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DOL Restores OFLC Operations During Government Shutdown

By Corona C. Wang
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On October 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the resumption of processing for employer requests related to prevailing wage determinations and labor certifications for both temporary and permanent employment.

Previously, the Office of Foreign Labor Certification’s (OFLC) Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system was taken offline at the outset of the government shutdown on October 1, 2025. During the outage, users were unable to submit new applications or access information associated with pending filings.

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Quick Hits

  • Users of the FLAG system are now able to prepare and submit new requests related to temporary and permanent employment applications, including PERM, H-2A, and H-2B labor certifications.
  • The FLAG system is accepting and processing new labor condition applications (LCAs) for the H-1B, E-3, and H-1B1 categories.
  • The DOL has cautioned that stakeholders might experience longer-than-normal processing and response times as systems return to full operational status.

Key Takeaways

Employers may now resume filing applications for PERM, H-2A, and H-2B labor certifications, as well as requests for prevailing wage determinations. LCAs can now also be submitted and are being processed in the FLAG system. Ongoing agency updates could affect filing strategies as operations return to normal.

Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will publish updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.

This article and more information on how the Trump administration’s actions impact employers can be found on Ogletree Deakins’ Administration Resource Hub.

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Corona C. Wang Profile Image
Corona C. Wang
Senior Counsel, Boston

Topics

Governmental Affairs , Immigration

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