The labor certification process tests the local job market. Working with the State Employment Security Agency, the employer advertises the position and solicits resumes. It has to review each resume that comes in for the position and determine whether any of those candidates would be minimally qualified for the position. If so, the employer must call the candidate in and interview him or her to make a further determination. If there are no U.S. workers that are minimally qualified for the position, the employer will indicate this in its report to the SESA. Then it will wait for SESA’s decision.

The SESA will evaluate the employer’s recruitment efforts. There are a number of potential issues which the SESA could bring up in dispute. The SESA may feel that the employer’s salary is too low. It may feel that the job duties and description are too restrictive. It may argue that the employer’s review of the resumes was too critical, eliminating resumes that should have been considered for the position.

If the SESA challenges any part of the employer’s recruitment process, it can ask the employer to redo the a part of the process. It may also deny the labor certification process. If the employer is given a second chance, it can provide further proof establishing that it did conduct a valid search effort. If the SESA chooses to deny the labor certification process, the employer may appeal such a denial to the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals.

If the SESA approves of the employer’s report agreeing that there is no minimally qualified U.S. worker, the employer can submit the approval with the alien’s application to be submitted to the INS.

What is Reduction in Recruitment?

The certifying officer may reduce partially or completely the employer's recruitment efforts through the State employment service by decreasing the number of days that the job order and/or the ad must run. The requirement for posting the job opportunity may also be reduced partially or completely. This provision may be exercised when it is clear to the certifying officer that the labor market has been adequately tested within the six months before filing the application and there is no expectation that full or partial compliance with the prescribed recruitment measures will produce qualified and willing applicants. Such a finding must be based on the employer's previous recruitment efforts and may be supported by recent findings on certification requests for the same occupation, and/or labor market data.

The prior recruitment must have been conducted at wages and working conditions that were prevailing or more than prevailing at that time. If wages and working conditions do not appear to the local office to have been prevailing at the time of recruitment, the employer should be advised to conduct the prescribed recruitment through the local office at prevailing wages and working conditions or the employer may document that they were prevailing when prior recruitment was conducted.

Upon the employer's written request for a reduction of recruitment, the local office shall review the application for completeness, determine the current prevailing wage for the job opportunity, determine availability of qualified U.S. workers registered with the local office and give the employer an opportunity to interview them, if available, and complete the required forms for transmitting the application to the certifying officer. The local office should include a recommendation, based on its knowledge of the labor market, for or against granting the request. The local office may not refuse to transmit a written request for a reduction in recruitment to the certifying officer, nor can the local office grant or deny a request for reduction in recruitment. However, the local office should advise the employer when, in its opinion, the labor market has not been adequately tested.

The request for reduction of recruitment should be considered by the certifying officer in a timely manner. If the reduction of recruitment is denied or partially reduced, the certifying officer shall return the application to the State agency with specific instructions for processing and send a copy of the decision to the employer.

If appropriate, the certifying officer may predetermine that local office recruitment should be reduced in occupations where a continuing shortage of U.S. workers exists by area of intended employment. This does not relieve the employer of providing evidence of prior recruitment. It merely increases the likelihood that the request will be granted. Such determinations shall be supplied to local offices having jurisdiction over the area of intended employment for use in processing reduction in recruitment requests in these occupations.

What must be shown in a Reduction in Recruitment application?

If the employer has attempted to recruit U.S. workers prior to filing the application for labor certification, the employer must document the employer's reasonable good faith efforts to recruit U.S. workers without success. The employer must do this through the Employment Service System and/or through other labor referral and recruitment sources normal to the occupation:
This supporting documentation shall include documentation of the employer's recruitment efforts for the job opportunity which shall:
(A) List the sources the employer may have used for recruitment, including, but not limited to, advertising; public and/or private employment agencies; colleges or universities; vocational, trade, or technical schools; labor unions; and/or development or promotion from within the employer's organization;
(B) Identify each recruitment source by name;
(C) Give the number of U.S. workers responding to the employer's recruitment;
(D) Give the number of interviews conducted with U.S. workers;
(E) Specify the lawful job-related reasons for not hiring each U.S. worker interviewed; and
(F) Specify the wages and working conditions offered to the U.S. workers.
If the employer advertised the job opportunity prior to filing the application for certification, the employer shall include also a copy of at least one such advertisement.

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