If you seek to obtain a lawful permanent residence or green card for an immigrant employee, you’ll need to first obtain a certification from the department of labor (DOL) through the PERM system. During this process, the employer must take on several responsibilities — one of which is the placement of advertisements for the immigrant worker’s prospective position and proving to the DOL that no qualified US citizens applied for the job.
PERM recruiting can be a complex process for any employer. There are a number of rules to follow and deadlines to be adhered to. If you’re new to the PERM recruitment process, this article will give you all the information you need to know about the mandatory requirements of placing PERM advertisements.
PERM Overview
Before we focus on the requirements of the advertising process, let’s take a look at all the steps that PERM consists of. There are three main steps to note:
Advertising
The employer is required to post three different kinds of advertisements. The first is a job order via the State workforce agency. The second is an advertisement that will circulate in the help-wanted section of a local newspaper — the employer must have two of these advertisements. Lastly, the employer must post three additional ads, which can be placed in several different ways.
Resume Review
The employer must thoroughly review each resume received in response to the ads in circulation. If a candidate cannot be disqualified based on their resume, they must be contacted for an interview. The employer is required to keep each received resume on file, and must also keep a record of every interview. There must also be a recorded reason for every rejected applicant.
ETA Form 9089
At the end of recruitment, the employer must complete ETA form 9089, which will provide the DOL with information pertaining to the recruitment process, as well as information about the immigrant. This information includes education, previous work experience, and skills that pertain to the requirements of the position. This form can be submitted electronically.
Once the form is submitted, the DOL can approve or deny the PERM. If the PERM is approved, the employer must then file a visa petition form with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Mandatory Advertising Requirements
Job Orders
The employer must first post a job order with their state workforce agency, or in whichever state the employee will be working. If you are an LA-based company and you want to hire someone to work at your Portland location, you need to post the order with Oregon’s Agency, not California’s.
States have varying job order requirements. Some states require employers to include the salary of the job, as well as benefits. Some places even require you to disclose how close the workplace is to public transportation. Other states don’t require you to give any of this information at all.
The job order must be cycled for at least 30 days consecutively, including the weekends. This time frame is important for the PERM application process, and it is strongly recommended that employers run their orders for even longer. PERM applications have been denied for being a day or two under this requirement. Additionally, employers file ETA forms until after this 30 day period.
Newspaper Advertisements
As previously mentioned, employers are required to post two Sunday newspaper ads. Similar to the job order, the ads must be placed in newspapers that circulate in the place of employment. If an employer is recruiting around San Francisco, they must post recruitment ads in the Bay area. The ads can run on consecutive weekends.
Advertisements must include the following in both Sunday ads:
- The employer’s name
- Instructions on how to submit resumes
- A specific description of the position
- The geographical location
- Any applicable travel Requirements
Employers don’t have to contain every single aspect of the job — they can leave out the salary if they’d prefer. They only need to be honest, with enough information to notify candidates that are actually right for the position.
Employers are also required to complete a posting notice; the point of which is to alert all of the employer’s current workers of the PERM process. This notice must be accessible in the workplace for 10 business days. Weekends do not count in this case unless the business is also open on weekends.
Additional Recruitment Steps
Though they are sometimes called “optional,” having three additional recruitment steps is anything but. Employers must post these ads. As an employer, you can pick between the following options:
- Place an ad on the company website
- Recruit at a job fair
- Start an employee referral program
- Recruit at a local college school campus
- Place an ad with a local college placement office
- Use a job search website like Monster, or Indeed
- Pay for a radio or TV ad
- Post an ad with a professional organization (ex. An employer could advertise in a medical journal publication)
- Place an ad in another local paper
- Place an ad with a private recruiting firm
Unlike the state job order, these additional steps don’t have any time requirements. However, no advertisements can be more than 180 days old at the time you file your ETA form. Additionally, only one of the additional ads can run during the 30-day period in which the state order is posted and the Sunday newspaper ads are circulating. After PERM approval, the employer must keep proof of all ads for five years.
For more information on the PERM recruitment process, contact Ad Club Advertising Today.
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