About the PERM process

What is PERM?

PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) is the U.S. Department of Labor's system for processing applications for permanent labor certification — the first step for most employment-based green-card applications. Before a US employer can sponsor a foreign worker for a green card under EB-2 or EB-3, they must prove to DOL that no qualified US worker is available for the role at the prevailing wage. That proof is a PERM application: ETA Form 9089.

PERM is not the green card itself. A certified PERM is the prerequisite for filing Form I-140 with USCIS, which then opens the door to filing I-485 (adjustment of status) once a visa number is available. PERM is one stage of a multi-year process.

The four stages

Typical timelines

These are observational averages from the live FLAG data we track. Your individual case can vary by ±3 months depending on your office (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas), employer name (cases are alphabetical within a submit month), and whether DOL pulls the case for audit.

How DOL orders cases

Within a single processing center, cases are processed in this order:

1. By submit month. Older months come first. DOL finishes (or nearly finishes) one month before substantially advancing into the next.
2. Alphabetically by employer name within the month. Cases for "Adobe" are decided before "Salesforce" for the same submit month. This is the single biggest individual-level predictor of when a specific case will resolve.
3. Audited cases are processed separately. Once flagged for audit, they leave the main queue and join a slower one.

Where the data on this site comes from

We pull from two public sources:

• DOL quarterly disclosure files (the historical record). Every quarter, DOL publishes an XLSX with every PERM case it decided that quarter. We import these in full. They have a ~12–18 month lag (the most recent file covers cases decided last quarter).
• DOL FLAG case-status API (the live signal). For cases not yet in any disclosure, we query FLAG directly. This gives us cases still in flight, not yet decided.

Combined, this lets us answer both "how long did similar cases take?" (from disclosures) and "what is DOL processing right now?" (from FLAG).

Important caveats

• This is not legal advice. The information here is for orientation only. Talk to your employer's immigration attorney for decisions that affect your case.
• Predictions are signals, not guarantees. We use recent processing speed and queue position to estimate completion dates. DOL can change pace at any time.
• Audit selection is unpredictable. We cannot tell you whether your case will be audited.
• Status changes can lag a few hours. We poll FLAG daily; for the freshest status of your specific case, use the per-case detail page which can refresh on demand.

Where to go next