PERM Labor Certification Process: Steps and Deadlines

Immigration · 19 October 2026

Most employer-sponsored green cards do not start at USCIS. They start at the U.S. Department of Labor, with a process called PERM labor certification, and that is where most of the work in an employment-based case sits. This guide walks through the steps in the order they happen, with the deadlines that matter at each one. It is written for employers and for the professionals they want to sponsor, and it is current as of October 19, 2026.

What PERM is, and who needs it

A permanent labor certification lets an employer hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States. Before granting one, the Department of Labor has to be satisfied that there are not sufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified and available for the job, and that the hire will not hurt the wages and working conditions of similar U.S. workers. The Department’s own overview is on its PERM program page.

Labor certification is usually required for the EB-2 category (advanced degrees and exceptional ability) and the EB-3 category (skilled workers, professionals and other workers). Two important exceptions skip it. A National Interest Waiver asks USCIS to waive the job offer, and with it the labor certification. And for occupations on the Department of Labor’s Schedule A, the Department has already decided there are not enough U.S. workers; USCIS lists them as professional nurses and physical therapists (Group I) and people of exceptional ability in the sciences or arts, including college and university teachers, and in the performing arts (Group II).

One point surprises many workers: in a PERM case, the applicant is the employer, not the employee. The employer runs the recruitment, signs the attestations and files the application.

Step 1: the prevailing wage

The employer first asks the Department of Labor’s National Processing Center for a prevailing wage determination (20 CFR 656.40). Where a collective bargaining agreement covers the job, its rate applies; otherwise the prevailing wage is generally the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in the area of intended employment, usually taken from the Department’s occupational wage survey unless the employer submits an acceptable survey of its own.

The determination comes with a validity period of between 90 days and one year, and the employer has to file the application or begin the required recruitment within that period to use it. The wage the employer offers must be at least the prevailing wage, and the employer later attests to that under penalty of perjury.

Step 2: recruitment, or testing the labor market

This is the heart of PERM. The employer has to show, through real recruitment, that no qualified U.S. worker applied for the job. For professional occupations, 20 CFR 656.17(e) requires two mandatory steps:

• a job order placed with the State Workforce Agency serving the area of intended employment, for 30 days; and
• two print advertisements on two different Sundays in a newspaper of general circulation in the area (where the job requires experience and an advanced degree, one of them may be an advertisement in a professional journal).

The employer also chooses three additional steps from a list of ten in the regulation: job fairs, the employer’s own website, other job search websites, on-campus recruiting, trade or professional organizations, private employment firms, an employee referral program with incentives, a campus placement office, local or ethnic newspapers, and radio or television advertisements.

Timing is where cases go wrong. The two mandatory steps must be conducted at least 30 days, but no more than 180 days, before the application is filed. Only one of the three additional steps may fall within the 30 days before filing, and none may be more than 180 days before it. For nonprofessional jobs, the job order and two newspaper advertisements are the minimum, inside the same window.

The advertisements themselves have rules. Each has to name the employer, direct applicants to the employer, describe the job, state the geographic area, and offer a wage no lower than the prevailing wage, and none may add requirements or terms less favorable than those in the application.

Separately, the employer must give a notice of filing (20 CFR 656.10(d)): to the workers’ bargaining representative if there is one, and otherwise by posting it at the worksite for at least 10 consecutive business days, in a place where U.S. workers can readily see it, and in any in-house media the employer normally uses for similar jobs. The notice has to go up between 30 and 180 days before filing and must state the rate of pay.

When recruitment ends, the employer prepares a signed recruitment report describing what was done, how many people were hired and, for any U.S. worker who was rejected, the lawful, job-related reason. A U.S. worker who could learn the job’s skills through a reasonable period of on-the-job training cannot be rejected for lacking them.

Step 3: filing the application

The application is Form ETA-9089, filed electronically through the Department of Labor’s FLAG system. The supporting documents are not filed with it; the employer keeps them and produces them only if the case is selected for an audit, which can happen at random or on the basis of criteria the Department sets. The Department then certifies the application, denies it, or selects it for audit.

The filing date matters beyond the Department of Labor. For a green card case that requires labor certification, the date the Department accepts the application for processing becomes the worker’s priority date, the worker’s place in line for an immigrant visa.

In the application the employer attests, under penalty of perjury, to a list of conditions, including that the offered wage meets the prevailing wage, that the employer can pay it, that the job is full-time and permanent, that it has been and remains clearly open to any U.S. worker, and that it is not vacant because of a strike or lockout.

Who pays for PERM

The rules are strict here. Under 20 CFR 656.12(b), an employer may not seek or receive payment of any kind for the costs of obtaining labor certification, including attorneys’ fees, whether as an incentive or a reimbursement, and whether in money, wage concessions, kickbacks or free labor. A worker may pay for a lawyer who represents the worker alone; if the same lawyer represents both the employer and the worker, the employer bears those costs. Labor certifications cannot be bought or sold, and doing so can lead to denial, revocation or debarment.

Step 4: the 180-day deadline and the I-140

A certification does not last. It expires unless it is filed with USCIS in support of a Form I-140 petition within 180 calendar days of being granted (20 CFR 656.30(b)), and USCIS rejects an I-140 that comes in with an expired certification. For applications filed through FLAG on or after June 1, 2023, the document that goes to USCIS is the signed Final Determination.

After the I-140, the worker’s case waits until the priority date is current under the State Department’s Visa Bulletin, and then moves to the green card itself, either by adjustment of status or consular processing. How long that wait is depends on the category and the worker’s country of birth.

Where PERM cases most often go wrong

• Recruitment run outside the windows: a mandatory step less than 30 days or more than 180 days before filing, or more than one additional step inside the final 30 days.
• An advertisement or notice missing something the regulations require, such as the employer’s name or a wage at least equal to the prevailing wage.
• U.S. applicants rejected for reasons that are not lawful and job-related, or for skills they could learn through reasonable on-the-job training.
• The worker paying costs the employer is required to bear.
• A certified case left to expire because the I-140 was not filed within 180 days.

Each of these is far easier to prevent than to repair, which is why the recruitment plan is worth settling before the first advertisement runs.

How Michelotti & Associates can help

Michelotti & Associates acts for employers that sponsor workers and for the professionals they sponsor, from its office in Oak Brook, with clients outside the area seen by video. Our page on work visas and employment-based immigration covers EB-2, the National Interest Waiver, PERM, TN status and the H-1B. Call 630.928.0100 for a free consultation.

This article is general information about the law as of October 19, 2026, not legal advice about any employer’s or worker’s case.

This article is general information, not legal advice about your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship.