A surge in H-2B filings is being blamed for U.S. Department of Labor delays, particularly within the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) which handles PERM labor certifications.
OFLC encountered challenges in the fall and winter of last year in the H-2B context. At the same time, it has continued to deal with heavy filing loads for H-1B LCAs, PERM labor certification applications, and prevailing wage determination requests. Currently, prevailing wage determinations for PERM labor certifications are taking approximately 5 months for the government to process. PERM labor certification processing times are currently quite good–around 3 months if the case is not selected for an audit. However, this processing time may increase.
Due to limited resources, and a further anticipated increase in H-2B filings later this year and early next year, there may be further negative impact on H-1B, PERM labor certifications, and prevailing wage processing ahead. However, OFLC has taken the steps to prepare for this increased workload and to generally improve efficiencies across all of the programs it handles and is confident of keeping delays in check. Fingers crossed!
We will continue to monitor processing delays and to advise affected clients accordingly.