The Department of Labor’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes DOL processing times for each of its employment certification programs, and the current numbers span a huge range. As of March 2026, permanent labor certification (PERM) analyst reviews are averaging 503 calendar days, prevailing wage determinations are taking about three months, H-1B labor condition applications usually clear in under a week, and complete H-2A agricultural cases average 18 days. The published figures show where the agency sits in its queue, not a guaranteed turnaround on anything you file today.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times
PERM Labor Certification
Permanent labor certification through ETA Form 9089 is the slowest program DOL runs, and it’s the required first step for most EB-2 and EB-3 green cards. Delays here push back every downstream immigration filing.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6, Part E, Chapter 6 – Permanent Labor Certification
As of March 2026, OFLC is working on analyst reviews for cases with a November 2024 priority date. That’s roughly a 16-month wait from filing to determination, and the reported average for cases completed in February 2026 was 503 calendar days.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times That’s a sharp jump from the six-to-ten-month range that was common in prior years.
Cases pulled for audit sit in a separate queue. The audit review queue is currently processing cases with a June 2025 priority date, so an audited case waits additional months after documentation is submitted before a final decision.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times Audits can be triggered by specific criteria or selected at random.3eCFR. 20 CFR 656.17 – Basic Labor Certification Process
Your priority date is set the day DOL accepts the PERM application for processing. That date determines your place in the immigrant visa queue, so the visa-availability clock starts on day one even though certification itself takes over a year.4USCIS. Visa Availability and Priority Dates
The 500-plus days don’t capture the full clock either. Before Form 9089 can be filed, an employer needs a prevailing wage determination and has to complete recruitment. Recruitment itself must run between 30 and 180 days before filing, followed by a mandatory 30-day quiet period.3eCFR. 20 CFR 656.17 – Basic Labor Certification Process Add prevailing wage processing to that, and a realistic start-to-finish timeline for a PERM case filed today stretches past two years.
Prevailing Wage Determinations
Most employers need a prevailing wage determination through ETA Form 9141 before starting recruitment. The National Prevailing Wage Center assigns a wage rate using Bureau of Labor Statistics data for that occupation and area.
Current processing times by program, as of March 2026:
- PERM using OEWS data: processing December 2025 requests, roughly three months.
- H-1B using OEWS data: also processing December 2025 filings.
- H-2B using OEWS data: processing February 2026 filings, about one month.
- Non-OEWS requests for H-1B and PERM: running at approximately the same pace as their OEWS counterparts.
Once issued, a prevailing wage determination is valid for a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of one year from the determination date. The employer has to either begin recruitment or file the labor certification within that window, or the determination expires and the process starts over.5eCFR. 20 CFR 656.40 – Determination of Prevailing Wage for Labor Certification Employers who receive a 90-day validity period have almost no room to delay recruitment.
Wage-level challenges add more time. OFLC is currently processing PERM redetermination requests from November 2025 and Center Director reviews from December 2025.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times
H-1B Labor Condition Applications
Labor condition applications filed on ETA Form 9035 move through DOL faster than anything else. The regulation says the agency will “usually make a determination to certify or not certify an LCA within seven working days” of receipt.6eCFR. 20 CFR 655.730 – What Is the Process for Filing a Labor Condition Application Electronic filings often clear in just a few days; mailed filings can take longer. The regulation uses “usually” rather than “shall,” so seven days isn’t a hard guarantee, but delays beyond that are uncommon.
That speed matters for H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 hiring timelines. Employers also need to remember a compliance clock that starts almost immediately: within one working day of filing the LCA, the employer must have the public access file in place.7U.S. Department of Labor. What Records Must an H-1B Employer Make Available to the Public
H-2A and H-2B Temporary Programs
The H-2 programs run on calendars tied to the employer’s date of need.
