DOL Proposed significant Changes to H1B Visa Filing Process

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed significant changes to Form ETA 9035, the employer-filed Labor Condition Application (LCA) that is used to support H-1B, E-3, and H-1B1 visa petitions. Employers and employees are likely to be broadly affected by the changes, which appear to negatively impact privacy, work location flexibility, and LCA preparation lead times.Click here to read original document. 

The DOL announced these changes on July 9, 2012 with a published notice in the Federal Register announcing a 60 day comment period that ends on September 7, 2012. DOL believes the proposed changes will strengthen its efforts to undertake more thorough reviews of LCAs while further enhancing its ability to investigate suspected violations. 

Following are the proposed changes:

• LCAs would require personal information about the beneficiary employees including their names, countries of citizenship, dates of birth, as well as their immigration status;


• Each LCA would be limited to no more than 10 workers, prevent employers from filing "blanket" LCAs covering multiple openings for employees to be identified in the future;


• LCAs would require detailed information about off-site placement of workers, including the names of the end-client companies where workers will be stationed;


• Employers would be required to list and provide information on any PERM Labor Certification applications filed on behalf of workers included in the LCA;

While collection of employees' personal information will almost certainly increase the lead time that employers must invest in preparing and submitting an LCA, it also raises more serious privacy concerns since employers are required to make LCAs available for public inspection. 

As a result of these changes, employers will no longer be able to file an H1B petition for a new hire using an already existing approved LCA form. Employers will no longer have the flexibility to send employees to new worksite locations without filing a new LCA, which at present is not required provided that the new location is in the same area of intended employment on the certified LCA. Employers will also be required to disclose end clients as well. 

If you want to know more about H1B Visa filling process or search the submitted LCA in last 10 years, please visit our H1B Visa section. 

Read published notice in the Federal Register now!