Any international SLPs dealing with suspicious PERM denials or "gatekeeping" by staffing agencies?

Hi all,

You can ignore this long post if you aren't an international SLP in the US, as I’ll mostly be talking about visa things.

I am currently on an H1B with a staffing company. During my undergrad, I had a wonderful international student advisor who helped me understand the legal aspects of visas and rights that I can have. While a staffing agency wasn't my first choice after graduation, the 90- day time crunch to have a job lined forced my hand.

The one benefit was that they had the know-how regarding visa processing for international students. In most other interviews I had with private practices, hospitals, and even some school districts, I always ended up having to explain my own visa situation and exactly how they would need to support me to work in the US.

I got lucky and was picked for the H1B. I pushed them for an early PERM filing because that was a demand I made during my interview. However, I just received a PERM denial. This feels rare to me because I don't see any legitimate reason that would lead to a denial in my case.

The red flag is that I have never been allowed to get in touch with their immigration lawyer; the company never gives out that information. I’ve spoken with a few others from the same company who were also never allowed to speak with the immigration attorney. Also, most other hires are international educated and they have very little understanding of their visa rights.

Since a PERM can be withdrawn or submitted with missing documents which can lead to a denial or an audit. It pushes back the timeline and forces you to stick with the company longer. I don’t see any other reason why they would hide the denial notice or block direct communication with the lawyer.

My questions:

-Has anyone been through this or noticed similar patterns with their company?

-Has anyone had success obtaining these records using a personal lawyer?

-I am thinking of filing a FOIA request to see the records and check if the filing was intentionally left incomplete to get more info. on if I can appeal the PERM. I don't know if it's worth my budget and hassle but I feel so helpless being left out in the blue.

-Lastly, has anyone been through this before?

Thank you so much if you reached all the way here!