On July 21, 2004 DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) published an interim final rule in the Federal Register to address the backlog in pending applications for labor certification for the permanent employment of aliens in the United States. The interim final rule, effective August 20, 2004, allowed the National Certifying Officer to transfer labor certification applications for permanent employment awaiting processing at State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) or ETA Regional Offices to a centralized ETA processing center(s).