Foreign workers seeking employment-based green cards may need to revisit their plans to settle in the US. The PERM labor certification program, used by US companies and foreign workers for employment-based immigration sponsorship, is set to see radical changes under a new proposed rule (NPRM). PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) certification is typically the first step for most employment-based US green cards.
The Department of Labor has proposed to modernize the Labor Market Test and improve protections for US workers through a new NPRM affecting the PERM Immigrant Visa Program. This proposal has now been submitted to the White House for review.
Employers use PERM to get permanent labor certificates, which are required for certain permanent employment-based immigration applications. A permanent labor certification from the Department of Labor (DOL) allows a company to permanently hire a foreign worker in the United States.
What’s Being Proposed
The Department of Labor (DOL) wants to modernize the standards and procedures used to review employers’ applications for permanent labor certification. The goal is to improve the minimum standards for recruiting qualified US workers, strengthen safeguards for US workers affected by layoffs, and tighten employer compliance around non-discriminatory recruitment, hiring, and record-keeping.
To do this, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is starting the rulemaking process to modernize parts of the permanent labor certification process (PERM) for US employers seeking to hire foreign nationals permanently.
Why PERM Exists
The Immigration and Nationality Act requires that, for most employment-based immigrant admissions to the US, the Secretary of Labor must certify two things: that hiring the immigrant won’t hurt the wages and working conditions of similarly employed US workers, and that US workers aren’t available for the job.
DOL believes this rulemaking will create a labor certification process that better reflects current labor market conditions, while still allowing employers facing genuine shortages of high-skilled labor to access the permanent employment-based immigration process.
How Long PERM Takes
PERM applications currently take between 6 and 8 months to process on average. There’s some good news, though. A new bill called the PERM Backlog Reduction Act, introduced by Congressmen Glenn Grothman and Lou Correa, aims to cut down these costly delays in the DOL’s Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) system by creating an optional premium processing track for participating employers.
Right now, the wait is much longer than the average suggests. As of August 31, 2026, the DOL is still processing PERM applications filed in November 2025, putting the average processing time at around 336 days.
The PERM Backlog Reduction Act proposes a premium processing option at DOL to speed up Form ETA-9089, the PERM Labor Certification, for employers seeking permanent labor certifications:
Process Form ETA-9089 within 30 days
Charge a $1,200 premium processing fee, adjusted annually for inflation starting FY2028
How PERM Connects to the Green Card Process
PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) certification is typically the first step for most employment-based US green cards, including EB-2 and EB-3 visas.
For second and third preference Employment-Based Visa categories, before a US employer can file an immigrant petition with USCIS, the employer must first obtain a labor certification from the DOL.
In these cases, the immigrant petition must include a signed Form ETA-9089, Application for Permanent Employment Certification, approved by DOL. Alternatively, for labor certification applications filed through DOL’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system, an approved and signed Form ETA-9089 Final Determination works too.
There’s also an exception worth knowing. For the second preference category, an immigrant petition may request a waiver of the job offer, and therefore the labor certification requirement, if it’s in the national interest of the United States. National interest waiver petitions must include a completed Form ETA-9089, Appendix A, along with a signed Form ETA-9089.
And here’s a date that matters more than most applicants realize. The date the labor certification application, Form ETA-9089, is received by the DOL becomes the filing date, which USCIS and the Department of State then use as the priority date.
Once the labor certification is certified by DOL, it must be submitted to the appropriate USCIS Service Center along with Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. The certification stays valid for 180 days and expires if not submitted to USCIS within that window.
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, immigration, or tax advice. Immigration laws and government policies are subject to frequent change without notice. Financial Express is not responsible for any decisions made based on this information.