3. Employer Files Labor Certification Application Form

If, after the recruiting is done, the employer has not found a qualified, willing, available, and able American to take the job, it can submit the labor certification application to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The application involves completing a ten-page DOL form (ETA-9089), available on the DOL website at www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov. No supporting documents need be submitted, though they must be available in case DOL requests them.

The DOL is supposed to make a decision on the labor certification within 45 to 60 days.

Next Steps Toward a Green Card

Only after the labor certification is approved can the employer and immigrant proceed forward. First, the employer must file a visa petition on USCIS Form I-140. The visa petition process is described in First Step for Family and Employment Green Cards: The Visa Petition. After the visa petition has been approved, the immigrant must apply for a green card, either through a procedure called adjustment of status (if the immigrant is legally in the U.S.) or consular processing (if the immigrant is overseas). For more information, see Applying for a Green Card.

Exceptions to Labor Certification Requirement

Employers of workers in the following categories need not file for labor certification before the worker applies for a green card. These exceptions include:

• workers in what is called the "employment first preference" category, including persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; and managers and executives of multinational companies
  
  
• millionaire entrepreneur immigrants ("employment fifth preference")
  
  
• religious workers coming as "special immigrants" ("employment fourth preference"), and
  
  
• people whose occupations are listed on "Schedule A," meaning that the U.S. government recognizes there is a shortage of such workers.