS' response gives us some insight on the matter.

The five-year "completions per hour" statistics USCIS provides tells us a lot about the situation. For almost every prominent application category, the case completions per hour decreases with each year from FY 2014 to FY 2018. Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (used for H-1B, O-1, L-1, R-1, etc.) went from 1.1 completions per hour in 2014 to 0.64 in 2018. I-130 Petition for Alien Relative dropped from 1.7 to 1, and employment-based I-485 (green card) went from 0.95 to 0.57.

USCIS attributes much of its delays to policy changes requiring more strict vetting procedures. Their response cites the President's executive order, which suspended refugee travel for 120 days and created more vetting procedures for USCIS to follow. Other policy changes that prolonged processing times include the in-person interview for employment-based green card applicants and for relatives of refugees and asylees applying for a green card. Applications such as I-129 employment petitions are also affected by the policy changes, which stresses strict evaluations even for extension requests for previously approved petitions.

USCIS also states that there is a lack of facilities and trained staff.

The good news is that some strategies targeting inefficiencies have produced results. The "Last In, First Out" policy for I-589 affirmative asylum applications (an application with an especially large backlog) has reduced the backlog. An online process to adjudicate Form I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card has resulted in a reported 75% drop in the I-90 backlog as of September 2018. It is hoped that the upcoming I-129 H-1B CAP electronic registration process (which is expected to be rolled out in April 2020) would also speed up the average processing time for H-1B petitions.  

PERM Labor Certification Processing Time

DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of 10/31/2017-

Analyst Reviews:	July 2017 (About 4 months)
Audit Review:	March 2017 (About 8 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	October 2017 (2 month)

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

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Side Effects of the New Immigration Policies: Longer Processing Time and Tighter Adjudication Standards

Under the new administration, the U.S. immigration policy has focused on enforcement and restriction.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security, has been making record number of arrests of foreigners in the United States. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the agency that is responsible for securing our borders, is also tightening up admission standards at the airports and other ports of entry.

Tighter Adjudication Standards 

Even the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), supposedly the nice guys, are also making some significant policy changes in various aspects of the immigration process.  Most noticeably, USCIS is applying much tighter adjudication standards when reviewing nonimmigrant visa petitions such as H-1B and L-1 petitions.  Immigration practitioners are complaining about getting lengthy Requests for Evidence and denials on cases that would have been approved without further inquiries before. 

Preconceived Immigrant Intent

Regarding immigrant visa petitions, some offices of USCIS are also bringing up issue of "preconceived immigrant intent" during the adjudication of adjustment applications.  Applicants who came here on temporary visitor visas such as B-1 (for business) or B-2 (for pleasure) are heavily scrutinized.  Questions are asked during the adjustment interview to ascertain whether they had immigrant intent at the time of entry: Did they apply for extensions of status? What were the nature and purposes of their initial visits? Did they work without authorization? 

Longer Processing Times

Another side effect of the new policies are slower processing times.  For instance, in the NY/NJ area, the processing time of a family adjustment application used to be about 4 to 6 months.  Since 2016, the processing time has become much longer.  Family adjustment in NJ is now taking about 8 months or longer to process.  The N-400 Naturalization applications are also taking much longer to process. 

The employment petitions are also taking longer to process.  While the Texas Service Center (TSC) still has reasonable processing times, the Nebraska Service Center (NSC)'s processing time are much slower.  For instance, NSC is taking one year or longer to process an I-140 petition based on the multinational manager category or with a national interest waiver.  Change of status applications (I-539) is taking about 6 months to process at the Vermont Service Center (VSC).  H-1B petitions are also taking longer to adjudicate; premium processing has been suspended for most cases.  Many of the FY2018 CAP H-1B petitions submitted in April are still pending. 

There has also been reports that the Trump Administration is implementing a policy to interview about 130,000 employment-based visa applicants in connection with their adjustment applications. Green card holders and students may also be included under this new policy when they apply for change or extension of status. 

Conclusion

Under the current processing schedule, applicants of immigration benefits are encouraged to submit the applications as soon as possible.  Procrastination is no longer an option. In many situations, failure to submit a timely application means that one would have the depart the country. Time is of the essence is truer than ever. 

PERM Labor Application Processing Time

DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of 12/3/2016 -

Analyst Reviews:	September 2016 (About 4 months)
Audit Review:	May 2016 (About 8 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	November 2016 (2 month)

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

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PERM Labor Application Processing Time

DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of - January 13, 2016

Analyst Reviews:	June 2015 (About 7-8 months)
Audit Review:	November 2014 (About 15 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	August 2015  (5 months)
Government Error Reconsideration:	Current

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

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PERM Labor Application Processing Time

DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of 08/31/2015-

Analyst Reviews:	February 2015 (About 7 months)
Audit Review:	June 2014  (About 15 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	June 2015  (3 months)
Government Error Reconsideration:	Current

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

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PERM Processing time as of 05/04/2015

DOL posted the following PERM labor certification processing times as of 05/04/2015-

Analyst Reviews:	November 2014   (About 5-6 months)
Audit Review:	November 2013  (About 19 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	May 2015  (almost current)
Government Error Reconsideration:	Current

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

PERM Labor Application Processing Time

U.S. Labor Department posted the following PERM processing times as of 12/02/2014-

Analyst Reviews:	July 2014  (About 5 months)
Audit Review:	May 2013 (About 19 months)
Reconsideration Requests:	December 2014 (almost current)
Government Error Reconsideration:	Current

(Note: the dates represent initial filing dates)

PERM Labor Certification Processing Time

U.S. Labor Department posted the following PERM processing times as of 01/14/2014 -

Analyst Reviews: May 2013
Audit Review: October 2012

Reconsideration Requests: January 2014

Gov't Error Reconsiderations: Current

PERM Labor Certification Processing Time

U.S. Labor Department posted the following PERM processing times as of 12/06/2013 -

Analyst Reviews: April 2013

Audit Review: October 2012

Reconsideration Requests: December 2013

Gov't Error Reconsiderations: Current