Open Government Initiative: Implementation of the iCERT Labor Certification Registry for the H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and Permanent Labor Certification Employment-Based Immigration Programs, 5210-5211 [2013-01406]
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5210
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 16 / Thursday, January 24, 2013 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training
Administration
Open Government Initiative:
Implementation of the iCERT Labor
Certification Registry for the H–1B, H–
1B1, E–3, H–2A, H–2B and Permanent
Labor Certification Employment-Based
Immigration Programs
Employment and Training
Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) is
announcing a new initiative to make
available to the general public
appropriately redacted copies of H–1B,
H–1B1, E–3, H–2A, H–2B and
permanent labor certification
documents through its iCERT Visa
Portal System. This new online tool,
formally called the iCERT Labor
Certification Registry (LCR), is a
component of the Department of Labor’s
Open Government initiative and
provides an additional level of
transparency for the labor certification
decisions issued by the ETA Office of
Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC). The
iCERT LCR provides searchable access
to copies of labor certification
documents and labor condition
application documents as well as the
latest quarterly and annual case file
datasets through a single location.
Public access to the iCERT LCR will be
available at https://icert.doleta.gov
beginning July 1, 2013.
DATES: Effective July 1, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information, contact William L.
Carlson, Ph.D., Administrator, Office of
Foreign Labor Certification, ETA, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW., Room C–4312,
Washington, DC 20210; Telephone (202)
693–3010 (this is not a toll-free
number). Individuals with hearing or
speech impairments may access the
telephone number above via TTY by
calling the toll-free Federal Information
Relay Service at 1–800–877–8339.
For technical issues related to the
Department’s implementation of the
labor certification registry, please
contact the iCERT Visa Portal System
Team, Office of Foreign Labor
Certification (OFLC) by email at
oflc.portal@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
erowe on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with
SUMMARY:
I. Background
The Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA) assigns specific responsibilities to
the U.S. Secretary of Labor for the
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:12 Jan 23, 2013
Jkt 229001
administration of certain employmentbased immigration programs that
require either a labor certification or, in
the case of an H–1B, H–1B1, or E–3 visa,
a labor condition application (LCA).
These statutory responsibilities include,
in the case of labor certifications,
determining whether there are able,
willing, and qualified U.S. workers for
a position for which certification is
requested and whether there would be
any adverse impact on similarly
employed U.S. workers should labor
certification be granted. Statutory and
regulatory provisions require all
employers seeking a labor certification
for either permanent or temporary
nonimmigrant labor to first apply to the
Secretary of Labor for certification or for
an LCA. The Secretary has delegated the
responsibilities for the administration of
these programs to the Employment and
Training Administration’s (ETA) Office
of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC).
Foreign labor certification programs
have as a primary responsibility the
review of employer-filed applications
requesting the Secretary of Labor’s
certification to ensure that the hiring of
a foreign worker will not adversely
impact the wages and working
conditions of U.S. workers, and that no
qualified U.S. workers are willing or
available to fill a given vacancy.
As a component of the Department of
Labor’s (the Department) Open
Government initiative, the OFLC is
implementing a new Labor Certification
Registry (LCR) through its iCERT Visa
Portal System that provides the general
public access to appropriately redacted
copies of labor certification documents
issued to employers in the H–1B, H–
1B1, E–3, H–2A, H–2B and permanent
labor certification programs. The iCERT
LCR provides the public with a single,
easy to search, location to the OFLC’s
labor certification and LCA documents
as well as the office’s latest quarterly
and annual case disclosure data. Public
release of these documents and data
provides an additional level of
transparency while respecting any
personally identifiable information.
OFLC has taken steps to ensure that
private, sensitive, or legally protected
information will be redacted, as
appropriate.
This initiative is in compliance with
the Privacy Act, the Trade Secrets Act
and the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act.
We have taken steps to ensure that
appropriate information will be
redacted in connection with the
Department’s responsibilities, or
potential responsibilities, pursuant to
these statutes. This information will
change depending upon the form, but
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Frm 00047
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
will include data such as the Federal
Employer Identification Number (FEIN)
of the employer, revenue reported by
the employer, and the name, address
and class of admission of the foreign
worker.