H-2A Agricultural Timelines
Applications must go to OFLC at least 45 calendar days before workers are needed, and the job order with the State Workforce Agency has to be filed even earlier, between 75 and 60 days before the start date. OFLC aims to issue final determinations at least 30 days before the date of need.8U.S. Department of Labor. H-2A Temporary Certification for Agriculture Workers
Recent numbers show complete H-2A cases averaging 18 calendar days from submission to processing. Incomplete cases needing additional information average 37 days.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times Filing a clean application roughly cuts the wait in half.
H-2B Non-Agricultural Timelines
H-2B uses a seasonal filing window. For work starting on or after April 1, 2026, the window opened on January 1, 2026. Applications submitted during the first three calendar days of a window are randomly ordered rather than handled first-come, first-served.9U.S. Department of Labor. Foreign Labor Certification OFLC encourages employers to request the prevailing wage determination at least 60 days before it’s needed. Recent data shows the agency working through an H-2B backlog, with many recent submissions still awaiting initial notices of acceptance or deficiency.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times
What Speeds a Case Up or Slows It Down
OFLC’s numbers shift month to month for reasons on both sides of the file.
On the agency side, federal budget cycles matter more than applicants often realize. Hiring freezes, continuing resolutions, and government shutdowns cut the number of analysts on the queue. The transition from the legacy iCERT system to the current FLAG portal also produced adjustment periods where processing slowed during data migration. Seasonal H-2A and H-2B surges pull staff toward those time-sensitive programs, which can slow the PERM backlog during peak agricultural hiring months.
On the applicant side, filing a complete, accurate application is the single biggest controllable factor. Incomplete cases trigger requests for information and push the file back in the queue. The H-2A data shows what that looks like: 18 days for complete cases, 37 days for incomplete ones.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times The same principle applies across every OFLC program. Aligning the job description with standard occupational classifications, and making sure the offered wage meets or exceeds the prevailing wage, removes the most common triggers for deficiency notices.
How to Check Your Case Status
Active cases are tracked through the Foreign Labor Application Gateway at flag.dol.gov. The case status search accepts up to 30 case numbers at a time, in the format G-100-12345-123456.10Foreign Labor Application Gateway. Case Status Search Your case number is on the confirmation page or automated email sent after filing.
Status labels include “In Process” (still under review), “Certified” (approved), and “Denied” (rejected). Prevailing wage cases may show “RFI Issued” when the agency wants more information; temporary labor cases may show “NOD Issued” for a notice of deficiency. Responding promptly to either keeps you from losing your place.
Employers who need to pull back a pending application can withdraw it through the Case Details page in FLAG. Withdrawal is available for cases in “In Process,” “RFI Issued,” “NOD Issued,” or “Accepted – Pending Recruitment” status. The option appears once a permanent case number has been assigned, which typically happens within about 15 minutes of submission.11U.S. Department of Labor. Frequently Asked Questions
OFLC updates published processing times regularly at flag.dol.gov/processingtimes, and checking that page gives a more reliable read than any estimate more than a few weeks old.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times
Deadlines After a PERM Approval
A PERM certification isn’t the finish line, and one deadline in particular catches employers off guard. An approved labor certification expires 180 calendar days after the approval date. The sponsoring employer has to file Form I-140 with USCIS within that window, and USCIS has to physically receive the petition by the expiration date. Postmarking it on the last day is not enough.12eCFR. 20 CFR 656.30 – Validity of and Invalidation of Labor Certifications After waiting over a year for certification, letting it lapse over a missed I-140 filing is a painful and preventable mistake.
Employers also have to retain the PERM application and all supporting recruitment documentation for five years from the filing date.13eCFR. 20 CFR 656.10 – General Instructions The records don’t have to stay on-site, but they need to be accessible if DOL asks.
If a PERM case is denied, the employer has 30 days from the denial date to file a request for review with the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals.14eCFR. 20 CFR 656.26 – Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals Review The deadline is strict. OFLC is currently processing reconsideration requests filed in September 2025, so the appeal queue itself adds several more months on top of everything else.1U.S. Department of Labor. Processing Times