PERM Labor Certification

PERM (Program Electronic Review Management) is the process by which an employer obtains a labor certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. The certification establishes that there are no qualified, willing, and available U.S. workers for the offered position at the prevailing wage. PERM certification is required for most EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based green card petitions.

The PERM process involves several distinct phases: prevailing wage determination, recruitment and advertising, a mandatory waiting period, and the filing and adjudication of the labor certification application.

For many employer-sponsored green card cases, PERM is the Department of Labor stage that connects a permanent job offer to a later I-140 immigrant petition. The labor certification confirms the employer has tested the U.S. labor market for the offered role before moving forward with the employment-based green card process. The date the PERM application is filed with DOL generally establishes the priority date for the later immigrant petition.

Because PERM is position-specific, early planning matters. Job duties, minimum requirements, worksite location, wage level, recruitment strategy, and long-term sponsorship goals should be evaluated together before the employer begins the process.

The PERM process begins with a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor. That wage sets the minimum salary the employer must offer for the sponsored position before recruitment and filing move forward.

This page summarizes the wage step only because the full PWD issues, including SOC code selection, wage levels, status, validity, and expiration, are covered in the dedicated prevailing wage guide.

After receiving the prevailing wage determination, the employer must conduct a prescribed recruitment campaign. Standard steps include a job order with the state workforce agency, two Sunday newspaper advertisements, and a notice of filing. For professional positions, DOL regulations require three additional recruitment steps selected from a prescribed list, such as job fairs, campus recruiting, or professional organization listings. All recruitment must be completed within specific timeframes and documented thoroughly.

Following the recruitment phase, there is a mandatory 30-day waiting period before the PERM application can be filed. If the recruitment did not yield any qualified U.S. applicants, the employer files the ETA Form 9089 electronically with the Department of Labor.

Employers should maintain an audit file documenting recruitment, applicant review, job requirements, the prevailing wage, and the business reasons supporting the filing. A complete audit file is important because the Department of Labor can request supporting documentation after filing.

PERM timing depends on Department of Labor workload, recruitment completion, audit selection, and the facts of the filing. Applications may be selected for audit by the Department of Labor, which requires submission of the complete recruitment documentation.

In some cases, DOL may require supervised recruitment before certification can be issued. Supervised recruitment changes the employer's process because DOL directs parts of the recruitment and applicant review sequence.

If DOL certifies the PERM application, the employer may use the certified labor certification to support the next immigration step, usually Form I-140 with USCIS. The certified PERM is time-sensitive, so the employer should be ready to move from DOL certification to the USCIS immigrant petition stage.

The broader permanent-residence questions, including I-140 strategy, priority dates, adjustment of status, consular processing, and non-PERM categories, belong on the employment green card page.

The employer bears significant obligations throughout the PERM process. The employer must pay the offered wage (at or above the prevailing wage), cannot require the foreign worker to reimburse PERM-related costs, must maintain a genuine full-time permanent position, and must conduct recruitment in good faith.

The job requirements in the PERM application must reflect the actual minimum requirements for the position — they cannot be tailored to the qualifications of the sponsored worker. Additionally, the employer must be able to demonstrate the financial ability to pay the offered wage from the time the PERM application is filed.

Bellevue and Eastside employers often use PERM to retain experienced international employees beyond temporary work visa limits. For technology, data, product, and business roles, the position description and minimum requirements should be developed with both business needs and Department of Labor rules in mind.

Attorney Luna works with employers to evaluate timing, wage issues, recruitment requirements, and the connection between PERM, the I-140 petition, and the employee's longer-term green card strategy.