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Department of Labor Guidance on Work Visas

SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (Department or DOL) is issuing this notice to clarify the locations where applications may be filed and are being processed, respectively, for the permanent labor certification and major temporary foreign labor certification programs administered by ETA's Division of Foreign Labor Certification; to clarify key procedures within each program that may be impacted by ETA's transition from region-based to center-based review; and to provide initial guidance for employers filing applications for certification under the new E-3 worker visa program for Australian professionals seeking to temporarily work in the United States. Recent reforms in several of these programs, as well as the streamlining and centralization of operations and filing procedures to better serve the needs of stakeholders, have required periodic changes to filing locations. This notice describes and further clarifies current filing requirements for each major program. A chart attached to this notice provides users with a convenient, one-stop reference on program-specific filing requirements. This chart will be updated and published in the Federal Register and posted on DOL's Web site.
 
DATES: Effective Date: This notice is effective immediately.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Carlson, Chief, Division of Foreign Labor Certification, U.S. Department of Labor, Room C-4312, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone: 202-693-3010 (this is not a toll-free number).
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To enhance effectiveness and eliminate undue burden on program users, the Department has reformed its process to issue permanent labor certifications and continues to review and strengthen its various temporary labor certification programs, primarily those leading to H-1B, H-1B1, H-2B, and H-2A worker visas. The Department's long-term goal is to streamline, automate, and centralize operations and processes that may have been duplicative, lengthy, or unduly burdensome. Ongoing and proposed changes are designed to improve the efficiency and integrity of each program.
 
The purpose of this notice is threefold. First, the notice seeks to update the filing instructions for applications to the temporary labor certification programs, in light of the Department's plans to transfer the Federal processing responsibility related to H-2A and H-2B program applications, as well as applications requiring special handling, to its National Processing Centers located in Atlanta and Chicago. Accordingly, much of the information below related to these applications is new.
 
Second, the notice seeks to present--clearly, briefly, and in a single document--basic filing instructions for key labor certification programs, including the permanent program. In the context of significant changes to labor certification operations and activities, the Department believes stakeholders would benefit from summarized, organized guidance that establishes a baseline for filings going forward. In those cases in which guidance is unchanged--notably, for the permanent program--this notice restates the instructions that have been provided in recent guidance but, for clarity, refers back to each of the notices originally published. As an aid, this notice attaches a chart, which the Department will update as needed, for use as a one- stop reference on filing requirements for each of the programs listed below.
 
Third, the Department seeks to provide initial guidance governing the filing of applications for labor certification under the E-3 worker visa program.
 
H-1B and H-1B1 Temporary Professional Workers