In normal labor certification cases, after filing labor certification, the employer has to do recruitment efforts to prove that no qualified US workers are available to do the given job. In RIR, the employers proves to the Department of Labor that they have already made sincere, fair and adequate recruitment effort to hire local US workers within the six months immediately preceding the filing of the labor certification application and they were unsuccessful. Internet advertisements are mostly not accepted and it is best to have print advertisements. If an employer receives resumes in response to its recruitment, they should be submitted along with the RIR application. (If the US workers who responded to the ads were rejected for subjective reasons that are not measurable or object, whether to approve RIR application or not would be decided on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the certifying officer) This evidence is submitted at the time the Forms ETA 750A and ETA 750B are initially submitted to the Department of Labor. If the Department of Labor decides that the prior recruitment efforts are acceptable, the employer does not have to go through that recruitment effort again and hence the case would be put on 'fast track' and hence the labor certification process may be much faster than the normal process.

So every one should try to apply for labor certification in RIR, if possible. The possibility of the rate of approval of RIR cases may probably be reduced in some DOL regions where the time difference between normal processing and RIR processing is too high. That is just the speculation and may or may not be true. At many DOLs, the applicants might have to wait for many years before their normal case is approved.

The recruitment effort should be according to normal industry standards and it should provide evidence of a pattern of recruitment. A three day ad in a single publication or a single type of advertising does not constitute an acceptable pattern.

The job duties/responsibilities listed on the application must not exceed the normal descriptions of the jobs. The application must list only the minimum requirements as to experience, training, and education. Thus, it should not have any restrictive requirements and it should meet the prevailing wage requirements in local area for that job. RIR application may be denied if there are any special qualifications required in the job description as it may become specifically tailored according to alien's qualifications and it would be unfair advantage to the alien. Substantial variations between the job description on labor certification and the advertisements are not permitted. So the labor certification may end up being too generic. Normally, if RIR application is rejected for whatever reason, labor certification process needs to be started all over again and mere transfer of case to normal processing won't work. But some DOL offices go ahead and process the petition it as a Normal Labor Certification.

Each DOL regional office is undertaking different approach regarding RIR. Some offices permit RIR processing for all occupations, provided the employer can show lack of availability of local workers. Other regions have lists of 'shortage occupations' and will only process applications for occupations on that list. Some regions require at least one print ad in each of the six months preceding the filing of the application. Some offices will allow employers to show less print advertising, depending upon the ads and the job involved. Some offices don't even allow RIR applications for anybody, any occupation.

The DOL tends to favor large established companies over small new ones. Large companies are more likely to have ongoing personnel needs and established recruitment practices, whereas a small company will generally be looking only to fill a specific position. Therefore, the DOL is more likely to give the larger company the benefit of the doubt.

High Shortage Occupations and Regions will have a better chance at successful RIR than others. If the DOL recognizes a general need for personnel in a given occupation or region, they are more likely to approve the RIR. (That is true for computer professionals up to some extent.)

Some applicants might have applied the labor certification as the regular case because there was no RIR available at the time of filing or the employer could not meet the requirements of RIR. If the situation changes and now the employer is in position to apply for RIR, the applicant either continues on regular case or withdraws it and re-file it as an RIR case. Both RIR and non-RIR case simultaneously for same employer, same employee, same job and same job location is not allowed. Note that if you re-file the case as RIR, Section 245(i) 'grandfathering' eligibility can be maintained. (section 245(i) 'grandfathering' allows for the applicants to adjust status in US by paying $1000 fine if they had stayed in US while out of status and their priority date is before January 14, 1998.)