H-1B Visa applications: All temporary labor condition applications such as H-1B, E-3 visas and permanent labor certification applications are stored in FLAG.
H-1B Visa applications: If you are living in America and have gone there to work, then an important news has come. Foreign Labor Access Gateway (FLAG) is a portal that helps American companies find qualified employees while ensuring security for American and foreign workers. All Temporary Labor Condition Applications such as H-1B, H-1B1, H-2A, H-2B, E-3 visas and even Permanent Labor Certification Applications (PERM) are also stored in FLAG.
The work of removing these applications from the FLAG system will be started from the beginning of this week.
The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has informed various stakeholders that records will be deleted from the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system from today.
The OFLC has issued a public notice regarding the implementation of the approved Record Control Schedule. Which requires deletion of all old records stored in the Foreign Labor Access Gateway (FLAG) more than 5 years old from the last determination date.
If a US company has cases older than five years from the last determination date in the FLAG system, then they have been asked to download such cases before March 19, 2025.
The following OFLC programs will be affected by the implementation of this new rule:
- Prevailing Wage Determinations (PWD)
- Permanent Labor Certification Applications (PERM)
- Temporary Labor Certification Applications (H-2A, H-2B, CW-1 visas)
- Temporary Labor Condition Applications (H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visas)
The approved record control schedule will be implemented on and after March 20, 2025 (Thursday). The decision to delete eligible case records will be based on the last determination date recorded in the FLAG system for each case. For example, cases with a last determination date of March 21, 2020 will be deleted on March 21, 2025.
The NARA Records Schedule provides disposition instructions for managing agency records. Records classified as “permanent” because of their historical value are transferred to the National Archives of the United States at the end of their retention period. All other records are classified as “temporary” and will be destroyed by the NARA Records Schedule or the Record Control Schedule.
