A partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, Rodney Malpert serves clients from the firm’s Phoenix, Arizona office. Specializing in employment-related immigration law, Rodney Malpert assists clients with attaining National Interest Waivers, H1B Visas, and PERM Labor Certification.
As the name entails, PERM Labor Certification is a legal status that allows American employers to hire foreign nationals as permanent employees in the U.S. To start the process, the employer obtains a certified labor certification application from the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. Designed to ensure that qualified American workers don’t suffer from international recruitment, this application certifies that there is a lack of sufficient U.S. workers who are qualified and available to accept the job opportunity.
Then, the U.S. employer submits an immigration petition to the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). To qualify for PERM Labor Certification, the employer must have a full-time position available with job requirements that are customary for the industry, and not tailored to the foreign worker's qualifications. In addition, the employer is required to pay the prevailing wage for the occupation to the foreign employee.
