PERM processing times

The queue, drawn

Every PERM waits in filing-month order. Solid months are cleared; the flag is where the queue stands today.

Movement on record

Every reading DOL has published since we started keeping them.

How fast the queue advances

DOL publishes where the queue stands and overwrites it, so its own pages can never say how fast it is moving. This is reconstructed from the determination dates in the disclosure files: for each month DOL issued decisions, the filing month at their median. It is the same frontier the section above tracks, measured a second way and much further back.

Reconstructed from FY2026_Q3 + FY2025_Q4 + New_Form_FY2024_Q4 + FY2024_Q4, so it ends where those files end and is a quarter behind the readings above. Its points aren't equally solid either: the thinnest month in the series is a median over 5,519 decisions and the fullest over 19,787. Every month's count is in the next section.

How much DOL decides in a month

Every determination in DOL's quarterly disclosure files, counted by the month it was issued. Those files lag the weekly queue page by a quarter and carry a year and a half of history.

Every PERM queue DOL publishes

DOL figures as of August 28, 2026.

Prevailing wage requests still pending

PERM prevailing wage requests DOL hasn’t yet decided, by the month it received them, as of June 30, 2026. A running total from the oldest month is what answers how many requests sit ahead of a given one, so each month carries one alongside its share of the pile.

Common questions

How long is PERM processing taking right now?

DOL publishes an average number of calendar days to a determination each month, alongside the filing month its analysts are currently working. Both carry the date DOL attached to them. The average describes cases DOL finished recently, so it describes the past rather than forecasting your case.

What does the analyst review priority date mean?

It’s the month whose applications DOL is currently adjudicating. If the date reads September 2025, DOL is working through cases filed in September 2025. It’s a queue position, not a decision date, and it moves forward as DOL clears cases.

Why is the prevailing wage date different from the PERM date?

They’re two separate queues at two separate stages. A prevailing wage determination comes before recruitment and before the ETA 9089 is filed, so it has its own backlog and its own published position. DOL also updates the two sections on different schedules, which is why they carry different as-of dates here.

Can PERM be processed faster than the published average?

There’s no premium processing for PERM. An individual case can take longer if DOL issues a request for information (RFI) or selects it for audit. Audited cases sit in a separate queue that DOL publishes its own date for.

Where does this data come from?

Directly from the Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification, at flag.dol.gov/processingtimes. PERM Tracker reads that source weekly and stores every publication.