Michael A. Pezzuto

Attorney at Law

 

(805) 604-9555

Business Visas
Text Box: DO YOU NEED A FULL TIME LIVE IN CARE WORK ER TO TAKE OF AN ELDERLY OR SICK RELATIVE? ) You may be able to file to obtain lawful permanent residence (green card) for a live in care giver of domestic by means of Labor Certification and PERM WHAT IS LABOR CERTIFICATION? When an employer wants to sponsor an employee for Lawful Permanent Resident status (that is a Green Card) the employer needs the permission of the United States Department of Labor (DOL) before the employer applies to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, (USCIS). The USICS was formally known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (INS). The permission from the DOL is called LABOR CERTIFICATION. WHAT IS PERM? PERM is a new system initiated by the Department of Labor designed to reduce the time it takes to process a labor certification. PERM went into effect on March 28, 2005. The goal of the Department of Labor in implementing PERM was to reduce the processing time of a labor certification from approximately five years to sixty days or less. To date the Department of Labor has not had much success in processing labor certifications in sixty days or less. However, my experience has been that processing times are three to four months, a big improvement over five to six years. WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP AFTER OBTAINING LABOR CERTIFICATION BY MEANS OF PERM? The employer must file with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for the green card. ARE THERE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR LIVE IN DOMESTIC WORKERS? Yes. When hiring a live-in household domestic worker, the employer must be prepared to produce certain additional documentation. First, the employer must maintain a statement describing the living accommodations, including: (1) Whether the residence is a house or an apartment; (2) The number of rooms in the house; (3) The number of people residing in the house and their ages; and (4) That the worker will have a private room at no cost to the worker. The employer must also retain two copies of the employment contract that are signed and dated by the employer and the worker prior to filing the labor certification. The contract must state: (1) The wages to be paid hourly and weekly; (2) The number of hours to be worked per week and the worker’s daily work hours; (3) That the worker can leave the place of employment during non-work hours and will be paid overtime when overtime is required; (4) That the worker will live at the place of employment; (5) The duties the worker will perform; (6) Any money to be advanced by the employer and the terms of repayment by the employee; (7) That the alien may terminate employment with two-weeks’ notice and that the employer must give two-weeks’ notice prior to termination; (8) That the alien has received a copy of the contract; and (9) That the employer will provide free room and board. Finally, the employer must retain proof, in the form of statements from prior employers, that the worker has at least one year of paid full-time employment. Generally, an employer must post a notice of the position at the place of employment for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days. This requirement does not apply where the job will be in a private household and the employer does not already employ one or more U.S. workers at the time the application is filed. The supplementary information to the PERM regulations suggests that applications for domestic workers will be monitored carefully for possible audits. PLEASE NOTE A live-in requirement is acceptable only if the employer can demonstrate the requirement is essential to perform, in a reasonable manner, the job duties as described by the employer and there are not cost-effective alternatives to a live-in household requirement. If you have an alien who works for you or whom you’d like to hire or you are an alien in lawful status who has a job offer as a live-in caregiver who may qualify for a Labor Certification please fill out the form click here and set a time for a consultation with me regarding your possible case 805-604-9555.