Prior to this public database becoming
available, access to OFLC labor
certification and LCA documents
typically required submitting a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request
directly to the Department and waiting
for a response. For the first time, the
iCERT LCR will provide the general
public with real-time access to
appropriately redacted copies of current
and historical labor certification and
LCA documents that are searchable
across a series of common data points.
OFLC anticipates that public access to
labor certification and LCA documents
through the iCERT LCR will
significantly reduce the need for
individuals to request and obtain such
documents through the Department’s
FOIA process.
II. Labor Certification Registry
Availability and Functional
Components
Public access to the LCR will be
available through the iCERT Visa Portal
System at https://icert.doleta.gov. The
public will not be required to create an
iCERT system account in order to access
documents and information contained
on the registry. All documents placed
on the LCR (e.g., ETA 9142, ETA 9035E)
will be accessible in either Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) or
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
format and contain certain information
from official labor certifications and
LCAs issued by the OFLC. The iCERT
LCR will not, however, disclose data or
information subject to privacy, security,
or privilege limitations.
The functional components of the
iCERT LCR are built upon and fully
integrated with the iCERT H–2A Public
Job Registry, which was released on July
1, 2010, as part of the Department’s
implementation of the H–2A 2010 Final
Rule and will provide the public with
the following functional features:
• An interactive map of U.S. states
and territories displaying all labor
certification and LCA documents posted
within the last 30 calendar days;
• A ‘‘quick search’’ feature from the
main home page allowing users to
execute basic queries along a common
set of data points including the ETA
case number, visa classification,
employer name, job title, industry, state
or territory, zip code radius, and posting
date range;
• An advanced search feature
allowing users to conduct more detailed
E:\FR\FM\24JAN1.SGM
24JAN1
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 16 / Thursday, January 24, 2013 / Notices
searches based on occupations,
industries, education and training, range
of wage offers, worker positions
requested, and dates of employment;
• Easy-to-understand search results
displayed in a table format with sortable
column headings, select data points to
further filter the search results, and
quick links to view or download the
document in either redacted Adobe PDF
or HTML format;
• Access to OFLC’s latest program
annual and quarterly performance
reports and case file datasets in easily
accessible formats for performing more
in-depth longitudinal statistical research
and analysis; and
• Access to important social media
platforms for users to stay connected to
the Department’s Open Government
initiative and provide meaningful
feedback.
Initially, the iCERT LCR will provide
the public with access to appropriately
redacted copies of H–1B, H–1B1, E–3,
H–2A, H–2B and permanent labor
certification documents issued by the
OFLC on or after April 15, 2009; the
date on which the iCERT Visa Portal
System was implemented. Beginning
July 1, 2013, the iCERT LCR will post
for public access all labor certification
documents no later than 2 business days
after the official decision is rendered.
III. Help Desk
Those members of the public needing
technical assistance accessing or
searching the Labor Certification
Registry should direct requests to the
iCERT System Team, OFLC, at
oflc.portal@dol.gov, and include ‘‘Labor
Certification Registry—Technical
Assistance’’ in the subject line of the
email.
Signed in Washington, DC, this 14th day of
January 2013.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013–01406 Filed 1–23–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Proposed Collection, Comment
Request
ACTION:
Notice.
The Department of Labor, as
part of its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent burden,
conducts a pre-clearance consultation
program to provide the general public
and Federal agencies with an
erowe on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:12 Jan 23, 2013
Jkt 229001
opportunity to comment on proposed
and/or continuing collections of
information in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This
program helps to ensure that requested
data can be provided in the desired
format, reporting burden (time and
financial resources) is minimized,
collection instruments are clearly
understood, and the impact of collection
requirements on respondents can be
properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments
concerning the proposed reinstatement,
with change, of a previously approved
collection for which approval has
expired collection of the ‘‘National
Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997.’’ A
copy of the proposed information
collection request (ICR) can be obtained
by contacting the individual listed in
the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted to the office listed in the
Addresses section below on or before
March 25, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora
Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer,
Division of Management Systems,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080,
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE.,
Washington, DC 20212. Written
comments also may be transmitted by
fax to 202–691–5111 (this is not a toll
free number).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer,
202–691–7628 (this is not a toll free
number). (See ADDRESSES section.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth 1997 (NLSY97) is a nationally
representative sample of persons who
were born in the years 1980 to 1984.
