On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued Executive Order 14110 on the “Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”
EO 14110 included several directives intended to remove immigration-related impediments that make the U.S. less welcoming to noncitizen talent in the fields of artificial intelligence and other “critical and emerging technologies.”
Among the presidential commands, the Secretary of Labor was ordered to “publish a request for information (RFI) to solicit public input, including from industry and worker-advocate communities, identifying AI and other STEM-related occupations, as well as additional occupations across the economy, for which there is an insufficient number of ready, willing, able, and qualified United States workers.”
In reply, the Department of Labor (DOL) on December 15, 2023 published a request for information (RFI), which invited public comment on or before February 20 2024 asking for stakeholder input on ways to expand an exemption from the standard PERM labor certification recruitment process known as “Schedule A.” If Schedule A is expanded, the change could alleviate labor shortages and shave months, if not years, from a tedious and slow PERM recruitment and employment-based green card application process.
Unfortunately, however, at the request of the AFL-CIO, DOL extended the deadline for comment by 90 extra days, that is, until today.
This blogger, together with David Bier of the Cato Institute and Sam Peak of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, have submitted an extensive comment on several ways to expand Schedule A last week.
DOL must act swiftly to amend Schedule A. Navigating a final rule through the OMB typically takes six months or more.
If the election in November restores former president Trump to the White House, the prospect for an expanded Schedule A are in doubt, as I explain in this article, “Elections Have Consequences: Predicting and Preparing for US Immigration Changes,” coauthored by my Vialto Partners colleague, Manish Daftari.
The time for swift DOL action is now.