When an employer receives an approved labor certification from DOL, the employer
will be required to file an I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker or an I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.
The certified application must be included when the employer files for approval to
hire workers either temporarily (I-129) or permanently (I-140). For detailed
instructions on INS forms, refer to the INS forms website.
The actual process for the Foreign Labor Certification varies depending upon the program being used. This website
contains information regarding the process for filing for each of the programs
under the Department of Labor's (DOL) jurisdiction. The filing of applications is the
responsibility of the employer, not the employee. However, the employee can benefit from
understanding the program being utilized in his/her behalf. In general the Department of Labor works
to ensure that the admission of foreign workers to work in the U.S. will not
adversely affect the job opportunities, wages and working conditions of U.S.
workers. Once a Foreign Labor Certification application has been approved by the DOL, the
employer will need to seek the immigration authorization from INS.
Depending upon the nature of the program the process for filing could vary between months and
years. To be of assistance, we have provided on our website the current processing
times in the DOL regions and states. Currently, the process to obtain an employment based temporary labor
certification (H-2A, H-2B) usually may take months through the state agency and
the DOL regional office. However, H-1B processing usually only takes seven working days. The
process to obtain an employment based permanent labor certification can
sometimes take up to several years with the state agency and the DOL regional
office (the longer processing times occur in states with the largest influx of
immigrants, such as New York and Texas).
For the employment-based permanent visa, the INS may take up to an additional 9 months
to process the request. INS will provide "premium processing" for some visa categories with an additional fee.
Most programs administered by the DOL do not charge fees for applying to the State
Workforce Agencies or the DOL regional offices for a foreign labor certification. Every program does,
however, require fees be paid to the INS upon filing an application for a visa or greencard. See the
individual programs (H-1C, H-2A) for details regarding DOL fees.
See the INS
fees site for details regarding INS fees.
Each regional office has a telephone information retrieval system that allows interested parties to receive an automated response to the status of a case by
using either the case number or the employer telephone number. If the
application has not reached the regional office which has jurisdiction over the
state where the application was filed, you may contact the State Workforce Agency for updated information.