An H-1B labor condition application has a Department of Labor case number. You can check it in PERM Tracker's free case status lookup, which asks DOL's own case-status service and covers pending ones too. This walks through the lookup field by field, covers what to do if you don't have the number, and says where the record stops being useful.
What the number looks like
An LCA number usually starts with I-200-. A smaller share start with I-203-. A full one looks like I-200-26239-199948: a letter, three digits, a five digit filing day code, then a serial.
The middle block is DOL's day code: two digits of the year, then the day of the year, so 26239 is day 239 of 2026, August 27. Paste the number whole.
The same box takes all three DOL programs, and works out which is which from the prefix.
| Prefix | Program | Form |
|---|---|---|
I-200-, I-203- | H-1B labor condition application | ETA-9035 |
P-100- | Prevailing wage request | ETA-9141 |
G-100-, and the older A- form | PERM application | ETA-9089 |
Where to get the number if you don't have it
You're entitled to a copy of the certified LCA. The employer has to hand it to the H-1B worker no later than the day the work starts, and the number is printed on it. If it never arrived, ask for it. That's a reasonable request, and there's nothing awkward about it.
The employer also keeps a public access file with the supporting documents and has to make it available to anyone who asks within one working day of filing. That file is the fuller version of the same story.
If you can't get either, search by employer. That's further down this page.
Look it up
Paste the number into the case status lookup. You don't need an account. The number goes into the page address, so the result can be bookmarked or forwarded.
If the number isn't already held here, DOL's own case system gets asked at that moment and the answer is recorded. So a filing from a few days ago still resolves on the first try.
What comes back
For a pending LCA you get four facts and DOL's status.
The employer and the job title are worth reading closely, because they're the part a worker can verify. A title that doesn't match the offer letter, or an employer name that isn't quite the entity you thought you were joining, is worth a question before it becomes a problem.
There's deliberately no queue position on an LCA. DOL's stated target is a decision within seven business days of filing, so where it sits in a line isn't the question anyone is asking.
The statuses you'll see:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| In process | DOL has it and hasn't decided yet |
| Certified | DOL accepted the attestations. The employer can now file the H-1B petition with USCIS |
| Withdrawn | The employer pulled it before a decision. It isn't a denial, and refiling is common |
| Certified, then withdrawn | It was certified and later withdrawn |
| Denied | DOL found a problem with the form itself |
If a filing has sat in process well past a couple of weeks, that's unusual for this program. The employer or its attorney will know why. How long DOL takes to certify an LCA shows how to count the seven working days and what a return means.
Hearing about a change without checking again
On a pending LCA, the result carries a box for an email address. You confirm the address by clicking a link, then get one email per status change and nothing else. It stops on its own once DOL decides, because there's nothing left to report. One address can watch 25 cases, and you don't need an account.
If you only have the employer
Search at /lca-cases by the start of the company's legal name, and narrow by job title or filing month. Every case number in the results links straight into the lookup.
Legal names are the trap here. Employers file under the entity name rather than the brand. So a subsidiary or a staffing company may be what's on the form.
What this can't tell you
- Anything about the H-1B petition. Filing, the cap lottery, approval and denial all happen at USCIS under a separate receipt number. A certified LCA is only a prerequisite for the petition.
- The wage on the form. DOL's live case record doesn't carry the wage offered. That arrives in DOL's quarterly disclosure files, and for LCAs that half isn't filled in here yet.
- Whether the wage was ever paid. The form is a promise made before the work starts. Enforcement runs through the Wage and Hour Division afterwards, outside this record.
- Why a denial happened. On all of these programs, DOL publishes the outcome without its reasoning.
- Whether anybody was hired. An LCA names a job, a wage and a worksite area. It doesn't name a person, and plenty are certified and never used.
- Older filings, for now. Live coverage started recently and is working backwards. A filing from a couple of years ago may not be here.
Everything above refreshes once a day from DOL. It's current to the last check, and the result says when that was.
Related
- What an LCA is, if you want the form itself explained
- LCA search, to find a number by employer
- Tracking a prevailing wage request, the separate DOL determination PERM requires and an LCA doesn't
