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Reference: 20 CFR Part 656, Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) No. 656 Labor Certifications, and GAL No. 15-95. Background: Over the past 18 months, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has been considering proposals for reengineering the permanent labor certification process in order to increase efficiency in processing, reduce costs, increase protections for U. S. workers, and provide better customer service. To fully achieve all of these reengineering objectives, legislative and/or regulatory changes to the current labor certification process are required. The prospect for legislative changes is speculative, at best, and modification of the regulations could take many months to effectuate. Currently, ETA and SESAs are experiencing increasing workloads and declining staff resources to process labor certification applications. Therefore, to the extent feasible, ETA must institute measures to increase efficiency which are achievable under current regulations in order to reduce large backlogs and make decisions in a timely manner. Action Required: Administrators are requested to: A. Provide the attached policy and procedural guidance to appropriate staff. B. Insure that appropriate staff attend training conducted by the appropriate regional office prior to implementation of these measures. C. Instruct alien labor certification staff to implement the measures for increasing efficiency and follow the procedures in processing permanent labor certification applications. D. Apply these procedures to applications when processing begins on or after the effective date of this GAL. Effective Date: October 1, 1996

Attachments :

Increasing Efficiency in the Permanent Labor Certification Process. To obtain a copy of attachment(s), please contact Deloris Norris of the Office of Regional Management at (202) 219-5585.