On August 3, 2001, the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration issued a final rule permitting employers to request that any labor certification application for permanent employment and permanent residence in the United States filed on or before August 3, 2001, be processed as a request for Reduction In Recruitment (RIR) in order to receive expedited processing. Currently, two types of Applications for Alien Employment Certification may be filed: basic processing often referred to as "regular track" and applications with request for Reduction In Recruitment, RIR. Applications with request for RIR are given expedited processing at the U.S. DOL, ETA Regional Offices. Likewise, State Employment Security Agencies, (SESAs) give preferential expedited review and processing of RIR labor certification applications.
This new regulation benefits employers who have filed basic labor certification applications on or before August 3, 2001. This regulation does not affect filed RIR labor certification applications or the prospective filing of such applications.
Moreover, aliens will be able to retain the Priority Date assigned to the basic application at the time of filing.
Finally, the conversion benefit is not available if the employer has received a Job Order from the SESA to conduct labor market testing or has already conducted the required labor market testing. These will continue to be processed as a basic labor certification application.
In order to obtain the conversion benefit for a pending basic labor certification application, the employer need only submit a written request to the SESA that the application be processed as a request for RIR and attach supporting documentation that the employer has completed sustained recruitment efforts within six months of the request. The required sustained recruitment effort is the same as that required of applications filed with the request for RIR. Such efforts include evidence that the employer has advertised the availability of the offered employment in a newspaper of general circulation over the past six months, internal posting of the availability of the position, and conducted other recruitment efforts normal for the position and in the industry.
Where changes are required to be made on the initially submitted application, the employer may submit a revised application containing the changes to the SESA with the written request for RIR along with documentation of the employer’s sustained recruitment efforts completed within six months of the request. However, the preamble to the regulation clearly states that changes that are not "slight" or "minor" such as a change in the requirements or in the job duties that result in essentially a different job will not be acceptable. The conversion benefit will not be granted in such a case. The employer will be required to submit a new application resulting in the loss of the priority date established by the earlier filing.
Finally, converted RIR labor certification applications will not be processed differently from that of applications initially submitted with request for RIR. They will be processed by the Regional Office of the Certifying Officer in the order in which they are received along with other applications that were filed with request for RIR.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.