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Which data page answers which question
A map of the data pages on this site, one line each, with an honest note on what the whole set can't tell you.
Updated 6 min read
Updated
Guides
Plain-English guides to a PERM case, from the case number to the green card, grouped by different stages.
86 articles
Start here
The whole process in one place, and how to use this site.
Start here
Waiting on an employer-sponsored green card
The whole employment green card from the applicant's side: what each federal filing is, how long it takes now, and how to check yours yourself.
Updated 9 min read
Start here
The ultimate PERM guide for 2026
PERM labor certification end to end: what happens at each of the five stages, how long each takes, what draws an audit, and the deadlines that end a case.
Updated 17 min read
Start here
Getting started with PERM Tracker
PERM Tracker has two halves: look up any PERM, PWD or LCA case number with no account, or sign in to manage a caseload. This guide covers both.
Updated 13 min read
Start here
The complete 2026 PERM filing guide
A comprehensive, step-by-step reference guide for the entire PERM labor certification process, from prevailing wage through I-140 filing.
Updated 6 min read
Your case status
Finding the case number, reading DOL's status, and what each status means.
Your case status
Appealing a PERM denial: reconsideration and BALCA review
The three appeal steps on a denied PERM: reconsideration, the request for review and BALCA, their 30-day windows, and how each has ended so far.
Updated 6 min read
Your case status
PERM denied: what to do in the first 30 days
A PERM denial starts two 30-day windows the day it's issued. What to do first, reconsideration or BALCA review or a refile, and what each one can use.
Updated 6 min read
Your case status
PERM status NORD issued: what is known, and what isn't
NORD ISSUED is one of the rarest PERM statuses and DOL publishes no definition of it. What the record shows about the cases carrying it, and what to do.
4 min read
Your case status
PERM status says RFI issued: what it means and what to do
Your PERM moved to RFI ISSUED. What DOL is asking for, where the deadline comes from, what the measured outcomes look like, and what you can do about it.
4 min read
Your case status
Was my PERM received? How to check without a receipt
No receipt, no case number, nobody answering. How to tell whether DOL has your PERM from its own index and the employer search, and what each result means.
Updated 7 min read
Your case status
Find a case number you were never given
Search the employer, the job title and the filing month across PERM, wage requests and H-1B LCAs, and get the DOL case number nobody sent you.
Updated 7 min read
Your case status
Look up a PERM case by its number
Paste a G- or A- case number and get DOL's current status, the queue in front of it, an estimate with its real error, and an email when it moves.
Updated 6 min read
Your case status
What does PERM application on hold mean?
DOL changed your PERM status to Application On Hold and explained nothing. What the status means, how many cases sit in it, and what happens next.
Updated 4 min read
Your case status
PERM case number format: what each part means
What a DOL case number is made of, why some start with G and others with A or P, and what the digits in the middle actually encode.
Updated 5 min read
Your case status
Track a case without making an account
Everything here works with no sign-in: the lookup for all three DOL programs, the searches, the data pages, and the email alerts.
Updated 6 min read
Your case status
What each PERM case status means
DOL shows a PERM case one line of capitals and explains none of it. Analyst review, RFI, audit, certified, denied and the rest, and what follows each.
Updated 8 min read
Your case status
How to find your PERM, PWD or LCA case number
Your lawyer filed it and you don't have the number. What each DOL prefix means, and how to find your PERM, PWD or LCA case number from the employer's name.
Updated 5 min read
Your case status
How to check your PERM case status (yes, you can do it yourself)
You don't need a law firm login to see where a PERM case stands. Where to find your case number, what each DOL status means, and what it can't show you.
Updated 8 min read
Timing and the queue
How DOL works through cases, and how far to trust a date.
Timing and the queue
Why DOL's average wait isn't your wait
DOL's average days, the month DOL is working, and your case's own estimate are three different numbers. What each measures and which one fits your case.
5 min read
Timing and the queue
How accurate are PERM approval estimates?
PERM estimators disagree by months on the same case. What an estimate can and can't know, and how close ours lands on real DOL decisions.
Updated 7 min read
Timing and the queue
How DOL works through the PERM queue
PERM cases are decided roughly in filing-month order. What DOL's published frontier means, how much the employer initial is worth, and where it stops.
