PERM Labor Certification for Employment-Based Green Cards

What PERM certification establishes

PERM labor certification requires the sponsoring employer to demonstrate, to the Department of Labor's satisfaction, that there are no able, willing, qualified and available U.S. workers for the offered position at the prevailing wage, and that employing the foreign national will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

PERM is filed by the employer on Form ETA-9089 and, once certified, becomes the foundation for an immigrant petition filed with USCIS. Certification alone does not confer any immigration status; it authorizes the next stage of the process.

Prevailing wage determination

Before recruitment begins, the employer must request and receive a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor's National Prevailing Wage Center, establishing the minimum wage that must be offered for the position based on its duties, requirements and geographic location.

The job requirements listed on the prevailing wage request should reflect the actual, legitimate business necessity for the position rather than requirements written to match a particular candidate, since overly tailored requirements are a frequent source of difficulty later in the process.

Recruitment requirements

The employer must conduct a structured recruitment campaign designed to test whether qualified U.S. workers are available, following specific requirements that vary somewhat depending on whether the position is classified as professional.

• Mandatory steps generally include a job order with the state workforce agency and two Sunday print or equivalent internet advertisements.
• Professional positions require at least three additional recruitment steps selected from a list that includes job fairs, employer website postings, campus recruiting, trade organization postings, and other methods.
• A notice of filing must be posted internally at the employer's worksite, and results of recruitment must be documented, including resumes received and a lawful, job-related basis for rejecting any U.S. applicants.

Filing, audits and processing considerations

After the recruitment period concludes and a mandatory quiet period has passed, the employer files Form ETA-9089 electronically. Many applications are certified without further inquiry, but the Department of Labor audits a portion of filings, requesting the full recruitment record and additional documentation.

Audits can add substantial time to the process and should be anticipated by maintaining organized, complete recruitment records from the outset rather than reconstructing them after an audit notice arrives.

After certification: filing the immigrant petition

A certified PERM application generally must be used to file the corresponding immigrant petition, typically Form I-140, within 180 days of certification. Employers should coordinate PERM timing with the applicable EB-2 or EB-3 visa bulletin category, since visa number availability, not PERM certification alone, ultimately determines when the employee can complete the final stage of the process.