PERM Labor Certification after Layoffs

This post will get into the weeds on issues that impact non-immigrant (temporary) visa holders (particularly H-1B and L-1B) after a layoff occurs at their employer.

If you are working in the United States on a temporary work visa, like H-1B or L-1B, then the general way for you to obtain a green card is for your employer to sponsor you for a green card through the PERM labor certification process.

PERM is stage 1 of the three-stage employer green card process. PERM is a labor market test where the employer must document a shortage of qualified and willing U.S. workers to fill the position offered to you.

However, if your employer has a layoff, then the layoff could implicate the ability of your employer to file a PERM application for you.

At the end of January, Bloomberg published an article that attracted a lot of attention about how Google had decided to stop PERM labor certification application processing for 6 months in light of layoffs at the company.

Because layoffs could definitely continue this spring and into the summer (or beyond?!), this post (after the paywall) is written to get into the weeds on the following:

1. What does the law say about PERM labor certification and layoffs?

2. What practical issues arise, separate from legal issues, when you are thinking about PERM labor certification and layoffs?

3. What options can foreign workers consider if their employer has announced a layoff or hiring freeze?

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Note well: The time to read this post is BEFORE your employer starts announcing layoffs.

• Be pro-active now. Don’t just react.

• Educate yourself on what the laws are and the options are.

• In the end you might not be able to do anything, but don’t settle for that without doing some homework now.