Labor Department continues crackdown on companies sponsoring foreign workers for permanent residence

As we previously reported in June, the U.S. Department of Labor annoinced an audit of all permanent labor certification applications filed by attorneys at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP, a respected international immigration law firm. The department stated that it “has information indicating that in at least some cases the firm improperly instructed clients who filed permanent labor certification applications to contact their attorney before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers. The audits will determine which, if any, applications should be denied or placed into department-supervised recruitment because of improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants.”

The National Law Journal has an interesting article on the U.S. Department of Labor’s placing the fragomen audit in context.  The DOL’s has sought to crackdown on companies trying to sponsor foreign workers for permanent residence and recently announced its third action in a little more than a month. The DOL has said it is auditing the applications by one law firm, supervising a part of the process by another law firm and has debarred for three years applications from a software company. Gregory F. Jacob, the solicitor of labor at the DOL and its chief legal officer, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2007 and has concentrated on increasing the number of audits.

On July 8, the DOL said it has initiated ‘supervised recruitment’ for all permanent labor certifications filed by Pittsburgh-based Cohen & Grigsby. The same day, the department announced it debarred for three years LawLogix Group Inc., a company that provides software to businesses that use the online labor certification process, from filing the applications. The announcements follow a June 2 notice that all permanent labor certifications by New York’s Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy will be audited.

KJ