Updated 7 min read
Timing and the queue
See where your filing month sits
Three pages answer three different questions about the PERM queue: where DOL is working, how fast it moves, and what it decided today.
Updated 6 min read
Timing and the queue
How to read the PERM data
A working guide to the live DOL figures, the data pages and the calculators: what each number means, where it comes from, and which answers your question.
Updated 6 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
The dates a PERM case runs on, and the recruitment that has to fit inside them.
Deadlines and recruitment
Can you file PERM after the prevailing wage expires?
Yes, when the first recruitment step began inside the determination's validity period. The rule, the two Board decisions, and how to check your dates.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
H-1B past six years with a PERM pending: the 365-day rule
A PERM or I-140 filed 365 days earlier allows one-year H-1B extensions past six years. An approved I-140 and a backlogged date allow three. Worked dates.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
How long PERM recruitment stays valid, and what restarts it
PERM recruitment supports a filing from 30 days after the last mandatory step to 180 days after the first, under 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e), on real dates.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
The PERM audit file: what goes in it and how long to keep it
What a PERM audit file holds, why 20 C.F.R. § 656.10(f) keeps it five years, the 30-day audit clock, and an index to copy into every case.
6 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Answering a PERM audit: the 30-day clock and what to send
A PERM audit letter gives an employer 30 days from its date under 20 C.F.R. § 656.20, plus one extension of up to 30. What to send and what lateness costs.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Business necessity in PERM: when it's needed and how DOL tests it
When a PERM job requirement needs business necessity under 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(h), the two-part test, and the places the rule checks a requirement.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
PERM employer questionnaire: what to ask before the wage request
What to collect from a PERM employer before the wage request: duties, requirements, worksite, wage, recruitment habits and layoffs, with a questionnaire.
7 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
The PERM filing window, worked on real dates
How to work out a PERM filing window from your recruitment dates: the day it opens, the day it closes, and what changes if recruitment began before a PWD.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
PERM notice of filing: the rules, the dates and a sample notice
What 20 C.F.R. § 656.10(d) asks of a PERM notice of filing: 10 business days, the contents, in-house media and the timing, with a sample notice to adapt.
7 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
PERM recruitment failed: what it means for your H-1B clock
A failed labor market test means a qualified U.S. worker applied, so no PERM is filed from that recruitment. What happens next, and the H-1B arithmetic.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
PERM recruitment report: what DOL requires, with a sample
What 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(g)(1) requires in a PERM recruitment report, a sample report to adapt with the rule beside each part, and a checklist.
7 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Sunday ads and additional recruitment steps for PERM
The job order, the two Sunday ads and the three additional steps 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) requires for a professional PERM, with the timing rule for each.
7 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Special handling for university teachers: the 18-month clock
Under 20 C.F.R. § 656.18, a college or university can use its own competitive search for a teacher. What to document and the 18-month limit.
5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
The PERM to green card document checklist, stage by stage
Every document the employer and the worker will be asked for, from the wage request to the I-485, with the rule behind each and which are kept, not filed.
4 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Compute every PERM deadline from one date
Enter the prevailing wage determination date and your recruitment dates to get every dependent PERM deadline, including the cap hand arithmetic misses.
Updated 6 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
The PERM deadlines that actually matter
Four dates fix a PERM case: the wage determination expiry, the 30 to 180 day recruitment window, the quiet period, and the 180 days after certification.
Updated 8 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Changing jobs after an I-140 approval: three dates decide it
Can you change jobs once the I-140 is approved? Three 180-day dates decide what you keep: the certification, the I-140 approval, and the I-485 receipt.
Updated 6 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
How to track every PERM deadline
Use PERM Tracker's deadline engine to stay on top of every critical date in your PERM cases, from PWD expiration to I-140 filing windows.
Updated 5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Manual vs automated PERM tracking
An honest comparison of spreadsheet-based manual tracking versus purpose-built PERM tracking tools. Pros, cons, and when each approach makes sense.
Updated 5 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
Setting up recruitment tracking
How to track PERM recruitment activities, manage checklists, and stay compliant using PERM Tracker's built-in recruitment tools.
