After the 16-day shutdown, the federal government is once again up and
running and the Office of Foreign Labor Certification is once again
accepting and processing applications such as the Temporary Labor
Certification (TLC). Due to delays caused by the shutdown, the
Department of Labor (DOL) is allowing for certain exceptions in the use
and management of PDF versions of TLCs.
DOL issued an announcement on October 21, 2013, that once a TLC is
certified the Chicago National Processing Center will send an email to
an employer and its authorized representative with a PDF version of the
labor certification. The employer should print, sign and date the PDF
file to submit to USCIS with Form I-129, the Petition for Nonimmigrant
Worker.
Normally, USCIS requires that petitioners submit certified TLCs on blue
security papers with original signatures. However, as of October 24,
USCIS will temporarily accept I-129 H-2A petitions filed with just the
copy of a TLC. Signature on the TLC do not need to be original during
this temporary process, which is being implemented due to the time
sensitive nature of agricultural work.
