Perplexity
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
PERM Wait Hits 336 Days as Over 45,000 Wage Requests Pile Up at the Labor Department
The foreign professionals who are waiting on employer-sponsored green cards, have to go through a mandatory first step of PERM application. It has become a long wait in its own right. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is taking an average of 336 days to review permanent labor certification (PERM) applications, and tens of thousands of prevailing wage requests are queued before that stage even begins. The numbers do not show a system in free fall. They do show how many separate waits are stacked end to end. Here, our EB-1A consultants have discussed in detail everything foreign professionals and H-1B applicants need to know about the long PERM wait.
What the 336 days measures
DOL reported an average of 336 calendar days for PERM analyst reviews completed in August 2026. As of an October 5 update, analysts were reviewing applications filed in December 2025. WayLit, a firm that tracks the data monthly, says the figure is an improvement on the 372 days it reported in its previous update, and on 403 days earlier in the summer. Zenith Law Firm notes it is also well below the 500-plus days it had cited in earlier coverage.
But 336 days measures only one stage: how long DOL analysts take to decide cases. WayLit warns that the average and the filing month DOL is reviewing now measures different things and “should not be converted into a forecast for pending cases”.
The queue before the queue
Before an employer can file PERM, it generally needs a prevailing wage determination. This is DOL’s finding of the minimum wage the employer must offer for a specific occupation and location. As of August 31, DOL’s National Prevailing Wage Center was processing PERM wage requests received in May 2026. By September 30, it had reached requests received in June.
The backlog behind that point is large. WayLit’s tally of DOL data shows 47,941 PERM wage requests still pending on August 31. About 45,155 of them came in between June and August: 15,781 in June, 15,185 in July and 14,189 in August. Only 2,683 were from May, and almost none were older.
A separate report says more than 45,000 prevailing wage requests remained pending at the end of September. It adds that totals can change when applications are withdrawn or declared void, and that the pending pool includes both PERM and H-1B-related requests (Mwakilishi). The counts differ in date and scope, so they should not be treated as one series. Mwakilishi also says Indian nationals, who make up a large share of employment-based applicants, are “disproportionately affected” by long processing times and annual visa caps.
Adding up the stages
A PERM case moves through three steps: the wage determination, a recruitment period to test the labor market for U.S. workers, and DOL’s review of the filed application. WayLit adds the current figures into a planning scenario of roughly 16 to 18 months from wage request to certification, assuming no audit. It uses three to four months for the wage determination, two to three months for recruitment and about 11 months for analyst review.
Other practitioners give longer ranges. One estimates 16 to 20 months for the full process, and says an audit can add nine months or more. Another puts it at 18 to 24 months, and a third says an EB-2 case can take two to two-and-a-half years. The gap partly reflects different assumptions about wage-determination times, which one firm puts at four to nine months. Recruitment itself has fixed windows. Under DOL rules, the required steps for professional jobs must occur 30 to 180 days before the application is filed.
Audits are a wild card. DOL publishes no average for audit review, though it is working on audit cases filed in December 2025, the same month as standard review.
Certification is not the finish line
Once DOL certifies a case, the employer generally has 180 days to file an I-140 immigrant petition with USCIS. After that, the worker waits for a visa number. The October 2026 Visa Bulletin set the Final Action Date for EB-2 at January 1, 2025 for countries not listed separately, and for EB-3 at May 15, 2024. For India, EB-2 returned on November 1, 2013 after being listed as unauthorized the month before, and EB-3 stands at January 1, 2014.
A case filed in December 2025 would, if certified, generally carry a priority date around that month. That is later than every October cutoff listed in WayLit’s tables, which means a certification does not guarantee a quick green card.
A proposed wage rule hangs over the queue
On March 27, 2026, DOL proposed a rule that would raise prevailing wage levels for PERM and H-1B. It would move Level I from the 17th to the 34th percentile, Level II from the 34th to the 52nd, Level III from the 50th to the 70th and Level IV from the 67th to the 88th. Comments closed on May 26, and WayLit found no final rule or effective date. As proposed, it would apply to wage requests pending when it takes effect, but would not revise previously approved determinations.
What the data do not tell us
DOL publishes no forecast, so neither the 336-day average nor the wage-queue month predicts any particular case. Individual cases can be slowed by audits, requests for information or case-specific issues. The reported pending numbers also come from different dates and sources, which is why they differ.
At GCEB1, our EB-1A experts provide attorney-assisted guidance into merit based legal immigration in the US. Get in touch with us to get personalized consultation. We wish you a safe and stress free immigration journey ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does the 336-day figure measure?
The average time DOL analysts took to decide PERM applications completed in August 2026.
2. Is 336 days the whole PERM process?
No. It excludes the wage determination and recruitment stages that come first.
3. What is a prevailing wage determination?
DOL’s finding of the minimum wage an employer must offer for a given job and location. It is generally required before filing PERM.
4. How many wage requests are pending?
WayLit counted 47,941 PERM requests as of August 31, while another report cites more than 45,000 at the end of September.
5. Does the filing month DOL is reviewing predict my case?
No. It shows which filings analysts are working on now, not a forecast for pending cases.
6. How long does the whole process take?
Estimates range from about 16 months to over two years, depending on audits and assumptions.
7. What happens after PERM is certified?
The employer generally has 180 days to file an I-140, and the worker then waits for a visa number.
8. How does the Visa Bulletin affect this?
A December 2025 priority date would be later than the October 2026 cutoffs, so a long wait may follow certification.
9. Could the proposed wage rule affect my case?
It could raise required wages for pending requests if finalized. As of the latest reports it was not.
Sources & further readings
- Goelite. “DOL Reports 336-Day Average for PERM Processing.” Accessed October 21, 2026. https://goelite.com/blogs/dol-september-2026-perm-pwd-processing-times.
- Kamal Law Firm. “PERM Processing Time and Steps: What Employers and Workers Should Know.” Accessed October 21, 2026. https://www.kamallawfirm.com/post/perm-processing-time-and-steps-what-employers-and-workers-should-know/.
- Manifest Law. “A Guide to PERM EB-2 Processing Time in 2026.” Accessed October 21, 2026. https://manifestlaw.com/blog/perm-eb2-processing-time.
- Mwakilishi. “Green Card Applicants Face 336-Day Wait as US Labour Backlogs Grow.” October 20, 2026. https://mwakilishi.com/news/2026-10-20/green-card-applicants-face-336-day-wait-as-us-labour-backlogs-grow.
- Visa-Pros. “PERM Processing Time in 2026: Current DOL Timelines, Audit Triggers & Delays.” Accessed October 21, 2026. https://visa-pros.com/perm-processing-time-2026-dol-timelines-audit-triggers/.
- WayLit. “PERM Processing Times 2026: September Data and HR Planning.” September 30, 2026. https://www.waylit.com/resources/processing-times-for-perm-in-2026.
- Zenith Law Firm. “PERM Processing Time (Oct 2026): 336 Days at DOL.” Accessed October 21, 2026. https://www.zenithlawfirmmd.com/blog/2026/august/how-long-does-perm-take/.
