Visas and the queue
PERM labor certification
Also called PERM, labor certification, permanent labor certification, ETA Form 9089.
PERM labor certification is the Department of Labor process in which a US employer must show both that no able, willing, qualified and available US worker exists for the job and that hiring the foreign worker will not depress wages or working conditions, and it stands in front of most EB-2 and EB-3 green cards but is not required for EB-5 at all.
What it decides
The requirement is an inadmissibility ground. 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(5)(A)(i) makes any immigrant who seeks to enter to perform skilled or unskilled labor inadmissible unless the Secretary of Labor has certified both that there are not sufficient US workers able, willing, qualified and available at the time and place of the job, and that the employment will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed US workers. That second prong is half the test and is the one most summaries drop. 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(3)(C), headed Labor certification required, then bars issuing an EB-3 visa until the consular officer holds that determination, and 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(A) requires an EB-2 immigrant's services to be sought by an employer in the United States unless the national interest waiver in 1153(b)(2)(B)(i) is granted. The machinery is 20 CFR part 656: the employer tests the market, then files the Application for Permanent Employment Certification, Form ETA-9089, under 20 CFR 656.17(a)(1), with the Schedule A occupations in 656.15 pre certified and exempt from that recruitment. None of it reaches EB-5. Nothing in 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5) mentions labor certification or the Secretary of Labor, and an investor is not entering to perform labor, so there is no employer, no job offer, no prevailing wage and no recruitment round; the investor petitions for themselves on Form I-526 or I-526E.
Where this is explained properly
Pages here that go into perm labor certification rather than mentioning it.
Related terms
- EB-5 Immigrant Investor ProgramEB-5 is the employment-based fifth preference immigrant visa category: a foreign national who invests the required capital in a new US commercial enterprise receives permanent residence, granted first on a two year conditional basis, and keeps it by proving that the investment created full-time jobs for at least ten qualifying US workers. It leads to residence, not citizenship.
- EB-2 national interest waiverA national interest waiver is a grant under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(B)(i) that lets someone who already qualifies for the employment-based second preference self-petition on Form I-140, because USCIS has waived the job offer, and with it the labor certification, on the ground that the person's proposed endeavor serves the national interest.
- EB-3EB-3 is the employment-based third preference immigrant category, covering skilled workers whose job requires at least two years of training or experience, professionals holding a bachelor's degree, and other workers in unskilled jobs requiring less than two years, each of whom needs a permanent full-time job offer from a US employer.
- Form I-140Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, is the USCIS immigrant petition for the employment-based first, second and third preferences, covering extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational managers and executives, advanced degree and national interest waiver cases, skilled workers, professionals and other workers. An EB-5 investor never files it.
- Priority dateA priority date is the date USCIS properly receives a complete, signed and paid Form I-526 or I-526E, and it fixes the investor's place in the visa queue for their country of chargeability and their EB-5 category.
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