Updated 4 min read
Deadlines and recruitment
PERM recruitment requirements checklist
Every PERM recruitment requirement under 20 CFR 656.17, with the timing math that sets when each step is actually due and what a DOL audit asks for.
Updated 14 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
Prevailing wage requests, H-1B labor condition applications and what jobs pay.
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
Find your LCA without the case number
Your employer filed an H-1B LCA and didn't send the number. How to find it by company name, pending ones included, and what DOL's record shows.
5 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
Is your salary high enough for PERM or H-1B? The wage levels
DOL sets four prevailing wage levels for every job and area. What each level is, how to read your offer against them, and what DOL has proposed to change.
5 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
Explore PERM wages by occupation and state
The offered wage on every certified PERM case, filtered by occupation, state and year, and why a single median will mislead you.
6 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
How DOL sets a prevailing wage
The OEWS survey, wage levels 1 to 4, the occupation code and the area, and how long a determination lasts. What actually sets the number.
Updated 8 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
How to look up an H-1B LCA by case number
Paste an I-200 or I-203 number and see what DOL says about a labor condition application, pending ones included, plus how to find it by employer.
Updated 6 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
How to track a prevailing wage request by case number
Paste a P- number and see the Department of Labor's current status for a prevailing wage request, pending ones included, plus the wage once it's issued.
Updated 6 min read
Wages, wage requests and LCAs
What an H-1B labor condition application is
The ETA-9035, what the employer attests to, the seven business day target, and why certified does not mean the H-1B is approved.
6 min read
Employers and law firms
Reading a sponsor's or a firm's record, and what a layoff changes.
Employers and law firms
My employer was suspended from PERM: what happens at each stage
A PERM suspension, stage by stage: unfiled, on hold, certified, at the I-140 or at the I-485. The live count of held cases, and what DOL hasn't said.
6 min read
Employers and law firms
Green card sponsors for your job, from DOL's own record
Which employers file PERM green card cases for your occupation, from DOL's decided cases, and how to check which of them are still filing today.
Updated 6 min read
Employers and law firms
The H-1B 60-day grace period: in force today, proposed to end
The up-to-60-day grace period in 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) still applies. DHS has proposed removing it, with comments due November 10, 2026. What would change.
5 min read
Employers and law firms
OPT employers that also file PERM for green cards
The biggest employers of students on OPT, set beside their PERM green card filings in DOL's record, and how to check one before you accept an offer.
5 min read
Employers and law firms
The PERM layoff rule for employers: what counts and what to do
What counts as a layoff under 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(k), the six months before filing, which laid-off workers to notify and consider, and what to keep.
6 min read
Employers and law firms
Employer layoffs and your PERM: the rules that actually apply
Your sponsor announced layoffs. What applies at each stage: the six-month layoff rule, a pending case, the I-140's 180 days, the H-1B grace period.
Updated 6 min read
Employers and law firms
My employer stopped filing PERMs: how to read the record
The sponsor's PERM filings dried up. How to read an employer's record, the ordinary reasons a filer goes quiet, and what it means for a case already filed.
4 min read
Employers and law firms
How to look up an immigration law firm's PERM record
Search any firm that files PERM cases, read its volume and approval rate honestly, and see the one thing this record cannot tell you.
Updated 6 min read
Employers and law firms
How to look up a sponsoring employer's PERM record
Search a sponsor by name, read what the filings and approval rate actually mean, and see the wage requests and LCAs filed before the PERM.
Updated 6 min read
Employers and law firms
Read the denial and audit rates without over-reading them
How to read the measured PERM denial rates and the review stage counts here, what the cohort sizes mean, and what neither one can tell you.
Updated 7 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
The visa bulletin, USCIS forms and the wait for a visa number.
After PERM: I-140 to green card
EAD renewals no longer extend automatically: file early
A renewal filed on or after October 30, 2025 doesn't extend your EAD, and a final rule kept that on October 14, 2026. Who it hits, and when to file.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
EB-2 India forecasts: how close the guesses have come
Nobody publishes EB-2 India's future cutoffs. Where the line stands today, how it has moved, and how far a steady-pace estimate missed on past bulletins.
