The process of creating immigration ads in the Bay Area for the PERM certification process is something that is extremely complicated and lengthy. A small part of what makes it so complex is that it deals with so many various agencies and criteria. A lot of these agencies and criteria are indicated through various abbreviations or terms, which many employers will not be familiar with. That is why this article is here to break down and explain some of the most common terms that employers will likely come across through their PERM advertising requirements in the Bay Area.
PERM
It only makes sense to start with the most commonly used abbreviations in the entire process, which is the name of it. PERM is an abbreviation that stands for Program Electronic Review Management. It is the name for the entire labor certification process overseen by the Department of Labor and has been in existence since 2004.
Foreign National
This is a term that is most likely going to be seen during the PERM certification process and is meant to identify the potential employee that resides in another country. Through most of the application process, these individuals will be identified as foreign nationals. Any individual who is an ownership of an L-1A or similar non-immigrant visa, are classified as a foreign national.
Cap
This is the term used to indicate that a certain category of visa has a limited number of applications that may be processed in any given year. When it comes to H-1B visas, which are the ones provided to individuals employed in specialty occupations that require additional educational expertise, the cap is limited at 85,000 a year. However, H-1B visas are not the only types of visa that is restricted by a cap. H-2B temporary non-agricultural visas are also limited to processing 66,000 new applications every fiscal year.
Audit
This is very similar to the process of having taxes audited. If the Department of Labor ever decides that they want to audit a PERM certification application, then the employer is responsible for providing proof that they followed the necessary steps in the certification process. If everything checks out, then the application will be improved. However, if something is flagged during the audit, then this could result in a delay or rejection of the PERM application. It is estimated that around one-third of all PERM applications go through an audit by the Department of Labor.
Immigrant Status
This term is used as an evaluation tool for the current status of an individual’s residency. Any individual who is allowed into the United States with a work visa is classified as having a nonimmigrant status. This means that they are legally allowed to be in the United States as long as they are working, but this is not a permanent stay for them and needs to be updated or reapplied for every few years.
On the other hand, individuals that have a green card are what is classified as having immigrant status. These individuals are able to stay in the country regardless of what job they hold and have the same rights as any other American born citizen.
Job Description
This is a big component of the PERM certification process. One of the first things that an employer has to do in this process is to generate a detailed description of what the job entails and the prerequisites that the employer is looking for. What this does is help to determine which applicants do and do not match the job requirements. The job description is what will be included in the immigration ads in the Bay Area and will help the Department of Labor determine what the prevailing wage will be for the position.
Prevailing Wage
Speaking of the prevailing wage, this is a term that will likely pop up several times throughout the PERM certification process. As previously mentioned, this is something that will be determined by the Department of Labor. It is the average wage paid to employees who work in the same position in local areas. This number is meant to act as a standard to help ensure that no foreign nationals are being paid significantly lower than American workers in order to do the same job.
RFE
This stands for request for evidence and is something that would be sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If an applicant received an RFE from USCIS, then that means that the application was lacking information or clarify in a certain area. The reason for the RFE will be explained in the request so that the employer or foreign national can locate the appropriate information and send it to USCIS. If the employer or foreign national fails to submit the required information to USCIS within a reasonable amount of time, then it will likely result in the entire visa being denied.
Validity Period
Almost every type of visa will have what is known as a validity period. What this means is the amount of time that a specific visa is valid and accepted by the U.S. government before needing to be reapplied for. Any nonimmigrant status visa will have a validity period which vary based on the type that it is. The temporary business visitor visa, better known as the B-1 visa, has a validity period of 10 years.
But the validity period does not necessarily indicate how long someone may stay in the country at one time. In fact, with the B-1 visa, while the validity period is up to 10 years, they are actually only allowed in the county for up to six months at once.
Specialty Occupation
This is a term used to distinguish between advanced jobs and non-advanced jobs. When something is labelled as a specialty occupation it means that it is a job that requires a higher education in order to be done. Any job that has a bachelor degree or higher as a prerequisite for getting a position will be something that is labelled as a specialty occupation.
