PERM, prevailing wage determination processing updates

The U.S. Labor Department has posted current processing times as of Jan. 31 for permanent labor certification (PERM) applications and prevailing wage determination requests.

PERM processing: Applications filed in December and earlier are currently being adjudicated, according to the Labor Department. Audit reviews are being conducted on applications filed in June and earlier, and appeals filed in December and earlier are being reviewed for reconsideration.

Average PERM processing times in January:

• Adjudication – 76 days.
• Audit review – 229 days.

PWD processing: The National Prevailing Wage Center is currently processing requests filed in October and earlier for H-1B cases and PERM cases. Redeterminations are being considered on appeals filed in November and earlier for H-1B cases and PERM cases. Center Director Reviews are being conducted on appeals filed in November for H-1B and PERM cases.

Average time for issuance of prevailing wage determinations in January:

• H-1B – 99 days (OES), 140 days (non-OES).
• PERM – 101 days (OES), 137 days (non-OES).

The Labor Department reports PERM and prevailing wage determination processing timeframes on its iCERT page.

BAL Analysis: BAL’s internal case tracking is essentially consistent with the Labor Department processing times. BAL is seeing approvals for PERM applications filed in late November 2016 or earlier and is awaiting prevailing wage determinations for requests filed in October 2016.

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

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