6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
ETA 9089 expiration date and the I-140 deadline
A certified PERM expires unless an I-140 is filed by the date DOL prints: 180 calendar days under 20 C.F.R. § 656.30(b)(1). Why sources differ by a day.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Can a former employer revoke your I-140? The 180-day line
A withdrawal revokes an approved I-140 only inside 180 days. After that it stays approved, and the priority date is kept except for four reasons.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
The I-485 inventory, month by month: how many are ahead of you
USCIS counts every pending employment-based I-485 by priority date each month. What the inventory counts, what it leaves out, and how to read your place.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
PERM certified: what happens next, and the date that matters
Your PERM was certified. The I-140 deadline DOL printed, what your priority date is, what the visa bulletin decides, and what to ask the attorney.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Your priority date is current but your PERM isn't approved yet
A current visa bulletin date can't be used until the PERM is certified and the I-140 is filed. What can be filed now, what can't, and how to get ready.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Your priority date retrogressed after you filed: what happens now
The visa bulletin moved back after your I-485 went in. The application stays pending, and your work permit and travel document continue. What changes.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
USCIS silent updates: what they are and what they mean
What a USCIS silent update is, where it shows up, what USCIS says can cause one, and why no tracker can read the codes from a receipt number.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
When does the visa bulletin come out?
The State Department announces no release date for the visa bulletin. When past bulletins were out, from the archive's records, and what USCIS does next.
3 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
EB-3 Other Workers: the separate line inside EB-3
Other Workers is EB-3 for jobs needing under two years of training. It has its own cutoff, a 10,000 cap, and 57,743 approved petitions waiting in Jun 2026.
6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Approved I-140, no visa number: the EB-2 India wait
What no visa number means, how many approved EB-2 India petitions are waiting (356,360 as of Jun 2026), and why no years figure is a date.
Updated 6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
EAD and advance parole timelines while an I-485 is pending
How long USCIS is taking on the I-765 work permit and I-131 advance parole document, from its quarterly file, and what pending means for work and travel.
Updated 6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Which field office is fastest for an employment-based I-485
USCIS's quarterly file lists employment-based I-485s received, approved, denied and pending per field office. Which hold the least backlog per approval.
6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
I-485 vs I-485J: what Supplement J is
Supplement J is the job-offer confirmation or portability request that rides on an employment-based I-485. What a 485J approval means, and what it doesn't.
6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
Median vs 80%: the two USCIS processing times
USCIS publishes two processing times for one form: a quarterly-file median and the time to finish 80% of cases. Why they differ and which one to read.
Updated 5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
How to read a USCIS receipt number
What the 13 characters on a USCIS notice mean, which three-letter prefixes USCIS names, where the number sits on Form I-797, and what it can't tell you.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
What Emma told you, and which form it meant
USCIS's virtual assistant and its live agents quote dates without naming forms. How to work out which of your receipt numbers an approval belonged to.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
EB-2 vs EB-3 on a PERM: what sets the category
The same PERM can lead to an EB-2 or an EB-3 I-140, and the job's requirements decide which. Both India lines this month, and what a downgrade needs.
Updated 6 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
The I-693 medical exam: when, who, and how long it lasts
The immigration medical exam every adjustment applicant needs: who can do it, when, the 2023 validity rule, and where USCIS lists civil surgeons.
5 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
PERM vs NIW: which route to an EB-2 green card
A PERM needs an employer, recruitment and a prevailing wage. A national interest waiver needs none of them and a harder argument. What each route requires.
4 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
How the visa bulletin works
Priority dates, final action versus dates for filing, retrogression, and what C and U mean. Per-country limits in plain terms, and what it cannot say.
Updated 7 min read
After PERM: I-140 to green card
How to read your priority date history
Put an employment-based priority date against every visa bulletin since 2014, see which way the cutoff moved, and get an email when it moves.
Updated 6 min read
H-2A, H-2B and CW-1
Seasonal and island work visas on the same DOL system.
H-2A, H-2B and CW-1
H-2A case status: what each status means and when DOL decides
What an H-300 or JO-A-300 status means, the 30-day rule for DOL's decision, and how close DOL actually runs to it, measured from its own files.
3 min read
H-2A, H-2B and CW-1
H-2B and CW-1 case status: what it means and when DOL decides
What an H-400, C-500, P-400 or P-500 status means, when DOL usually decides, and the two places DOL's live status says less than its own files.
4 min read