Reference · Permanent residence and policy

PERM, Explained: Status Meanings and the Green-Card First Step

Last scanned: 2026-10-12 · Last verified: 2026-10-12 · XH1B

Review scope and corrections

This review checks the rule statements against 20 CFR 656 and 8 CFR 204.5 and checks the disclosure fields against DOL’s record layout. It retains the earlier archive examples and query scope.

Corrected the priority date to DOL acceptance for an individual labor certification. Removed inferences about I-140 filing and abandonment from Certified-Expired. Added recruitment exceptions.

The disclosure status does not report a corresponding I-140 filing or USCIS outcome. This review does not verify an individual case or refresh the archive.

PERM is DOL’s permanent labor certification program. In the usual process, an employer recruits U.S. workers for a permanent job, files Form ETA-9089, and asks DOL for labor certification. Disclosure files contain application fields and DOL outcomes for published records. Certification is not a visa, a green card, or proof that anyone was hired.^[1]^[3] The archive holds 1,710,384 PERM disclosure records with decisions from 2007 through 2026.

Archive last successful ingest: Oct 14, 2026

Form: ETA-9089
Who files: The employer
DOL decision: Certify or deny
Certification validity: 180 days

What PERM is

What does PERM certify?

The employer, not the worker, files the Application for Permanent Employment Certification, Form ETA-9089, with DOL. DOL certifies a job when it finds two things: there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available for the job, and employing the foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. A certified PERM is the labor-market test that supports an employer's green-card sponsorship. The record on this site is one application and DOL's decision on it; it does not identify the worker or show a hire.

What certification is and is not

Certification means DOL granted the labor certification after review. It is valid for 180 days, and it expires if the employer does not submit it to USCIS on Form I-140 within that window. It is not a visa, a work permit, or residence, and it binds the named job opportunity, not a future hire's payroll.^[5]

The employer's work

What does the employer do before filing?

PERM requires the employer to complete the job offer and test the U.S. labor market before it files. Five duties come up most often on the records.^[2]

1.Fix the occupation and the wage

The employer requests a prevailing wage determination from DOL for the occupation and area, and must offer at least that wage. The PERM filing records the occupation code from the wage request (the PWD SOC code) and the job wage.^[6]

2.Run the required recruitment

The usual professional-job route requires a 30-day State Workforce Agency job order, two newspaper advertisements, and three additional recruitment steps. The rule specifies Sunday editions and exceptions for certain rural newspapers and professional journals. Special routes, including some university teachers, have different requirements.

3.File within the recruitment window

The mandatory steps must happen at least 30 days and no more than 180 days before the filing date, so recruitment that is too old does not support the application.

4.Keep the recruitment report

The employer writes a recruitment report that describes the steps and the lawful, job-related reasons it rejected U.S. applicants. DOL reviews that evidence and can deny an application when the reasons do not hold.

5.Pay the costs

The employer bears the labor certification's costs. It may not seek or receive payment of any kind for PERM activities, including its own attorneys' fees, within the rule's narrow exceptions. A worker may pay only for their own representation, and only within those limits.

Status meanings

What does each PERM status mean?

DOL's disclosure files record one outcome string per application, and the exact strings vary by era and capitalization. These are the outcome families on record, with what each one means.^[8]

Status on record	What it means	Records	Share
Certified	DOL certified the application. The employer may file the certification with USCIS on Form I-140 while it is valid.	808,540	47.3%
Certified-Expired	DOL records the application as certified and expired. This status is not a denial. The disclosure record does not establish whether an I-140 was filed within the certification's validity period.	715,862	41.9%
Denied	DOL denied the application after review. The Final Determination states the reasons and the request-review and reconsideration options.^[4]	107,266	6.3%
Withdrawn	The employer withdrew the application.	78,716	4.6%

Counts fold the raw status strings into these four families with the same rules the PERM hub's outcome buckets use, across all disclosure years on record. The PERM hub's Certified bucket includes certifications that later expired.

