International Faculty, Staff, Researchers

OFLC Stakeholder Engagements

Links to summaries and key takeaways from public stakeholder meetings conducted by the Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), prepared by the NAFSA ISSRP EB subcommittee.

USCIS Restores Deference in EB Petition Extension Adjudications

April 27, 2021

A revision to USCIS Policy Manual 2 USCIS-PM A.4.B. restores a certain amount of deference to employment-based petition extension adjudications, and requires adjudicators to "obtain supervisory approval before deviating from a prior approval in their final decision." USCIS Policy Alert PA-2021-05

Amendments to 8 CFR 214.2(h) Effective December 7, 2020

On January 15, 2021, DHS/USCIS released an advance copy of a final rule titled Strengthening the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Classification Program, which was the Trump administration's response to a federal court having set aside the October 8, 2020 interim final rule of the same title (See court's

Recent Employment-Based Changes and Proposals

The final quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 saw a number of rule making initiatives by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor (DOL), related to the H-1B specialty occupation category and to a certain extent the PERM labor certification process. This page

DOL Interim Final Rule on OES and Prevailing Wage Determinations

On December 1, 2020, the October 8, 2020 DOL interim final rule was set aside by a U.S. District Court, and is no longer in effect. Related recent updates On January 14, 2021, DOL published a final rule titled Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain

Proposed Revisions to Permanent Labor Certification Forms

September 10, 2020

On July 20, 2020, the Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) posted a news item regarding public comment on proposed changes to the ETA 9089 permanent labor certification (PERM) form. Comments are due by September 18, 2020. Read NAFSA's comment letter (September 10, 2020)

Proclamation Suspending Entry of Certain H, J, and L Nonimmigrants

April 1, 2021

Proclamation 10052 of June 22, 2020, Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: This proclamation expired on March 31, 2021. As of April 1, 2021, President Biden had not renewed or replaced it. DOS confirmed this in

USCIS Policy Memo Rescinds Prior Memos on Third-Party Placements, Contracts and Itineraries

In a June 17, 2020 policy memorandum (USCIS PM-602-0114), USCIS rescinded the following policy memoranda and issued updated policy guidance in their place: Determining Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements (Reference AFM Chapter 31.3

OFLC Announces Migration of Website to New Domain

Update. The final URL for the OFLC is https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor (instead of "/foreign-labor-certification" as had been indicated in the June 3, 2020 OFLC announcement. On June 3, 2020, the Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification announced that in July it will

OFLC Will Permanently Issue Electronic PERM Labor Certifications

On March 25, 2020, the Department of Labor Office of Foreign Labor Certification began sending approved permanent labor certifications by email, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On September 25, 2020, OFLC "announced that it is permanently adopting the electronic issuance of PERM labor