These respondents were ages 12–17
when the first round of annual
interviews began in 1997; starting with
round sixteen, the NLSY97 will be
conducted on a biennial basis. Round
sixteen interviews will occur from
September 2013 to May 2014. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
contracts with the National Opinion
Research Center (NORC) at the
University of Chicago to conduct the
NLSY97. The primary objective of the
survey is to study the transition from
schooling to the establishment of careers
and families. The longitudinal focus of
this survey requires information to be
collected from the same individuals
over many years in order to trace their
education, training, work experience,
fertility, income, and program
participation.
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5211
One of the goals of the Department of
Labor (DOL) is to produce and
disseminate timely, accurate, and
relevant information about the U.S.
labor force. The BLS contributes to this
goal by gathering information about the
labor force and labor market and
disseminating it to policymakers and
the public so that participants in those
markets can make more informed, and
thus more efficient, choices. Research
based on the NLSY97 contributes to the
formation of national policy in the areas
of education, training, work experience,
fertility, income, and program
participation. In addition to the reports
that the BLS produces based on data
from the NLSY97, members of the
academic community publish articles
and reports based on NLSY97 data for
the DOL and other funding agencies. To
date, approximately 266 articles
examining NLSY97 data have been
published in scholarly journals. The
survey design provides data gathered
from the same respondents over time to
form the only dataset that contains this
type of information for this important
population group. Without the
collection of these data, an accurate
longitudinal dataset could not be
provided to researchers and
policymakers, thus adversely affecting
the DOL’s ability to perform its policyand report-making activities.
II. Current Action
The BLS seeks approval to conduct
round 16 of annual interviews of the
NLSY97. Respondents to the NLSY97
will undergo an interview of
approximately 61 minutes during which
they will answer questions about
schooling and labor market experiences,
family relationships, and community
background.
During the fielding period for the
main round 16 interviews, about 2
percent of respondents will be asked to
participate in a brief validation
interview a few weeks after the initial
interview. The purpose of the validation
interview is to verify that the initial
interview took place as the interviewer
reported and to assess the data quality
of selected questionnaire items.
The BLS plans to record randomly
selected segments of the main
interviews during round 16. Recording
interviews helps the BLS and NORC to
ensure that the interviews actually took
place and interviewers are reading the
questions exactly as worded and
entering the responses properly.
Recording also helps to identify parts of
the interview that might be causing
problems or misunderstanding for
interviewers or respondents. Each
respondent will be informed that the
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 16 (Thursday, January 24, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5210-5211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01406]
[[Page 5210]]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Open Government Initiative: Implementation of the iCERT Labor
Certification Registry for the H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and
Permanent Labor Certification Employment-Based Immigration Programs
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is announcing
a new initiative to make available to the general public appropriately
redacted copies of H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and permanent labor
certification documents through its iCERT Visa Portal System. This new
online tool, formally called the iCERT Labor Certification Registry
(LCR), is a component of the Department of Labor's Open Government
initiative and provides an additional level of transparency for the
labor certification decisions issued by the ETA Office of Foreign Labor
Certification (OFLC). The iCERT LCR provides searchable access to
copies of labor certification documents and labor condition application
documents as well as the latest quarterly and annual case file datasets
through a single location. Public access to the iCERT LCR will be
available at https://icert.doleta.gov beginning July 1, 2013.
DATES: Effective July 1, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact
William L. Carlson, Ph.D., Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor
Certification, ETA, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue
NW., Room C-4312, Washington, DC 20210; Telephone (202) 693-3010 (this
is not a toll-free number). Individuals with hearing or speech
impairments may access the telephone number above via TTY by calling
the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.
For technical issues related to the Department's implementation of
the labor certification registry, please contact the iCERT Visa Portal
System Team, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) by email at
oflc.portal@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) assigns specific
responsibilities to the U.S. Secretary of Labor for the administration
of certain employment-based immigration programs that require either a
labor certification or, in the case of an H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 visa, a
labor condition application (LCA). These statutory responsibilities
include, in the case of labor certifications, determining whether there
are able, willing, and qualified U.S. workers for a position for which
certification is requested and whether there would be any adverse
impact on similarly employed U.S. workers should labor certification be
granted. Statutory and regulatory provisions require all employers
seeking a labor certification for either permanent or temporary
nonimmigrant labor to first apply to the Secretary of Labor for
certification or for an LCA. The Secretary has delegated the
responsibilities for the administration of these programs to the
Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) Office of Foreign Labor
Certification (OFLC). Foreign labor certification programs have as a
primary responsibility the review of employer-filed applications
requesting the Secretary of Labor's certification to ensure that the
hiring of a foreign worker will not adversely impact the wages and
working conditions of U.S. workers, and that no qualified U.S. workers
are willing or available to fill a given vacancy.