Certified-Expired does not mean the case failed

A Certified-Expired record carries DOL’s expired-certification status. Under the regulation, an approved certification expires if it is not filed in support of an I-140 within 180 calendar days. The disclosure file does not report the corresponding I-140 filing or outcome. Do not infer that the employer abandoned the case or that the worker failed to obtain residence from this label alone.

Read a record

How do you read a PERM record on this site?

Case pages retain the source case number and recorded fields. The two examples below pair field definitions with live records from the archive.

Case number: the source application’s DOL case number. It identifies the application, not an individual worker.
Employer: the entity that filed the application and its representative on record. The fields do not establish a hire.
Occupation: the occupation title and code from the prevailing wage request (the PWD SOC code).
Offered wage: the employer’s recorded wage offer and pay unit. This example displays the archive’s annualized amount; it is not payroll.
Status: DOL's decision string for the application, including the Certified-Expired outcome.
Decision date: the date associated with the recorded DOL event or decision. The FY2018 layout defines it as the last significant event or decision date; it is not necessarily the original certification date.

Start anywhere: open the PERM filings browser, search an employer from the top bar, or open an employer page to see PERM history next to H-1B filings.

A certified filing

G-100-24339-516453

In the filing above: Comcast Cable Communications, LLC · Engineer 6, Principal II Wi-Fi Engineer

Occupation: 11-3021 · Computer and Information Systems Managers
Offered wage: $149K / year
Status: Certified
Decision date: 2026-06-30

A Certified-Expired filing

G-200-24163-097139

In the filing above: LOCAL KITCHEN INC. · Barista

Occupation: 35-3023 · Baristas
Offered wage: $35K / year
Status: Certified - Expired
Decision date: 2026-01-02

PERM vs the LCA

How is PERM different from the LCA?

Both are DOL filings an employer makes before a worker can proceed, and both appear on this site. They sit at different stages and mean different things.

	LCA (H-1B)	PERM (green card)
Purpose	Supports a proposed temporary H-1B position.^[9]	The usual first step in an employer-sponsored green-card case; some categories do not need it.^[7]
Form	ETA-9035.	ETA-9089.
U.S.-worker step	Notice to U.S. workers. Additional recruitment duties can apply to H-1B-dependent employers and willful violators.^[10]	A required recruitment of U.S. workers before filing.
DOL review	Form review, usually seven working days.	Review of the application and the recruitment evidence.
Certification means	DOL certified the LCA after form review. This is separate from the PERM labor-market determination.	DOL found no sufficient able, willing, qualified, available U.S. workers, and no adverse effect on similarly employed U.S. workers.

Read the H-1B side in the LCA guide.

After PERM

What happens after PERM?

A certified PERM supports the employer's Form I-140 immigrant petition for the named worker. For a petition based on an individual labor certification, the priority date is the date DOL accepts the labor-certification application, not the later I-140 filing date. Employment-based visa availability also depends on category and country of chargeability. PERM gives no status or permission to work.^[11]

The green-card guide walks the full path from H-1B status to residence.

FAQ

PERM FAQ

What does Certified-Expired mean on a PERM case?

DOL records the application as certified and expired. It is not a denial. The regulation gives an approved certification a 180-calendar-day window for filing in support of an I-140. The DOL disclosure record does not establish whether that filing occurred or what USCIS later decided.

Does a PERM certification mean the worker got a green card?

No. Certification can support the employer’s Form I-140 petition for the named worker. Visa availability and the applicable adjustment or consular process are separate. A certification is not status, a visa, or residence.

Who pays PERM costs?

The employer bears the labor certification's costs. It may not seek or receive payment of any kind for PERM activities, including its own attorneys' fees, within narrow exceptions. A worker may pay only for their own representation under the rule's limits.

Why do so many records show Certified-Expired?

The disclosure files record DOL outcomes. They do not report corresponding I-140 filings or explain why a record carries an expired status. The label alone does not establish that the employer stopped sponsorship, the role changed, or the worker moved on.

How is PERM different from the H-1B LCA?

