PERM Labor Certification Overview and Processing Times

Low DOL OFLC Staffing and Funding Levels = Long Processing Times

As of the end of calendar year 2024, OFLC is reporting insufficient funding to manage its current workload.   There has been no change in OFLC federal staffing levels during the current fiscal year; however, as of July 2024, there has been a decrease of about a third in contractor support due to a lack of funding.  This will result in higher processing times as federal staff will now have to perform duties previously performed by contractors.

While OFLC has reduced some of its processing times, further reductions may not be possible due to the higher volume of filings received during FY2024. In FY2024, there was an overall increase in filings of 12% over the prior year. As of September 23, 2024, OFLC has adjudicated approximately 13,830 PERM cases filed in FLAG. Approximately 180,740 PERM applications are pending initial review.

This means that the PERM processing times will continue increasing.  Employers and candidates should plan accordingly.

No Premium or Expedited Processing Options at DOL

Unfortunately and unlike USCIS, DOL does not have a “premium processing” or another way to expedite a pending application for a prevailing wage or for a pending PERM analyst review.      As a result and as a practical matter, there is no way to expedite any of the steps of the PERM process which makes early planning and flawless execution critical.

Risks of Conducting Recruitment Before the Prevailing Wage Determination is Issued

There are two separate risk factors.  First, the recruitment may be done too early and it may expire by the time the prevailing wage comes back.    This can be managed by coordinating the timing the recruitment carefully with respect to the prevailing wage.    Second, the recruitment has to make (a educated)  guess as to what the prevailing wage will end up being so that the recruitment process uses an offered wage which is more than the anticipated prevailing wage.    While we are able to anticipate the SOC job category and wage level we may be able to get from DOL,  we are unable to guess the prevailing wage amount after it gets indexed and published every July 1st.

Conclusion

One of our office’s core areas of expertise are employment immigration and PERM Labor Certifications.   At any given day we are working on many PERM applications and these processing times are based on our office’s first-hand experience and estimates and not on (stale) government data.   Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can help you. Also, we will continue monitoring the PERM processing times and analyze any updates. Please visit us again or subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to ensure that you obtain this and related immigration-related news and announcements.