Foreign Labor Certification

Welcome to the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC). OFLC is organized around a national office in Washington, DC, supported by two National Processing Centers in Atlanta and Chicago. This site is designed to provide information on the foreign labor certification process and how employers may apply to bring foreign workers into the United States for employment.

What's New


September 17, 2008 The Department has been presented with evidence indicating that prior to its recent audits, many immigration attorneys believed that the Department’s rule regarding consideration of U.S. workers did not apply to them unless they represented not only the employer seeking the labor certification, but also the alien for whom the certification was being sought. That interpretation is incorrect, as the Department’s recently issued PERM program clarifying guidance makes clear. Nevertheless, the Department will apply the requirements of the consideration rule as interpreted by its recent guidance only to labor certification applications the recruitment for which was begun after August 29, 2008, the date on which the Department’s final guidance was issued. All pending audits triggered exclusively by consideration rule concerns are therefore being released and will be processed in accordance with their original filing date.


August 29, 2008 Important Notice: Restatement of PERM Program Guidance Bulletin on the Clarification of Scope of Consideration Rule in 20 CFR 656.10(b)(2) (click here).