My employer stopped filing PERMs: how to read the record

A sponsor that filed forty PERMs last year and none this quarter is visible in DOL's record, and so is the difference between a real stop and a spelling change. This guide covers how to read that record: what a gap in filings means, what it doesn't, and where the data runs out. To see one employer's filings month by month, search its name on PERM Tracker's employer index, where each page shows the cases still waiting at DOL beside the published ones.

Find the employer's record

Open the employer's page, check whether its newer filings sit under another spelling, and read DOL's published half apart from the live half.

The ordinary reasons a filer goes quiet

A filer can go quiet because of DOL's quarterly lag, a new law firm, a hiring freeze or a layoff, a policy change, or, rarely, a debarment.

• The quarterly lag. DOL publishes decided cases up to three months after the quarter ends, and nothing about pending ones. The live half of the employer page is the only place a filing from last month shows. If it's there, the employer didn't stop.
• A new law firm. The record's law-firm column changes and the filings continue under the new firm. The law firm page shows the same employer under each firm that filed for it.
• A hiring freeze or a layoff. A layoff in the area and occupation inside six months of filing adds an obligation under 20 CFR 656.17(k), and some employers pause filings rather than carry it. Layoffs and your PERM covers the rules.
• A policy change. Some employers stopped after the 2024 prevailing wage and filing-fee changes. Others switched categories. The policy feed lists the rules that changed and when.
• A debarment. Rare, and public: DOL's debarment list bars an employer from the program for a period. The debarments page is read from DOL's own list, and an employer page carries a notice while the bar runs.

What a freeze means for a case already filed

Nothing, by itself. A PERM in the queue is decided on its own record, in filing order, and DOL doesn't look at whether the employer filed anything since. The queue page shows where the filing month sits.

The job offer behind the case can change. A PERM is an offer of a specific job, and an employer that eliminates the position withdraws the application. So ask "is my job still open" rather than "is the company still filing". The employer's own HR is the only source for that answer.

An approved I-140 is a different matter, and a better one: after 180 days the employer's withdrawal no longer revokes it, and the priority date is retained for a later petition regardless. The retention calculator puts dates on both rules.

What the record can't tell you

The record can't tell you why an employer stopped, whether the gap is permanent, or anything about a company that files under a different legal entity.

• Why. DOL records filings and decisions without the intentions behind them. A gap is a gap, and the reason is the employer's.
• Whether it's permanent. A quarter with no filings is common for a small sponsor whose whole history is a handful of cases. The page prints the count of filings so a single quiet quarter can be read against it.
• Anything about a company that files under a different legal entity. A subsidiary's cases sit under the subsidiary. The employer page merges spellings and leaves corporate structures alone. Merging two different companies would be worse than leaving them apart.

Related

• Look up a sponsor, the walkthrough of the employer page
• Employers under review, which sponsors hold unusual shares of pending cases at RFI, on hold or in appeal
• Every case status, explained