WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest immigration law firm is under federal scrutiny over whether it helped major U.S. corporations disqualify American job applicants and give thousands of high-paying positions to immigrants.
The unprecedented Labor Department inquiry centers on Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, a New York firm at the forefront of a bid to ease hiring of skilled foreign workers.
The department is auditing all pending applications for legal immigrant workers that the firm has filed on behalf of clients.
Fragomen’s client roster includes General Electric, IBM, Intel and Cisco Systems.
The inquiry focuses on the applications filed by the firm. There was no indication the companies were under scrutiny.
The Labor Department said that Fragomen may have improperly advised clients to contact a Fragomen attorney before hiring “apparently qualified” U.S. workers.
The audit focuses on what is known as the permanent foreign-labor certification, or PERM, process. Companies normally use it to permanently hire legal immigrants who have been working for them on temporary visas. It essentially allows companies to sponsor workers for green cards, the first step to U.S. citizenship.
Before applying, companies must recruit and try to find a qualified U.S. worker for the same job. If they do, they can’t hire the foreigner.