The LCA supports proposed temporary H-1B employment through employer attestations and a short form review. Notice is a core duty; additional recruitment duties can apply to dependent employers and willful violators. The usual PERM process requires recruitment before filing and a separate DOL labor-market determination. The table above compares them.

Where can I check a PERM case?

The disclosure files are the public record: search by case number or employer on this site, or download DOL's disclosure files directly. A worker with a pending application tracks it through the employer or attorney of record; the disclosure files carry decisions, not case-status lookups.

References

[1] Guidance · DOL Employment and Training Administration. Permanent labor certification program (PERM). PERM overview, eligibility and the NPWC prevailing-wage stepDOL program overview. Certification validity and review criteria have separate regulation references.Checked 2026-10-18.
[2] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. PERM recruitment and labor certification. 20 CFR 656.17(e)Read paragraph (g) for the recruitment report and lawful job-related rejection reasons.Checked 2026-10-08.
[3] Dataset documentation · DOL OFLC. PERM public disclosure record layout (FY2026 Q3). Pages 1–7: ETA-9089 application, DOL outcome and dates, employer, wages and recruitment fieldsThis layout covers determinations issued October 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, on the form introduced June 1, 2023. A DOL certification is not I-140 approval or permanent residence. Older layouts can differ.Checked 2026-10-17.
[4] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. Labor certification determinations. 20 CFR 656.24(b): the certifying officer's grant or denial criteria; (e)-(g): denial notice, review request, and reconsiderationA denial's Final Determination states the reasons and the review procedures. The criteria weigh the employer's compliance and the U.S.-worker and adverse-effect findings.Checked 2026-10-11.
[5] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. Validity and expiration of permanent labor certifications; Payments by employees, prohibition. 20 CFR 656.30(b)(1), (c)(2): 180-calendar-day filing window and scope of the job-specific certification; 20 CFR 656.12(b)The rule describes expiration when a certification is not filed in support of an I-140 within 180 calendar days. The disclosure status alone does not report an I-140 filing.; An employer may not seek or receive payment of any kind for labor certification activities, including its own attorneys' fees, subject to limited exceptions.Checked 2026-10-18.
[6] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. PERM employer wage attestation. 20 CFR 656.10(c)(1): offered wage at least the prevailing wage; 656.40(a) and FLAG program instructions require a PWDChecked 2026-10-18.
[7] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5. 8 CFR 204.5(a), (c), (h), (k)–(l) and (n): petitioners, classification, labor-certification exceptions and petition decisions; 8 CFR 204.5(d)–(e): priority dates, approved-petition retention and exceptionsThe usual employer-sponsored route differs from qualifying extraordinary-ability and national-interest-waiver cases.; Paragraph (e) gives the approved-petition retention rule and its exceptions.Checked 2026-10-18.
[8] Dataset documentation · DOL OFLC. PERM disclosure record layout, FY2018. Page 1: CASE_STATUS and decision date; available disclosure fieldsThe layout lists the expired status. It does not report a corresponding I-140 filing or outcome.Checked 2026-10-12.
[9] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. 20 CFR 655.730. 20 CFR 655.730(c): application fields; 655.730(d)(1)–(4): wage, working-condition, strike/lockout and notice attestations; 20 CFR 655.730(b)DOL reviews completeness and obvious inaccuracies. The regulation describes a usual seven-working-day decision. Certification does not establish compliance in practice.Checked 2026-10-17.
[10] Law or rulemaking · eCFR. Notice to workers. 20 CFR 655.734(a)The timing and physical, electronic, and bargaining-representative notice rules differ.Checked 2026-10-08.
[11] Guidance · U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Sections A.1–3 and A.5: employment preferences, chargeability columns, Final Action Dates and Dates for FilingDated example of the bulletin structure and allocation rules. Use the current monthly bulletin and USCIS chart selection for an actual application. A cutoff date is not an individual waiting-time forecast.Checked 2026-10-18.

PERM is the labor-market test on the green-card path. Next: the whole path, stage by stage.

Keep going

H-1B to Green Card Next: The LCA, Explained