Kevin Keane

Sometimes. Most Canadian non-immigrants do not need one. Exception are E treaty traders, the K visas for fiances and spouses of US citizens, and certain government officials and diplomats. Canadian immigrants do need an immigrant visa. Details are available from the US Consulates in Canada.

Sometimes. Most Canadians traveling to the USA simply drive to the border and are waved through. This indicates that they are admitted as tourists for up to six months. If your intent is anything else, you must stop at the office and fill out an I-94 that corresponds to your desired status. Of course, you'll also need the appropriate documentation. There is a small fee for the I-94; if you fly or take a ship, the fee is built into your fare.

This question is answered on the H-1B page.

No, unless you are a University teacher. In all other professions, the American candidate who is just minimally sufficiently qualified has to be hired over a better-qualified foreign applicant. For this reason, it is important to carefully write the job description.

Universities are allowed to hire the best qualified applicant, for teaching or research positions, though.

This question was inspired by Veronica.

A better question would be, what do they have in common? The answer is, nearly nothing but the first two letters of the acronym.

The LCA, or Labor Condition Attestation, is used during the H-1B process. In the LCA, the employer simply attests (that is, states) that the employment condition for the foreign worker will be the same as for Americans. In particular, the salary, hours worked, benefits etc. need to be the same, and the foreign worker cannot be hired during a strike or lockout.

The LC, or Labor Certification is used during the Green Card process. In the Labor Certification process, Department of Labor actively gets involved and proves (and then certifies) that there is no American who would work in the given job.

The biggest difference is that the Labor Certification cannot be approved if there is even a single American who has the minimum qualifications. An LCA does not even require testing the labor market.

The petition is the second step in the process of obtaining an employment-based Green Card. It is often also called the I-140, because this is the form number used to file the petition.

Basically, in a petition, the employer informs USCIS "I would like to hire a non-American. I have proof that this person is qualified for the job, and I also have proof that there is no American worker available. Please allow this person to apply for a Green Card." In other words, the employer applies for permission for you to apply for a Green Card.

PERM is the current method for filing Labor Certifications, since March 28, 2005. The general idea is that, to reduce the bureaucratic red tape, PERM will be an attestation-based system similar to the H-1B Labor Condition Attestation. That is, the employer will simply sign a statement saying that "I conducted good-faith recruitment efforts without success." The Department of Labor would generally approve these PERM Labor Certifications very quickly, but audit some.

In recent years, Department of Labor has substantially increased the auditing of these PERM applications.

 

This is also occasionally described as "directed recruitment". Like RIR, this method of getting a Labor Certification is no longer available as of March 2005.

The regular process was, as the name suggests, the original form of Labor Certification.The employer would file the Labor Certification. Department of Labor would then direct the employer exactly how to advertise the job, including the exact wording and size of the newspaper ad, and which day and which newspaper to use. Department of Labor would then review every received resume before forwarding it to the employer for an interview. The employer would have to explain for each American why that person was not acceptable.

As this description suggests, the regular process was highly bureaucratic and took several years to complete.

RIR stands for Reduction in Recruitment. It is a method of getting a Labor Certification that has been in use until March 2005 and is no longer available.

If your employer already filed an RIR Labor Certification before March 2005, it has been transferred to a Backlog Reduction Center. You can request that it will be converted to a PERM Labor Certification. However, there are some drawbacks that you should discuss with your attorney.

Conceptually, the Labor Certification is proof that the employer needs to hire somebody from outside the USA because the position cannot be filled with an American.

The process by which you get a Labor Certification is known as PERM.

Important points to remember:

• Your employer needs to offer at least the prevailing wage for this occupation. This is to ensure that you didn't get the job simply because you underbid Americans.
• Your employer needs to keep track of any received resumes, and why the applicants were not hired.
• Unusually restrictive job requirements need to be justified. In particular, foreign language skills require a very solid business reason.
• Advertising in a newspaper is a must. Internet-only advertising is not acceptable, although Department of Labor now does recognize the Internet as one allowable venue.

The employer needs to provide proof that he contacted all applicants (using certified mail with return receipt requested). Unless the applicant indicates that he is no longer interested, the employer must also invite the applicant for an interview, and then carefully keep track of the reason why each applicant was denied the job. The list of reasons why an applicant can be denied is relatively short. Generally, the applicant can only be denied because he does not possess a skill that is listed on the Labor Certification application. Of course, certain general conditions can also justify a denial, but these need to be fairly extreme. For instance, a case such as as "applicant showed up two hours late and inebriated for the interview" would probably be sufficient.