If you're waiting on a PERM case, or managing several, these are the five figures that describe DOL's queue this month. Each one was read from this site's pages on October 16, 2026, from DOL's own case-status record and its processing-times page.
1. DOL decides about 769 PERM cases on a typical weekday
Decisions on a typical weekday
16,790 PERM decisions in the 30 days to October 15, 2026. Thursday, October 15 alone: 734, of which 682 were certified, 34 denied and 18 withdrawn. Checked against DOL at 3:58 PM ET on October 16.
Certifications were 94% of the decisions over those 30 days. The week has a shape. Over the last four weeks, a typical Monday had 649 decisions and a typical Tuesday 829, Friday dropped to 708, and weekends were nearly empty: 149 on a Saturday, 9 on a Sunday. Daily decisions has every day.
2. Where DOL's queue stands
DOL's own figures
The month comes from DOL's own processing times page, which DOL updates on its own schedule. This site's scan finds the same edge from the other side: the oldest filing month that hasn't substantially cleared. The queue page draws every filing month, and why DOL's average isn't your wait explains why the average and the month tell different stories.
3. 90,324 cases pending, 2,880 of them on hold
| DOL status on October 16, 2026 | Cases |
|---|---|
| Analyst review, the ordinary queue | 83,094 |
| Application on hold | 2,880 |
| Reconsideration appeals | 2,661 |
| BALCA appeals | 887 |
| RFI issued | 705 |
| NORD issued | 79 |
| Everything else | 18 |
| All pending | 90,324 |
On hold is 3.2% of the pending queue. DOL publishes no reason with a status change, and a held case stays filed while it waits outside the ordinary line. Application on hold, explained covers what's known.
4. Almost all the holds are at six employers
| Employer | Pending PERM cases on hold | When DOL moved them |
|---|---|---|
| Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corporation | 1,831 of 1,831 | On hold since before August 27, when this site's daily record begins |
| Microsoft Corporation | 598 of 598 | October 8, 2026 |
| Adobe Inc. | 226 of 226 | 215 on September 24, 10 more on October 8 |
| Capgemini America, Inc. | 169 of 169 | October 8, 2026 |
| Tata Technologies, Inc. | 8 of 8 | October 9, 2026 |
| Tata Consultancy Services Limited | 7 of 7 | October 8, 2026 |
Together that's 2,839 of the 2,880 held cases. HCL America's 3 pending cases, all filed October 6, were also on hold. Wipro Limited had no pending PERM case under that name on October 16, and Infosys Ltd. had fewer than five, too few for the daily census to show.
The moves came in steps. From this site's daily record since August 27, 2026, these are the days DOL moved five or more of one employer's cases into or out of hold:
| Day | What DOL did |
|---|---|
| September 10, 2026 | Put 201 Adobe cases and 14 Maplebear cases on hold |
| September 11, 2026 | Took 201 Adobe cases and 14 Maplebear cases off hold, back to analyst review |
| September 24, 2026 | Put 215 Adobe cases on hold |
| October 8, 2026 | Put 598 Microsoft, 169 Capgemini, 10 Adobe and 7 Tata Consultancy Services cases on hold |
| October 9, 2026 | Put 8 Tata Technologies cases on hold |
DOL hasn't published a notice about the October holds in the Federal Register or on OFLC's announcements page. Employers under review is where the counts move first, and any employer there can be followed by email.
5. New filings keep coming
DOL's case-status record already holds 5,367 PERM applications filed between October 1 and October 16, 2026, against 10,330 for all of September. A new case joins the line behind everyone filed before it: on October 16, a case filed that day had 80,541 cases ahead of it, and its estimated decision was around March 10, 2027.
| Filed in | PERM applications on record |
|---|---|
| June 2026 | 10,379 |
| July 2026 | 9,167 |
| August 2026 | 8,940 |
| September 2026 | 10,330 |
| October 1 to 16, 2026 | 5,367 |
The newest filings fill in over a day or two as this site walks DOL's case numbers, so October's count will rise even for days already past.
What to do with these numbers
Your own case has its own line position. Put the case number into the case lookup for DOL's current status and an estimated date, with the range and how well those dates have held on the estimate scorecard.
