Paths after a denial
The employer, not the worker, is the applicant in a PERM labor certification, so the employer decides how to respond. One option is a request for reconsideration to the certifying officer, which is generally limited to material already in the record or documentation the employer had no earlier opportunity to submit. Another is a request for review by the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals, which reviews the existing record and legal arguments rather than new evidence. A further option is to start over with fresh recruitment and a new application. Both requests must be filed within a short period after the denial, and if the officer upholds the denial on reconsideration, board review can generally still be requested, so the first choice should be made soon after the letter arrives.
What the denial letter is really saying
Denials often rest on narrow issues: a recruitment step that was missed or documented inconsistently, a job requirement the Department considered unduly restrictive, an error on the form, or an audit response that fell short of what was requested. Some are curable on reconsideration because the record already contains the answer; others are not, and refiling becomes the realistic course. Collect the denial letter, the filed application, the recruitment report, the ads and postings with their dates, the audit file if there was one, and the prevailing wage determination. Reading them side by side shows whether the officer misread the record or the record itself has a gap.
Timing for the worker
The worker's status often depends on what happens next. For someone in H-1B status, extensions beyond the usual limit can depend on having a labor certification or immigrant petition pending, and a denial can affect that position. A review request may keep some options open while it is pending, but appeals board processing can be slow, so many employers pursue a new filing at the same time. A denied application generally does not preserve a priority date for the worker. In a first conversation with the employer, and with the worker's input where appropriate, we look at the stated grounds, the status timeline, and which response or combination fits. We cannot predict how the Department or the board will rule.
