The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently posted the June 2024 edition of their monthly updates regarding DOL processing times for permanent labor certification applications (PERM) and prevailing wage determination (PWD) requests, both important components of the most common employment-based green card route.
As of June 1, 2024, the DOL was adjudicating PERM applications filed in May 2023 and earlier and was conducting audit reviews on applications filed in December 2022 and earlier. Further, the DOL was reviewing reconsideration requests and appeals filed in August 2023 and earlier. In this latest update, the DOL also provided the average number of days to process PERM applications for initial analyst review (387 days) and for audited cases (478 days).
The table below provides a comparison of DOL's processing times in the June 2024 update with their May 2024 and June 2023 updates.
| DOL Processing Times Update | Calendar Days for Analyst Review (no audit) | Calendar Days for PERM cases receiving an audit |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 update | 387 | 478 |
| May 2024 update | 387 | 478 |
| June 2023 update | 279 | 383 |
As shown in the chart above, DOL's average PERM processing
times have increased significantly since June 2023. Given this
increase, employers should consider initiating the PERM process as
early as possible. For time-sensitive cases, employers should
consider alternative employment-based green card routes that do not
require a preliminary labor market test and PERM filing with the
DOL.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.