The Department of Labor’s latest Labor certification (PERM)The Department of Labor process in which an employer shows that no qualified U.S. worker is available for a position, required for most EB-2 and EB-3 petitions.See it in the glossary processing update shows employers are facing an average wait of nearly 11 months for analyst review.
According to the Office of Foreign Labor Certification processing-times page, updated in September with data through August 31, 2026, the average PERM analyst review took 336 calendar days in August.
What DOL is processing now
DOL reports that PERM analyst review is currently focused on cases with Priority dateThe date a petition was filed, or a labor certification was submitted, used to determine an applicant's place in line for a visa category with limited annual numbers.See it in the glossary from November 2025. Audit review is at December 2025, while reconsideration requests to the certifying officer are at April 2026.
The agency cautions that these dates are general indicators, not guarantees for an individual case. Some cases filed before the posted month may still remain pending, and actual processing time can vary based on the facts and circumstances of each application.
Why the 336-day figure matters
PERM labor certification is often the first major government step in an employer-sponsored green card process. A longer labor-certification stage can delay the employer’s ability to move on to the immigrant petition stage and, depending on the category and country of ChargeabilityThe country an applicant's visa number is counted against for per-country limits, normally the country of birth rather than citizenship or residence.See it in the glossary, the employee’s eventual green card timeline.
The latest number also gives employers and workers a more realistic benchmark for planning. A case filed today should not be assumed to follow the current 336-day average exactly, but the figure shows the scale of the present processing delay.
When applicants can contact DOL
DOL says an employer may contact the OFLC PERM Helpdesk when an application was filed more than three months before the month currently shown as being adjudicated.
TR Immigration will continue following monthly PERM movement to see whether the average processing time improves or worsens in the coming updates.