Changes to Form 9089 were proposed in the Federal Register on March 25, 2008, and were included in the publication of The PERM Book II in the late Spring of 2008. Attorney Linda Rose authored the article reviewing the new PERM form for the PERM Book II. To date, DOL has not published the new form (which must be approved by OMB), however, the expected changes as reported by Linda are the following:
1. New Form is 17 pages.
2. Foreign Worker's Name is on the first page where it belongs.
3. Employer Name includes a field for "DBA" as well as the number of employees and date business established.
4. Attorneys or Agent continue to share the same fields, muddling the issue of representation of attorneys as legal representatives or merely as agents.
5. Work site addresses are expanded to include Business Premises, Employer Private Households, Employee Residences (where employment is performed by an employee in his/her private residence), or No Specific Work Site. Multiple fields are provided for up to five MSA (metropolitan statistical areas used for prevailing wage determinations).
6. Training, Education, and Experience are more distinguished one from the other, with adequate fields to describe each. (Previously complete and clear information regarding Employer requirements for job preparation were not possible.) Alternative requirements are also delineated with clarity.
7. A new option is provided to describe other work locations such as a list of cities, towns, counties or states that define a geographic region for the work to be performed.
8. The "Magic Language" is now codified on the form so that Employer's may check off whether it applies.
9. Several fields describing potentially restrictive requirements and languages are enlarged to permit the Employer to briefly explain the requirement. This would now enable the DOL to make an initial determination for possible certification without an audit.
If you can't make either of the DOL presentations to peek at the changes on the new, proposed 9089 Form, don't worry. Just look for an update of the new 9089 Form on this Blog as soon as it is available.


