PERM processing time calculator
Estimate when the Department of Labor will decide your case, from DOL's own queue figures and its published record of decided cases.
When will DOL decide my PERM?
Pick the month DOL received your ETA-9089. Every figure comes from DOL's own published data.
The month is read straight from the number. Nothing is looked up and nothing is stored.
Most likely
Around November 2026
Likely decision window: November 2026
One model has enough published data to answer for this month.
10 of about 12 months elapsed
DOL pace
644
decisions per working day, last 28
Queue is at
November 2025
DOL analyst review, 2026-08-28
Your month
0
months away: the queue is at your month
Queue position
DOL is working on your filing month now
DOL's analyst review queue is working November 2025, as of 2026-08-28.
How far DOL has got through each month
DOL is visibly working October 2024 to August 2026: those months have decisions in them and are not finished. Months above are done, months below have not been reached.
Cases ahead of you
5,122
still undecided, filed before November 2025
- June 2023 100% 17
- July 2023 100% 2
- August 2023 100% 0
- September 2023 100% 0
- October 2023 100% 1
- November 2023 100% 0
- December 2023 100% 0
- January 2024 100% 1
- February 2024 100% 0
- March 2024 100% 1
- April 2024 100% 3
- May 2024 100% 41
- June 2024 100% 27
- July 2024 100% 34
- August 2024 99% 97
- September 2024 99% 106
- October 2024 98% 191
- November 2024 97% 286
- December 2024 96% 369
- January 2025 97% 222
- February 2025 97% 160
- March 2025 98% 173
- April 2025 96% 310
- May 2025 96% 311
- June 2025 95% 517
- July 2025 95% 472
- August 2025 95% 529
- September 2025 93% 971
- October 2025! 83% 281
- November 2025 12% 13,173
- December 2025 3% 14,383
- January 2026 3% 11,128
- February 2026 3% 5,203
- March 2026 3% 6,698
- April 2026 3% 6,720
- May 2026 5% 8,131
- June 2026 3% 9,856
- July 2026 2% 8,943
- August 2026 2% 7,559
One month is marked because far fewer cases were filed in it than in the months either side: October 2025 holds 1,616 against a neighbouring average of 14,332. That is what the records contain, not a gap in them.
13,173 still undecided in November 2025: 13,111 in analyst review, 55 answering a request for information, 1 under appeal, and 6 in none of those three. A case in a request for information or an audit is out of filing order, and DOL publishes those queues separately.
Pending counts: flag.dol.gov/recaptcha/caseStatus (DOL, direct). DOL's own disclosure files carry a decision date on every record and no pending rows at all, so a count of what is still in front of you cannot be read from them.
DOL's published average
November 2026
DOL reports an average of 372 calendar days to a determination. That average is taken over cases decided recently, so audited and long-running cases pull it up.
Source: DOL FLAG processing times, as of 2026-08-28
How fast the queue is moving
October 2023 to June 2026 (30 months of queue in 32 months of calendar)
| Decisions in | Median filing month | Advanced | Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | May 2025 | +3 months | 19,787 |
| May 2026 | February 2025 | +2 months | 17,811 |
| April 2026 | December 2024 | +1 month | 15,003 |
| March 2026 | November 2024 | +2 months | 14,671 |
| February 2026 | September 2024 | +1 month | 14,327 |
| January 2026 | August 2024 | +1 month | 12,842 |
| December 2025 | July 2024 | no change | 9,198 |
| November 2025 | July 2024 | +1 month | 8,890 |
| September 2025 | June 2024 | +1 month | 14,239 |
| August 2025 | May 2024 | +2 months | 16,699 |
| July 2025 | March 2024 | +1 month | 14,998 |
| June 2025 | February 2024 | +1 month | 15,255 |
| May 2025 | January 2024 | +1 month | 12,593 |
| April 2025 | December 2023 | +1 month | 14,596 |
| March 2025 | November 2023 | +1 month | 13,298 |
| February 2025 | October 2023 | +1 month | 10,916 |
| January 2025 | September 2023 | no change | 9,981 |
| December 2024 | September 2023 | +1 month | 8,317 |
| November 2024 | August 2023 | no change | 8,542 |
| October 2024 | August 2023 | +1 month | 7,505 |
| September 2024 | July 2023 | no change | 7,212 |
| August 2024 | July 2023 | +1 month | 7,808 |
| July 2024 | June 2023 | +1 month | 5,519 |
| June 2024 | May 2023 | no change | 11,032 |
| May 2024 | May 2023 | +2 months | 13,444 |
| April 2024 | March 2023 | +1 month | 14,494 |
| March 2024 | February 2023 | +1 month | 12,855 |
| February 2024 | January 2023 | +1 month | 8,708 |
| January 2024 | December 2022 | no change | 6,884 |
| December 2023 | December 2022 | no change | 6,550 |
| November 2023 | December 2022 | +1 month | 8,863 |
| October 2023 | November 2022 | — | 11,081 |
The solid line is the filing month DOL was deciding in each month across the bottom. The dashed line is your filing month, November 2025. The queue reaches you where the solid line meets it.
Reconstructed from determination dates in DOL's disclosure files. DOL publishes today's position but keeps no history, so this series can’t be read from DOL directly.
What this can’t tell you
- DOL is still working through 2025-11. Cases decided first are the quickest ones, so the raw timings of those already decided would read far too optimistically for the rest of the month.
- DOL does not decide cases in strict order. An audit, supervised recruitment, or a request for information adds months, and none of them are predictable from a filing date.
Common questions
How accurate is a PERM processing time estimate?
Why do you show more than one number?
Does DOL decide PERM cases in the order they were filed?
My filing month has already passed and I have no decision. What does that mean?
The deadlines on your side of the process are fixed
Nobody can tell you exactly when DOL will decide. The recruitment window, the quiet period, the filing window and the I-140 deadline are arithmetic on your prevailing wage determination, and getting one wrong restarts the case.
Work out your deadlinesCase data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Processing times: DOL FLAG (flag.dol.gov/processingtimes) · data through Aug 28, 2026 · daily