The Labor Department has posted processing times current as of April 30 for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications and prevailing wage determination (PWD) requests.

PERM Processing: As of April 30, the department was adjudicating applications filed in December and earlier, conducting audit reviews on applications filed in July and earlier, and reviewing appeals for reconsideration filed in March and earlier.

Average PERM processing times in March:

  • Adjudication – 150 days.
  • Audit review – 279 days.

PWD Processing: The National Prevailing Wage Center was processing PWD requests filed in February and earlier for H-1B and PERM cases. Redeterminations were being considered on appeals filed in March and earlier for H-1B cases and for PERM cases. Center Director Reviews were being conducted on appeals filed in March for PERM cases. The department reported no pending Center Director Reviews for H-1B cases.

Average times for issuance of prevailing wage determinations in March:

  • H-1B – 112 days (OES), 130 days (non-OES).
  • PERM – 111 days (OES), 112 days (non-OES).

The Labor Department reports PERM and PWD processing time frames on its Foreign Labor Application Gateway website.

BAL Analysis: BAL’s internal case tracking is consistent with the Labor Department’s published processing times. BAL is seeing approvals for PERM applications filed in December and earlier, and is seeing PWDs for requests filed in February and earlier for H-1B cases and PERM cases.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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