H1B Visa Lawyer Blog

The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Support Engineer”.

After receiving & reviewing an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO issued an Audit notification directing the Employer to present its recruitment records. In the Notice of Filing (NOF), the Employer lists the position “requires a BA/BS or MA/MS degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, Information Systems, Business or related field; Team Manager Positions are available.” The Washington State Workforce Agency (SWA) job order stated “qualifications may include a MA/MS degree or equivalent or a BA/BS degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, Physics, Information Systems, Business or related field; Multiple positions available.”

The Employer complied with the Audit request and ultimately the CO denied certification of the application. The position communicated in its NOF and SWA did not match the one listed on the Employer’s ETA Form 9089 in violation of PERM Regulation 20 C.F.R. § 656.17 (f)(6). On the Employer’s NOF and SWA, it listed a Master’s degree that surpassed the requirements recorded on the ETA Form.

The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) recently overturned the decision of a Certifying Officer (CO) to deny labor certification for the position of “Computer Programmer.”

Upon evaluating an Employer’s Application for Permanent Labor Certification, the CO denied the Labor Application because the Employer ran its recruitment advertising in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, as he believed it was not the newspaper of general circulation for Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was located in Bentonville, AR and the newspaper was headquartered in Little Rock, AR. He believed that the Arkansas Democrat Gazette would not bring replies from available US workers in the area of intended employment.

The Employer sent a reconsideration request to the CO. In the argument, the Employer declared that “The Arkansas Democrat Gazette is most likely to bring responses from available US workers because it is the most widely circulated newspaper in Bentonville and the most widely circulated Sunday newspaper in all of Arkansas.” They submitted several pieces of evidence to back up their claims including circulation numbers from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Mondo Times website. One of these documents stated there is no other newspaper in Bentonville, AR.