BECs Update
Posted Sep 23, 2005
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provided some information in mid-September 2005 regarding the progress of the Backlog Processing Centers (BPCs), also sometimes referred to as the Backlog Elimination Centers (BECs). The DOL confirms that, in addition to the approximately 345,000 cases forwarded to the BPCs, cases are still pending and being processed by the DOL San Francisco Regional Office, as well as the New York Regional Office. These offices are scheduled to remain open until January 2006.
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Data Entry - 45-Day Letters
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The DOL reports that they have completed full or partial data entry on about 90 percent of the cases. In order for them to issue a 45-day letter, they must have completed ALL data entry. They estimate that at least 100,000 cases (approximately 29 percent of the total cases) have not been fully entered. They give a timeframe of a few more months to complete the data entry and the issuance of the 45-day letter on all cases.
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RIR / Regular LC Cases Status
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The BPCs are adjudicating both RIR and regular (non-RIR) cases. They are only working on those non-RIR cases for which recruitment was completed prior to the transfer of the case to the BPC, however. They will ready themselves for the non-RIR cases that require advertising and related matters over the next few months.
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Progress of BPC Cases
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At The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, we continue to see approvals of BPC cases on a regular basis. They report that they have adjudicated tens of thousands of cases. We reported on the approvals received in our Office in July and August 2005, in our August 19, 2005 article, BPCs Continue Approving Cases - August 5-12, 2005, available on MurthyDotCom. We have continued to track this development for the benefit of MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers. We received about twenty approvals between August 15 and September 14, 2005.
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Philadelphia BPC
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Of those twenty approvals received over approximately one month, fourteen were processed through the Philadelphia BPC. Twelve of these fourteen cases were initially filed in Maryland. The other two were filed in Virginia. The Maryland cases ranged from priority dates of June 2001 to several that had March 2002 priority dates. The two Virginia cases had priority dates of March and April 2002. Thus, as before, we note that it is a rather imperfect FIFO (First-In / First-Out) system, with representation from only two states. While The Law Office of Sheela Murthy is based in Maryland, our clients are located all over the United States.
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Dallas BPC
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The remaining seven approvals were from the Dallas BPC. Three states were represented in the approvals we received: Texas, Michigan, and Ohio. The oldest Texas case had a priority date of October 2002. The more recent ones had been filed in January 2003. The single Michigan case had a priority date of January 2003. The Ohio cases were filed in December 2002 and January 2003.
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We will continue to update MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers regarding the BPCs. These cases become even more important, as drastic visa cutoff dates have been established in EB2 and EB3. More information on this current immigration topic is available in our MurthyBulletin article, Retrogression : Useful Information on MurthyDotCom! The prospect of gaining a benefit by re-filing one's labor certification under PERM is reduced as visa numbers become unavailable from October 1, 2005, for all but the oldest cases. The further retrogression of priority dates confirms our position earlier in 2005, which stressed the importance of filing RIR or regular LC cases before PERM became effective, since obtaining an earlier priority date again becomes critical towards filing the last stage of the process for the green card.