In order to sponsor a foreign worker for a green card, an employer must usually submit an Application for Permanent Employment Certification (ETA Form 9089) to the Department of Labor (DOL). Once an application is approved, or “certified”, the DOL Certifying Officer (CO) who reviewed the case will issue an original labor certification on blue paper and mail this document to the employer or attorney of record. The labor certification will be valid for 180 calendar days and will need to be submitted with the I-140 Immigrant Petition during the 2nd step of the employment based green card process. An initial I-140 Petition cannot be submitted to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) once the labor certification has expired.

But what if the original labor certification was never received by the employer and is no longer valid? Where there is no evidence that it was delivered, will the DOL then reissue a labor certification with new validity dates to allow an employer to timely file an I-140 Petition? This issue was discussed in a recent Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals decision, Gazebo Contracting Inc., 2012-PER-02679 (BALCA August 12, 2016).  Continue reading