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| Update: EDD and DOL |
| published 24 February 2003 |
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At a liaison meeting between the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Department of Labor held in San Jose, California on February 12, 2003, Jackson & Hertogs attorneys obtained the following information. I. Processing Times Employment Development Department (EDD): EDD, California's department of labor, is presently reviewing Reduction in Recruitment (RIR) cases it received on or before April 2, 2002 and Non Reduction in Recruitment (Non RIR) cases it received on or before April 24, 2001. EDD has over 11,000 RIR pending cases and over 46,000 Non RIR pending cases. EDD indicated that they received a huge number (36,000) of labor certifications from April 24 to April 30 2001 due to the enactment of the LIFE legislation which reinstated Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act for persons who established priority dates on or before April 30, 2001 and who were physically present in the U.S. on December 21, 2000. They anticipate that with current staffing levels, it could take EDD 4-5 years to review all of these cases. Department of Labor (DOL): Region VI of DOL (the Region which covers several western states including California) is reviewing RIR cases it received from EDD on December 2001 and Non RIR cases it received from EDD on June 2001. DOL estimates that it presently has between 12,000 to 14,000 RIR cases pending with their office as well as 2,000 to 4,000 Non RIR cases pending. DOL stated that they are waiting on a letter from the National DOL office which will assist them in determining how to continue processing cases in an era of economic downturn where there is availability of US workers. II. PERM There is still no date on when this new program will be implemented. For an explanation of PERM, see our News Story which was published on November 14, 2002. To check on latest published processing times, click on Processing times on our home page. |
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