PERM Processing Time

How long the Department of Labor takes to decide a PERM labor certification, measured from every decided case — and when yours is likely to be decided.

Estimator

When will my PERM be decided?

Likely decision window

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Choose the month your PERM application was filed.

Based on June 2026 decisions: 20% were decided within 384 days, the median was 398, and 80% within 412. Audited cases take longer.

Median now

398 days

June 2026 decisions

Change since Jan 2026

−113 days

511 → 398

Decided · FY2026 so far

112,550

Oct 1, 2025 – Jun 30, 2026

Certified

92.4%

3.4% denied · 4.1% withdrawn

Median days from filing to decision, by decision month

PERM is getting faster

PERM Prevailing wage (step before PERM)

Months with fewer than 100 decisions are left out. The prevailing-wage line covers PERM wage requests only.

The full green card timeline

  1. Prevailing wage — about 84 days now
  2. Recruitment — 60 to 180 days, run by your employer
  3. PERM decision — about 398 days now
  4. I-140 — see USCIS processing times
  5. Priority date current — see the Visa Bulletin tracker and wait-time estimator

Biggest green card sponsors

Certified PERM cases in FY2026 so far, among employers with an H-1B profile.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification PERM and prevailing-wage disclosure data, decisions through Jun 30, 2026. Salaries are annualized base wages from the filing and exclude bonus and stock. A certified LCA is not an approved H-1B petition. Updated Oct 4, 2026.