As a component of the Department of Labor's (the Department) Open
Government initiative, the OFLC is implementing a new Labor
Certification Registry (LCR) through its iCERT Visa Portal System that
provides the general public access to appropriately redacted copies of
labor certification documents issued to employers in the H-1B, H-1B1,
E-3, H-2A, H-2B and permanent labor certification programs. The iCERT
LCR provides the public with a single, easy to search, location to the
OFLC's labor certification and LCA documents as well as the office's
latest quarterly and annual case disclosure data. Public release of
these documents and data provides an additional level of transparency
while respecting any personally identifiable information. OFLC has
taken steps to ensure that private, sensitive, or legally protected
information will be redacted, as appropriate.
This initiative is in compliance with the Privacy Act, the Trade
Secrets Act and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act. We have taken steps to ensure that appropriate
information will be redacted in connection with the Department's
responsibilities, or potential responsibilities, pursuant to these
statutes. This information will change depending upon the form, but
will include data such as the Federal Employer Identification Number
(FEIN) of the employer, revenue reported by the employer, and the name,
address and class of admission of the foreign worker.
Prior to this public database becoming available, access to OFLC
labor certification and LCA documents typically required submitting a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request directly to the Department
and waiting for a response. For the first time, the iCERT LCR will
provide the general public with real-time access to appropriately
redacted copies of current and historical labor certification and LCA
documents that are searchable across a series of common data points.
OFLC anticipates that public access to labor certification and LCA
documents through the iCERT LCR will significantly reduce the need for
individuals to request and obtain such documents through the
Department's FOIA process.
II. Labor Certification Registry Availability and Functional Components
Public access to the LCR will be available through the iCERT Visa
Portal System at https://icert.doleta.gov. The public will not be
required to create an iCERT system account in order to access documents
and information contained on the registry. All documents placed on the
LCR (e.g., ETA 9142, ETA 9035E) will be accessible in either Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) or HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
format and contain certain information from official labor
certifications and LCAs issued by the OFLC. The iCERT LCR will not,
however, disclose data or information subject to privacy, security, or
privilege limitations.
The functional components of the iCERT LCR are built upon and fully
integrated with the iCERT H-2A Public Job Registry, which was released
on July 1, 2010, as part of the Department's implementation of the H-2A
2010 Final Rule and will provide the public with the following
functional features:
An interactive map of U.S. states and territories
displaying all labor certification and LCA documents posted within the
last 30 calendar days;
A ``quick search'' feature from the main home page
allowing users to execute basic queries along a common set of data
points including the ETA case number, visa classification, employer
name, job title, industry, state or territory, zip code radius, and
posting date range;
An advanced search feature allowing users to conduct more
detailed
[[Page 5211]]
searches based on occupations, industries, education and training,
range of wage offers, worker positions requested, and dates of
employment;
Easy-to-understand search results displayed in a table
format with sortable column headings, select data points to further
filter the search results, and quick links to view or download the
document in either redacted Adobe PDF or HTML format;
Access to OFLC's latest program annual and quarterly
performance reports and case file datasets in easily accessible formats
for performing more in-depth longitudinal statistical research and
analysis; and
Access to important social media platforms for users to
stay connected to the Department's Open Government initiative and
provide meaningful feedback.
Initially, the iCERT LCR will provide the public with access to
appropriately redacted copies of H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, H-2A, H-2B and
permanent labor certification documents issued by the OFLC on or after
April 15, 2009; the date on which the iCERT Visa Portal System was
implemented. Beginning July 1, 2013, the iCERT LCR will post for public
access all labor certification documents no later than 2 business days
after the official decision is rendered.
III. Help Desk
Those members of the public needing technical assistance accessing
or searching the Labor Certification Registry should direct requests to
the iCERT System Team, OFLC, at oflc.portal@dol.gov, and include
``Labor Certification Registry--Technical Assistance'' in the subject
line of the email.
Signed in Washington, DC, this 14th day of January 2013.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-01406 Filed 1-23-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FP-P
