Events

Wiggin and Dana Partner Najia Khalid, Founder/Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)-Connecticut Chapter’s Business Immigration Committee, and Associate Ashley Moore, helped develop a two-part series panel presentation for AILA monthly chapter meetings related to the PERM Alien Labor Certification process. PERM is the first phase of the multi-year and multi-step employment-based permanent residence (“green card”) sponsorship process. On April 21 Ashley will address some advanced PERM topics at the second panel presentation of the topic series.

By way of background, a permanent labor certification issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) serves as the basis for an employer to hire a foreign worker to work “permanently” in the U.S. Through the PERM process, the employer conducts a test of the U.S. labor market and establishes for the DOL that there are no minimally qualified and available U.S. workers to fill a position. The DOL then certifies the position for green card sponsorship, and the employer uses the certification to submit an immigrant visa petition on behalf of the foreign worker through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). The final phase of the green card process is where the foreign worker submits his/her individual application for permanent residence to USCIS, and upon approval, assumes the PERM labor certification role permanently. 

AILA, founded on October 14, 1946, is a voluntary bar association of over 15,000 world-wide attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that provides continuing legal education, information, professional services, and expertise through its 39 chapters and over 50 national committees. Its national headquarters are in Washington, D.C.