DOL Clarifies Its "No Expedite" Policy
Posted Oct 08, 2004
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an announcement on September 21, 2004 confirming its nationwide policy of not expediting any cases for any reason. The national policy is that all labor certifications, whether filed through regular processing, RIR, or limited review processing, will be ruled upon by the appropriate offices in the order they are filed. William Carlson, Chief of the Alien Labor Certification Unit for DOL reiterated that, under the national policy, there are no exceptions to this rule and cases cannot be expedited for any reason.
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This policy has been in place for a long time. Not all offices, however, were following the policy. Thus, the DOL felt it was necessary to clarify the matter and assure that the policy and procedure did not differ from location to location.
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While everyone would like his or her case to be processed faster, in most situations it is simply necessary to wait one's turn. There are individuals with compelling reasons to request special attention, however. The reasons that people request expedited action on their labor certifications include the "aging out" of minor children, the necessity of labor certifications for beneficiaries to assert eligibility for relief in removal proceedings, and various humanitarian considerations based upon medical needs of family members. In the past some locations would have granted certain requests to expedite, despite the official national policy to the contrary. The position of the DOL national office is now that all such requests will be denied. All cases will be taken in date order, regardless of the circumstances.
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We support uniformity and the concept that each case is given fair treatment and taken in the order of filing. However, the DOL has long been urged to develop a policy that would allow for expedite requests in emergencies under uniform and transparent procedures. While backlog reduction may go a long way toward ameliorating the situation, there are circumstances that cry out for a mechanism to move a case through more quickly. Prior to the Child Status Protection Act, the Legacy INS was able to expedite cases for children aging out. The consulates were mindful of this problem and often accommodated special requests for these children. There should be a way to obtain some very occasional, isolated, special action on cases involving true emergencies and humanitarian considerations.