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

PERM Processing: As of May 1, the department was adjudicating applications filed in April 2023 and earlier, conducting audit reviews on applications filed in December 2022 and earlier and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in April 2023 and earlier.

Average Number of Days to Process PERM Applications

Determinations Month Calendar Days
Analyst Review March 2024 387
Audit Review March 2024 478

PWD Processing: As of May 1, the National Prevailing Wage Center was processing PWD requests filed in November 2023 and earlier for H-1B OEWS and PERM OEWS cases. For H-1B non-OEWS cases, the department was processing requests filed in April 2023 and earlier. For PERM non-OEWS cases, the department was processing requests filed in March 2023 and earlier. Redeterminations were being considered on appeals filed in January 2024 and earlier for H-1B cases and December 2023 for PERM cases. Finally, Center Director Reviews were being conducted for PERM cases filed in March 2024 and earlier. As of May 1, there were no Center Director Reviews pending for H-1B cases.

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 April 2023 and earlier and PWDs for requests filed in December 2023 and earlier for H-1B OEWS and PERM OEWS cases.

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

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