This guide is for the attorney, paralegal or HR lead deciding which address a PERM names. It's also for the worker placed at a client's office, such as an IT consultant, who wants to know what that placement means for the case. A PERM names the place the work is done, and that choice sets the wage and the recruitment. It also decides what a later move does to the case. PERM Tracker's free case search shows the worksite on each decided case in DOL's disclosure files, searchable by employer, state or job.
The short answer
File for the place the work is done, wherever the headquarters or the payroll sits. The exception is a job whose worksites can't be known when it's filed: then recruitment and the wage run on the headquarters' area. When the work happens at a client's office, the area around that office is the one the case runs on. A job that moves between sites is entered with no single worksite and its areas spelled out. A move outside the area after filing or after certification usually means a new PERM, unless job portability covers it.
The rule: the place the work is done
The case runs on the area around the worksite, wherever the employer is based. A PERM runs on its area of intended employment, which 20 C.F.R. § 656.3 defines as "the area within normal commuting distance of the place (address) of intended employment." The wage, the state job order, the newspaper ads and the notice of filing all follow that area. The remote work guide sets out each step.
The form's General Instructions ask the employer to define that area "by identifying every worksite location where work will be performed." They add: "The worksite address must be a physical location and cannot be a P.O. Box."
The employer still needs a base of its own. Under § 656.3, an employer is one that "currently has a location within the United States to which U.S. workers may be referred for employment." For a consulting firm, that's its own office. The worksite can still be the client's.
Headquarters, branch or client site
The address is wherever the job is done, and each choice below sets the area that the wage and recruitment follow.
| Where the work is done | The address the PERM names | What follows from it |
|---|---|---|
| At the headquarters | The headquarters | The wage and recruitment for the headquarters' area |
| At a branch office | The branch | The branch's area, wherever the headquarters is |
| At one client's office, for the job as offered | The client site | The client site's area, with the notice the hardest step |
| At several known sites in different areas | The main site in Section F.a, the others in Appendix B | Every area has to be on the wage request too |
| At sites not known yet | The F.a.1 box for no single worksite, then F.c | Recruitment and the wage for the headquarters' area, as DOL's FAQ says |
The notice of filing goes up "at the facility or location of the employment" (20 C.F.R. § 656.10(d)(1)(ii)), and it's addressed to "the employer's employees." DOL answered where it goes for a worker placed at clients in a 2006 FAQ, written for nurses placed by staffing firms. A known placement gets the notice "at that work-site(s) where the employee will perform the work," plus the employer's in-house media. An unknown one gets it "at that work-site(s) of all of its current clients." Whether a client will let the notice go up, and what else the case needs, are questions for the attorney.
Roving and multiple worksites
The worksites start with the wage request, Form ETA-9141, the first filing in the case. It asks "Will travel be required in order to perform the job duties?" and, if so, to "provide geographic location and frequency of the travel." It also asks whether work will be done in any metro or non-metro area "other than the Bureau of Labor Statistics Area of the address listed above." A yes there needs its Appendix A, a list of the other worksites.
The PERM can't add areas the wage request left out. Its instructions say extra worksites "must be one or more of the additional worksites identified in Appendix A of the Form ETA-9141 for this specific job opportunity and must have the appropriate wage offer rate."
On the ETA-9089 itself, three parts of Section F do the work:
- F.a, the main worksite. Question F.a.1 offers "No one specific worksite address or physical location" for a job with no single site.
- F.b, the other areas. F.b.1 asks "Will work be performed in geographic areas other than the one identified in Section F.a above?" A yes means Appendix B lists them.
- F.c, other definable areas. It's for areas that "are not known or are dispersed over a wide geographical area," with details such as a "work itinerary, listing of cities or townships/states, counties/states, or several states." A job that "requires roving, travel or possible relocation" is entered as "Various Worksites."
For a job whose worksites "cannot be anticipated at the time of filing," DOL's 2019 FAQ says "the Employer must use the location of its Headquarters to determine its recruitment and prevailing wage." How recruitment covers several known areas isn't spelled out. The attorney on the case decides it.
When the worksite changes
A move matters when it leaves the area the case names. Inside a metro area, any place counts as commuting distance. Outside one, § 656.3 says "There is no rigid measure of distance which constitutes a normal commuting distance."
| When the move happens | What the rules say | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| After the wage request, before the PERM is filed | The PERM's worksites must come from the wage request's Appendix A, and DOL's FAQ says the employer "must complete recruitment for the new area of intended employment before filing" | A new area needs a new wage request and new recruitment |
| After the PERM is filed, before DOL decides | "Requests for modifications to an application will not be accepted" (§ 656.11(b)) | The filed case can't be changed. A move outside its area usually means a new PERM |
| After certification | A certification is valid only for "the area of intended employment stated on" the form (§ 656.30(c)(2)) | The same job inside that area is still covered. Outside it, a new PERM |
| After the I-485 has been pending 180 days | A new job "in the same or a similar occupational classification" can carry the case (8 C.F.R. § 245.25(a)(2)) | USCIS says that move can be "in the same or a different geographic location" |
The first row's quote is DOL's answer to a company that moves after recruitment and before filing, in its change of address FAQ.
The last row is job portability, which the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act of 2000 (AC21) added. It applies only once the green card application, Form I-485, has been pending 180 days or more and the I-140 is approved, or is approved later under the rule's terms. 8 C.F.R. § 245.25 sets those terms. The USCIS Policy Manual says a port "may involve lateral movement, career progression, or porting to self-employment, either in the same or a different geographic location." The Supplement J guide covers the form that records it.
A worked example: a consultant at a client site
This is an example case with no real employer behind it. A consulting firm has its headquarters in New Jersey. Its consultant works at one client's office in Dallas, Texas, for the job the firm is offering.
Decide what the job is
If the job is the Dallas placement, the area is the Dallas metro area. If the consultant will move between clients, it's a roving job, and Section F.c carries the areas.
The wage request
The ETA-9141 names the Dallas site, answers the travel question, and lists any other area in Appendix A.
Recruitment
The job order goes to the Texas State Workforce Agency, and the Sunday ads run in a Dallas-area newspaper. Each ad gives the area and any travel, as § 656.17(f)(4) requires.
The notice of filing
The client's office isn't the firm's own facility. The attorney decides where the notice goes and what Appendix B lists.
A new client after certification
A new placement in the Dallas area stays inside the certified area. One in Chicago is outside it. The certification doesn't cover that job, so it needs a new PERM unless portability applies by then.
What to do
Decide the worksite before the wage request, and check any move against the case's area before it happens.
- Decide early whether the job is one place or roving. Everything after the wage request depends on it.
- Put every area on the wage request's Appendix A, because the PERM can't add one later.
- Check any planned move against the case's area before it happens, with the attorney on the case.
- Follow the case while it's pending with PERM case alerts, which email you when DOL changes its status.
What this guide can't settle
Three questions turn on facts only the attorney on the case has.
- Whether a placement is the worksite or travel. That depends on the job as offered, and the attorney on the case decides it.
- Whether a nearby town outside a metro area is still within commuting distance. The rule gives no fixed distance.
- Whether USCIS will treat a new job as same or similar. That's USCIS's call on the facts. Nothing here is legal advice.
Related
- Remote and hybrid jobs in PERM, for a worksite at the worker's home
- ETA 9089 expiration date and the I-140 deadline, for the 180 days after certification
- How DOL sets a prevailing wage, for why each area has its own wage
- PERM filings by state, for where employers' worksites are, from DOL's own files
