OFLC Announces Emergency Procedures Initiative for Backlogged H-2B Applications - The Edge from the National Association of Landscape Professionals

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OFLC Announces Emergency Procedures Initiative for Backlogged H-2B Applications

On Friday,  Feb. 19, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) announced that they are instituting an Emergency Procedures Program to address the current processing backlog of H-2B Visa applications in the Chicago National Processing Center (NPC).  The full announcement can be found here. It should help you to determine if you would like to apply for emergency procedures. In addition, OFLC announced that a stakeholders webinar will be held Monday, Feb. 22.

The following is listed as the eligibility criteria for the Emergency Procedures Program:

  1. The employer has a pending H-2B application with the Chicago NPC, including a valid PWD obtained under 20 CFR 655.10 filed with the H-2B application; and
  2. The employer’s application status meets one of the following conditions:
    A. The employer has not received from the Chicago NPC an initial notification of acceptance (NOA) or notice of deficiency (NOD) within the 7-business-day timeframe of the application filing date required under 20 CFR 655.31 (for NODs) or 20 CFR 655.33 (for NOAs); OR
    B. The employer has received a NOD beyond the 7-business-day timeframe and has not yet received a NOA.

This means that if you meet the above criteria starting on Monday Feb. 22, 2016 (at 12:01 a.m.), the Chicago NPC will accept requests from employers to use emergency procedures. The opportunity to request the use of emergency procedures will be available through Friday April 1, 2016 (at 12 a.m.), unless extended beyond April 1 to deal with the current situation.

The OFLC creation of an Emergency Procedures Program is a significant development that we hope will address the serious processing delays many of our members are experiencing. In making the announcement, DOL publicly acknowledged that processing delays “impair the ability of employers to hire foreign workers when needed, and create instability for small businesses that depend on temporary and seasonal workers.” We believe that this public concession is a direct result of pressure from Congress that resulted from our call for stories of how H-2B processing delays were impacting NALP members and their businesses.

Thanks once again to all of those that provided feedback, in this case it truly has had an impact. We will continue to work with our H-2B Coalition partners to represent your interests before Congress and the administration. Please contact Paul Mendelsohn, vice president of Government Affairs, with any questions or comments.