PERM
Employers looking to petition a Canadian citizen employee for an employment-based green card under the EB-2 or EB-3 categories must undergo a process known as PERM, which is the first step in the process of obtaining Labor Certification. To do this, the employer must underdo a series of recruiting procedures, such as newspaper advertising, to demonstrate that it was unable to recruit a qualified U.S. worker for that position.
Similar to the H-1B, the U.S. employer must be willing to pay the employee at least the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment. Employing the Canadian citizen must also not adversely affect the wages and conditions of other U.S. workers. Note that the requirement to pay the prevailing wage does not take effect until the employee actually gets their green card.
The employer must also be ready, willing and able to hire the Canadian citizen on a full-time and permanent basis in the future. The job opening must be legitimate and equally available to U.S. workers. Further, the employer must show that it was unable to find any qualified U.S. workers for the position.
Moreover, the proposed job duties and description must be that which is customarily required for that particular occupation, and it cannot be tailored to the Canadian employee’s personal and unique qualifications simply to circumvent the recruiting process. Finally, the employer must retain all supporting documents used to prepare the application at the place of business for five years.
