Labor Certifications

Hiring Immigrant Workers for Your American Company

When you want to hire foreign workers and talent to help your company grow, you may first be required to obtain a Labor Certification issued by the Department of Labor (DOL). A labor certification essentially grants you to hire outside of the United States for specific positions. The position you are seeking to fill should also be a permanent, full-time position.

Getting a labor certification is not as easy as filling out a single form, though. The DOL will want to know exactly why you can’t find a citizen to fill the open role at your company, which can complicate things. For guidance throughout the labor certification process, call (602) 353-7795 and connect with Kanu & Associates.

Why choose our Phoenix labor certification attorney, Mr. Solomon Kanu?

• 20+ years of legal experience
• First-generation immigrant with real insight
• No-cost initial case reviews available
• Se habla Español

How to File for a Labor Certification as an Employer

The DOL wants to make certain you are giving a real chance to American citizens to work at your company before going across borders for new employees. As such, you have to take deliberate steps and follow many immigration law rules to legally obtain a labor certification.

Here is a basic overview of a labor certification process:

1. You provide a complete job description of your company’s open position, including work duties, minimum requirements, etc. The more thorough you can be, the better.
2. You make genuine attempts to hire for the open position locally.
3. After failing to find a suitable local or citizen candidate for the job, you contact the DOL to request a “prevailing wage determination”. The PWD will describe what the DOL determines is the right wage to offer an immigrant for your hiring position. Given the DOL’s typical work backlog, this step can take months to complete, so you will want to contact our attorneys sooner than later.
4. You conduct a recruitment effort that lasts for no less than 60 days and no more than 180 days, including at least 30 days of “cooling off.” While your recruitment effort “cools off,” you cannot make any further efforts to hire for the position. The idea is you use this time to review and interview any applicants you received, if any.
5. You file for your labor certification once recruitment is completed. With luck, the Department of Labor will approve your labor certification, and you will be free to officially hire your foreign worker as a permanent hire of your company.

The DOL can choose to deny or audit your labor certification filing, though. This is once again a prime opportunity to take advantage of our legal services here at Kanu & Associates, P.C. in Phoenix. We are standing by to help your company improve with the addition of a talented new individual from across borders.

Contact our labor certification attorney today to begin.