[author: Jenna Stras Baranko]

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced it will initiate a review of the permanent labor certification process (PERM) in an effort to modernize recruitment and application requirements.  DOL’s announcement comes in conjunction with the Obama administration’s efforts to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. 

Several significant factors contribute to the PERM program’s critical need for modification including an increased demand for labor, surplus of various types of workers, and advances in technology and information dissemination that have altered common recruitment practices.  In addition, DOL has received consistent feedback that existing regulatory requirements governing the PERM process often do not align with worker or industry needs and practices.  Thus, DOL seeks to evaluate the PERM application process in order to make it more responsive to changes in the national workforce.  This will be the first comprehensive examination of the permanent labor certification requirements by the DOL since their inception ten years ago. 

For more information, please see the Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet.