Visa Lawyer Blog
These are fun and hot summer days for us Immigration lawyers filing H1B cases. As employers are starting to hire again, we are faced with the challenges of the new Labor Condition Application System, iCert.
The Labor Condition Application is a document which must be certified by the US Department of Labour and it an integral part in the H-1B applications. This document details the terms and conditions of employment, details of the employer, the work profile, rate of salary, prevailing salary (it means the lowest salary that can be paid to a h-1b visa holder) and the location where the h-1b holder will work. As of July 1, 2009 all LCA applications must be done via the icert system
In the past week or so many LCA cases came back with denial notices. The notices had the following language:
Reason for Denial: Section C.12 of this application contains an obvious inaccuracy. The Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) value entered in Section C.12 of the ETA Form 9035E could not be verified by the CNPC as a valid nine-digit FEIN assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In order for the employer to overcome the issue identified on the denial determination for any future LCAs submitted using this exact FEIN
The solution according to AILA for correcting an LCA denial when DOL states it cannot verify the FEIN is to provide FEIN documentation to the LCA Helpdesk in Chicago. This morning, DOL revised the FEIN-based iCERT denial notice, and it contains information on what documents to send via email to DOL or by fax. We hope this will resolve the problem and the unnecessary delays as the system takes almost a week to process a regular case. We will keep you posted.