The U.S. Department of Labor has posted updated processing times for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications and prevailing wage determination (PWD) requests.

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PERM Processing: As of Aug. 31, the department was adjudicating applications filed in October 2022 and earlier, conducting audit reviews on applications filed in June 2022 and earlier, and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in December 2022 and earlier.

‌As of August, the average number of days to process PERM applications was:

  • Analyst review — 323 calendar days
  • Audit review — 513 calendar days

PWD Processing: As of Aug. 31, the National Prevailing Wage Center was processing PWD requests filed in February and earlier for H-1B OEWS cases and January and earlier for PERM OEWS cases. It was processing requests filed in January 2022 and earlier for H-1B non-OEWS cases and November 2022 and earlier for PERM non-OEWS cases. Redeterminations were being considered on appeals filed in March and earlier for H-1B cases and PERM cases. Center Director Reviews were being conducted for H-1B and PERM cases filed in June and earlier.‌

BAL Analysis: BAL’s internal case tracking is mostly consistent with the Labor Department’s published processing times. BAL is seeing approvals for PERM applications filed in October 2022 and earlier and is starting to see PWDs for requests filed in March 2023 and earlier for H-1B OEWS cases.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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