Maryland Labor Certification Processing Dates
Posted Dec 28, 2001

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Registration (DLLR) announced in mid-December, 2001 that their office is logging in and issuing confirmation of receipt for cases received on April 30, 2001. A remaining 1,500 applications received that day await the logging-in process.

As MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers may be aware, April 30, 2001 was the deadline to file for INA Section 245(i) eligibility under the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (LIFE Act) of December 2000. This provision allows individuals who are out-of-status or who entered the U.S. without being inspected at a designated INS port of entry to adjust to permanent residence, if they are otherwise qualified. In order to benefit from this provision, the individual must be the beneficiary of a labor certification or a family petition filed on or before April 30, 2001. For this reason, extraordinary numbers of cases were filed nationwide on or slightly before April 30, 2001. According to the information released by the Maryland DLLR and other states, local DOL offices did not receive additional funding in connection with the LIFE Act filings.

With respect to case processing, the DLLR reports that they are processing RIR cases received April 5, 2001 and non-RIR cases received March 8, 2001. Of course, these processing dates will be further affected by the glut of cases filed on or immediately before the LIFE Act deadline.

These time frames are similar to those experienced in most other states that are attempting to catch up on the huge volume of cases filed on or before April 30, 2001. We will share information with our MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom readers as and when released by other state labor agencies.