We have been telling anyone who will listen that if they are interested in immigration to the United States, they need to get their PERM on file as quickly as possible. Why? Because we believe that we are about to see a very large number of PERM filings in the near future.

When the Senate CIR bill is introduced, there will be an immediate surge in new PERM filings. As the bill progresses, more and more people will be persuaded to file. Finally, when (if) it passes and becomes law, everyone who has ever considered immigrating to the United States will file.

In December, 2000 the Department of Labor routinely processed labor certification applications in two to three weeks. That same month, Congress decided to provide a brief extension of Section 245(i) benefits, provided a petition or labor certification was on file by April 30, 2001. As a result, the Department of Labor received more than ten times as many applications during that interval as they normally received in an entire year. Processing backlogs went from three weeks to five years.

The DOL has a current backlog of about nine months. If we see a deluge of applications similar to what happened in 2001, PERM processing times will explode out to "many years." If you are thinking about filing a PERM, you want to be on the front end of that wave, not the back end.

Additionally, while we believe that CIR will make all priority dates "current" for the foreseeable future, in the event there is a future backlog, you want to be on the front side of the massive number of new applications.