Labor certification is a process by which an employer in the United States certifies to the Department of Labor that they are unable to obtain or hire a qualified employee in the United States to perform a job that their company needs to fill. As a result, the employer is trying to petition for an alien to fill that position.

In order to file a labor certification, an employer needs to create a description of the position that needs to be filled, including all of its requirements. In order for a person to qualify for labor certification, they must meet all of those requirements.

The petitioner for the labor certification is the company that is willing to sponsor a foreign national to fulfill a position within a United States company.

A labor certification from start to approval may take anywhere from eight to 12 months, as there are different steps that need to be completed to get the labor certification approved.

The first step in labor certification involves the employer defining the job description. With that job description, the employer will request that the Department of Labor provide a prevailing wage determination. A prevailing wage determination is the amount that the Department of Labor establishes for the type of position in the specific geographical region where the job will be held.

After the employer obtains the prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor, they have to advertise the job in an attempt to fill it from within the local job market. If the employer is not able to find someone who is qualified and available to do the job, then the employer will submit the labor certification with the Department of Labor. By doing so, they would be attesting to the government that they are unable to fill the position with US workers, and therefore must hire an alien to fill the position.

An employer must obtain a prevailing wage determination because that is the only way in which they could advertise the position. The employer has to determine whether or not there are people in the local labor market who are available to take that position, and wage is one of the most important factors in making that determination. Therefore, before any ads can be published, the employer must know exactly how much the Department of Labor says that someone has to earn for the position.

An employer needs to publish ads for their position in order to attest to the Department of Labor that there is no one from the local market available to fill the position.