PERM, prevailing wage processing updates

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

PERM Processing: Applications filed in October and earlier are now being adjudicated, according to the department. Audit reviews are being conducted on applications filed in July and earlier, and appeals filed in October and earlier are being reviewed for reconsideration.

Average PERM processing times in January:

• Adjudication – 98 days.
• Audit review – 215 days.

PWD Processing: The National Prevailing Wage Center is currently processing requests filed in September and earlier for H-1B and PERM cases. Redeterminations are being considered on appeals filed in November and earlier for H-1B and PERM cases. Center director reviews are being conducted on appeals filed in December and earlier for PERM cases. The department reported that it had no center director reviews pending for H-1B cases.

Average times for issuance of prevailing wage determinations:

• H-1B – 127 days (OES), not reported (non-OES) – reported for January.
• PERM – 126 days (OES), 152 days (non-OES) – reported for September.

The Labor Department reports PERM and PWD processing time frames on its iCERT page.

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 October and earlier, but is seeing PWDs for requests filed in October, as well as September and earlier.

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

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