Lynn O’Brien Discusses Department of Labor’s Green Card Application Suspensions with Bloomberg Law

Womble Bond Dickinson Immigraton attorney Lynn O’Brien recently spoke with Bloomberg Law about several major companies being barred by the U.S. Department of Labor from filing permanent labor certification (PERM) applications. These applications are the first step in the most common employment-based green card process.

The Department of Labor announced the suspensions for companies, many in the tech industry, for unspecified alleged violations. PERM applications require employers to show that qualified willing, available U.S. workers did not apply for the posted position.

These companies include some of the largest employers of H-1B workers. However, O’Brien said these actions could scare smaller employers, who only hire a few green card workers, from submitting PERM applications.

“These are the kinds of things that keep immigration attorneys up at night,” she told Bloomberg Law. “We’re damaging U.S. companies who don’t have big armies of attorneys or the big pocketbooks of larger organizations.”

Click here to read “Employers Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions to Green Card Sponsor Bans” at Bloomberg Law.