United States | Reminder: FLAG deletion of older work certification records starts March 20

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), gave notice that record deletion from the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system starts at midnight on March 20.

Key Points:

• The deletion of records within FLAG that are older than five years from the final determination date follows the approved National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Record Control Schedule.
• OFLC programs impacted by this implementation include:
  • Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWD)
  • Permanent Labor Certification Applications (PERM)
  • Temporary Labor Certification Applications (H-2A, H-2B and CW-1 visas)
  • Temporary Labor Condition Applications (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 visas)
• To avoid losing important work authorization records, employers and stakeholders should download any cases older than five years from the FLAG system by March 19.

Additional Information: The legacy Permanent Online System that provided public access to permanent labor certification applications and final determinations was fully decommissioned on Dec. 1, 2024. The FLAG System was implemented in 2023 to replace the legacy Permanent Online System, improve customer service and modernize the administration of foreign labor certification programs.

The NARA Records Schedule provides mandatory disposition instructions for managing agency records. Records classified as “permanent” due to historical value are transferred to the National Archives of the United States at the end of their retention period. Under the NARA Records Schedule/Record Control Schedule, all other records are classified as “temporary” and destroyed.

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

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