Short answer, as of DOL's figure from 22 September 2026: the Department of Labor is reviewing PERM applications filed in December 2025, and its published average from filing to determination is 336 days, about eleven months.
That number moves, so the processing times page reads it from DOL daily rather than repeating a figure from January. What follows is what the number means, what it leaves out, and what actually adds months to an individual case.
How long does PERM take in 2026?
There are two different answers, and confusing them is the most common mistake.
| Measure | Current figure | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst review queue | December 2025 filings | Which month DOL is working now |
| Average to a determination | 336 days | How long decided cases took |
| Audit review queue | December 2025 filings | Where audited cases sit, in their own line |
| Prevailing wage, OEWS | April 2026 requests | The step before PERM |
| Prevailing wage, non-OEWS | March 2026 requests | Same step, different wage source |
The queue month is the more useful of the two. An average is a summary of cases already finished, so it lags. The filing month DOL is currently reviewing tells you where the line actually is today.
Why the wait is longer than the headline number
A PERM is the third of five federal steps, and the two before it are not counted in any DOL processing figure.
- The prevailing wage determination. DOL sets the minimum salary for the job. It is currently working April 2026 requests, and its average to a determination is also running around eleven months.
- Recruitment. Two to four months, set by timing rules rather than by anyone's effort. There is a mandatory quiet period, and an outer limit after which the ads go stale.
- The PERM itself. The eleven months above.
So a case starting today is realistically two years from a certified PERM, and that is before the I-140 and before any wait for a visa number. Anyone quoting you "about a year" is quoting step three only.
What actually adds months
- An audit. The case moves to a separate queue, currently working December 2025. An audit is a request for proof rather than a decision, and most are resolved, but it adds months.
- A request for information. Similar effect, smaller scope.
- Supervised recruitment. DOL runs the recruitment itself. This is the longest of the three.
- A withdrawn or refiled prevailing wage request. Restarts the clock before PERM even begins.
Nothing you do as the applicant changes any of this. That is worth saying plainly, because a lot of advice implies otherwise.
How to check your own case rather than an average
An average is a poor answer to "when will mine be decided". DOL answers per case, to anyone holding the number.
- Put a
G-orA-number into case status for DOL's own status and where your filing month sits. - No number? Search the employer by name, job title and filing month.
- Waiting on the step before? Prevailing wage requests work the same way, pending ones included.
- Want to stop checking? Any of the three can email you when DOL's status changes.
Has it got faster or slower?
DOL publishes today's position and keeps no archive, so the trend has to be reconstructed. Between the last two publications on record, the analyst review queue advanced two months in eight days, which is faster than a calendar month per month. Read one movement as noise; the queue page holds the series.
On any predicted date, including ours
Every PERM date estimate is arithmetic on how fast DOL has moved recently. Ours is graded in public on the estimate scorecard, misses included. Treat a predicted month as a rough centre, never as a date to plan a move, a job change or a trip around.
What this page cannot tell you
- When your specific case will be decided. No public dataset knows that.
- Why a case was audited. DOL does not publish the reasoning.
- Whether your employer has actually filed. If they have not, there is no case and no number.
