For individuals to obtain a work visa or a green card based on employment in the United States, there is a specific certificate that must be issued through the Department of Labor, which require an employer to go through an extensive PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) advertising procedure. Why is this necessary? These steps manage to ensure that employers are not taking advantage of or going against the immigration system that divest qualified U.S. workers of prospective jobs.
Before an employer submits their PERM advertising, they are responsible for completing and taking the right steps in the recruitment process, according to law. Because this can become time consuming and confusing, immigration ads in a job posting can be reviewed by an appropriate law group or agency that specializes in this area.
The catch to this rigorous process is that being punctual is very important. If the Department of Labor upon review presumes that advertising process is not complete or missing anything, then your business can be subjected to an audit and further investigation. This can further delay the process of obtaining an employee’s work visa or green card. To avoid a situation like this, being better prepared for the labor recruitment and PERM advertising process will make the task less challenging.
What to Put in a Job Ad
Depending on the industry and position, the job details and descriptions need to be as specific as possible. Providing wages is not absolutely necessary, but it must be on par with the standards of prevailing wage determination, and as an employer you are required to know how to go about this decision in terms of compensation. What can help in this area of the job description is putting in time to do market research on that given industry and job title to better help frame and constructed your permanent labor advertisement.
Agencies that are experts in immigration ads and their creation can assist with this. Lastly, an immigration attorney can also provide insight. They can help craft these postings with the necessary language to make sure the job description is not too broad.
Timing
In terms of timing, there are a few expectations depending on how niche an industry or job can be. For employers that are using PERM advertising, they have to undergo and prove that a process or regular recruitment activities have been attempted in a particular time frame. Usually this window of time is between six to months of searching for a qualified U.S. applicant and then one month of filling the application. An employer needs to have a great amount of time to look for a U.S. employee before moving onto outside sources.
As mentioned earlier, with employers who have labor certification ads that require post-secondary, petitioning applications using this process must show proof of carrying out recruitment searches before filling a permanent labor certificate. This can be done no more than 180 days before, but no fewer than 30 days prior to filling out the application.
Professional or Nonprofessional
For the sake of recruitment being more organized, jobs can be categorized as professional or nonprofessional for suited occupations. This raises the question: What is the difference between the two? The main difference being that professional jobs typically require at least a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, where as a nonprofessional job will not necessarily. However, according to the U.S. Department of Labor standards, there are specific jobs that are always considered to be professional occupations, and a sponsoring employer must recognize this. Discussing this with an agency to better understand what certification ads are required will make this more clear.
Extra Recruitment for Professional Jobs
If the job ad is being offered to a professional applicant, this means they must possess a degree from a credible post-secondary institution. The employer must post that same job ad in a minimum of three different platforms during the recruitment process. Lastly, the employer has 30 days within completing one of the three ways prior to filling the ad on various platforms. These include:
- Job fairs
- Employer’s website
- Private employment firms
- Employee referral program
- Radio and television ads
Required Locations to Advertise
The list mentioned earlier are only several ways professional jobs can be advertised. However, for all recruitment purposes, applications of a professional or nonprofessional nature need to be advertised in three general places.
- Job order: This must be placed with the local State Workforce Agency (SWA) for a minimum of 30 days. This entails start/end dates and contracts that are posted.
- Ads in newspapers, journals, appearing on Sundays: On two different Sundays, employers must place an ad in a newspaper that is accessible to the public. However, if the job requires an advanced degree, then it can be placed in one national professional journal in lieu of one Sunday newspaper ad.
- Internal job posting: For at least 10 days, a job posting for internal candidates only must have the same information as all other ads. The only exception is that wages must be posted even if they are not listed on other outlets.
This type of advertising is very specific and detailed oriented. It must follow a set of certain procedures and process, for employers it is always of best judgement to get the appropriate guidance from a firm or agency that can consult you.
