United States | DOL publishes request for input on possible Schedule A revisions

The Department of Labor has asked for public input on whether to revise its list of Schedule A job classifications that do not require permanent labor certification.

Key Points:

• In October, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which included several provisions designed to streamline immigration procedures to help keep the United States competitive in AI and other emerging technological fields.
• One of the provisions directed DOL to consider additions to the Schedule A list of occupations by soliciting public input to identify occupations in AI, STEM and other sectors for which there are an insufficient number of ready, willing, able and qualified U.S. workers.
• On Thursday, DOL published a Request for Information on Schedule A revisions. The deadline for submitting comments is Feb. 20, 2024.

BAL Analysis: Green cards in the EB-2 and EB-3 classifications generally require permanent labor certification, or PERM; however, PERM is not required for occupations on the Schedule A list of shortage occupations. Schedule A has not been revised since 2004, and the DOL’s move to ask for public input is a welcome development towards modernizing the list and the process for revising it. This is a preliminary step in the rulemaking process, and several steps must be completed before the list can be updated. BAL will continue following this matter and will provide updates as information becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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