This guide is for workers and employers whose PERM case now reads DENIED. A denial isn't the end of the case. It starts a clock on the day it's issued, and the choices narrow once it runs out. Here's what to do first, and what each route can and can't use. To follow the case through either route, PERM Tracker's free case lookup reads DOL's own case-status service and can email you each time it changes.
Count 30 days from the date on the denial
A request for reconsideration goes in "within 30 days from the date of issuance of the denial" (20 CFR 656.24(g)(1)). A request for review by the Board goes in "within 30 days of the date of the determination" (20 CFR 656.26(a)(2)(i)). Both count from the date DOL issued it, whatever day the letter reached anyone. A denial dated Monday, November 2, 2026 runs to Wednesday, December 2, 2026.
DOL's own answers on appeals add two details. The days are calendar days, and they count from the date printed on the letter.
What to do in the 30 days
Read the grounds and mark day 30. Then pick a route with the attorney, check what it does to your H-1B, and keep watching the case.
Read the grounds
The Final Determination has to "state the reasons for the determination" (656.24(e)(1)). Everything else depends on whether those reasons are a fixable defect on the form or a reading of the rules the employer disputes.
Mark day 30 now
Write the date down where both the employer and the attorney see it. The two windows run at the same time.
Pick a route with the attorney
The choice is reconsideration, a request for review, or a new filing. This guide's table of the three routes shows what each can use.
Check what the choice does to your H-1B
The one-year extensions past six years rest on a PERM filed at least 365 days earlier. A denial isn't final for that purpose "during the period authorized for filing an appeal of the decision, or while an appeal is pending" (8 CFR 214.2(h)(13)(iii)(D)(3)). Ask whether the route you pick keeps that protection.
Keep watching the case
The status changes as each step moves. Case status shows it, and an email on that page tells you when DOL moves it.
The three routes
A denied PERM can go to reconsideration, go to BALCA on a request for review, or be refiled as a new application. The first two have 30 days from the denial.
| Route | Who decides | What it can use | The window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reconsideration | The certifying officer who denied it | Documents DOL already had, or documents that existed at filing and were kept to support the application | 30 days from the denial, 20 CFR 656.24(g) |
| Request for review (BALCA) | The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals | The record the officer decided on, plus legal argument. No new evidence | 30 days from the denial, 20 CFR 656.26(a) |
| Refile | A new analyst, in the ordinary queue | Anything, because it's a new application | No window, but recruitment older than 180 days has to be redone |
Reconsideration is narrow on purpose. It can rely only on documents DOL already received, or documents the employer had no earlier chance to submit that existed when the application was filed and were kept on file (656.24(g)(2)). It's refused outright where the denial came from disregarding "a system prompt or other direct instruction" (656.24(g)(3)). The officer can reconsider, or treat the request as a request for review and send it to the Board (656.24(g)(4)).
A request for review goes to the same officer, who assembles the file and sends it to BALCA. The Board reviews on the record: the evidence is what was already in front of the officer, and the submissions are argument (656.26(a)(4)(i)). Under 656.27(c) it can affirm the denial, direct the officer to grant the certification, or order a hearing. It can do those three things and nothing else.
What letting the window pass costs
The denial letter has to warn that missing the 30-day window for review "constitutes a failure to exhaust administrative remedies", and that the denial then "shall become the final determination of the Secretary" (656.24(e)(3) and (4)). That forecloses a federal court looking at it later. So deciding not to appeal is a decision too, and it has a date.
One more thing to know before choosing: while a request for review is pending at the Board, a new application for the same worker in the same occupation can't be filed (656.24(e)(6)). An appeal and a refile can't run side by side.
Refiling instead
If no request for review is made, "a new application may be filed at any time" (656.24(e)(5)). The denial changes the recruitment: the mandatory steps behind a PERM must be "conducted at least 30 days, but no more than 180 days, before the filing" (656.17(e)(1)(i)), so a refile after a long wait usually means advertising again. The new case gets a new case number, a new filing date and a new priority date, and joins the back of DOL's ordinary line.
Refiling is the common choice when the denial names a fixable defect on the form. An appeal is the choice when the officer's reading of the regulation is what's in dispute, because a refile on the same facts gets the same reading.
DOL can also require an employer to use supervised recruitment for future applications, for up to two years from the denial, when documentation was missing or inadequate or a material misrepresentation was found (656.24(f)).
What the record shows today
More cases wait at reconsideration than at BALCA, and the BALCA cases have been open longer since filing.
| Measured, as of October 16, 2026 | Reconsideration appeals | BALCA appeals |
|---|---|---|
| Cases at the stage | 2,661 | 887 |
| Typical time since filing | 524 days | 851 days |
| Middle half | 407 to 679 days | 672 to 1,081 days |
Those are ages counted from the filing date, and the appeal is only part of them: a case at BALCA has usually spent a year or more in DOL's line before the denial, then the reconsideration step, then the Board's own queue. The stage pages for reconsideration and BALCA appeals list every case, oldest filing first, and update each day.
What a denial leaves alone
A denial leaves an approved I-140 from an earlier PERM in place, and it doesn't end your current H-1B petition.
- An approved I-140 from an earlier PERM. Its priority date is kept for a later petition under 8 CFR 204.5(e). The retention calculator walks the rules.
- Your H-1B status today. A denial doesn't end the current petition. It can end the route past six years once it's final, as step 4 explains, and the six-year guide has the dates.
Nothing here is legal advice. The grounds in the letter decide the best route, and the attorney reads them against the record.
What this guide can't tell you
It can't tell you whether your denial is worth appealing or how long BALCA will take, and the measured denial rates aren't a prediction.
- Whether your denial is worth appealing. That's a reading of the grounds against the file.
- How long BALCA will take on your case. The Board publishes no processing time, so the ages above are the only measured figures.
- Your employer's or occupation's denial rate as a prediction. The measured rates are on the denial risk page, with the reasons they aren't a score.
