EB-2 PERM Process: Requirements, Steps, and Priority Dates

The EB-2 PERM process is the employer-sponsored green card path for foreign professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability, and it runs through three stages: a labor certification issued by the U.S. Department of Labor through its Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) system, an immigrant petition filed with USCIS on Form I-140, and a final green card step that depends on visa availability. Even when nothing goes wrong, the full journey commonly takes more than three years. PERM alone currently averages roughly 503 calendar days before the Department of Labor issues a decision.¹ For workers born in India or mainland China, the last stage can add years or even a decade on top of that.

Who Qualifies for EB-2

The EB-2 preference category covers two groups of workers: those holding an advanced degree and those with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business.² The employer’s job posting has to genuinely require the level of education or experience that qualifies someone for EB-2. Inflating job requirements to fit the category is not allowed.

Advanced Degree

This path requires a U.S. master’s degree or its foreign equivalent, or higher. A bachelor’s degree combined with at least five years of progressive post-bachelor’s experience in the specialty counts as the equivalent of a master’s. If the field customarily requires a doctorate, the candidate needs one.³

Exceptional Ability

Candidates without an advanced degree can qualify by showing expertise significantly above what’s normally found in their field. The petition must include at least three of these categories of evidence: an academic record showing a relevant degree or certificate; letters documenting at least ten years of full-time experience; a professional license or certification; evidence of a high salary reflecting exceptional ability; membership in professional associations; or recognition of achievements from peers, government entities, or professional organizations.³

When PERM Can Be Skipped: The National Interest Waiver

Not every EB-2 candidate has to run the PERM gauntlet. Under the national interest waiver, a foreign national can self-petition without a sponsoring employer and without a labor certification when the endeavor has substantial merit and national importance, the person is well positioned to advance it, and on balance a waiver benefits the United States.⁴ Researchers, entrepreneurs, and physicians in underserved areas often qualify. If the waiver isn’t a fit, the standard PERM process below applies.

Step One: Prevailing Wage Determination

Before any recruitment starts, the employer submits Form ETA-9141 to the Department of Labor’s National Prevailing Wage Center. The form captures the job title, duties, work location, and minimum education and experience requirements.⁵ The DOL assigns a wage level (Level I through Level IV) using data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the geographic area.

The resulting prevailing wage sets the floor for what the employer must pay. If the actual wage for the position is higher, the employer must offer that higher figure. The employer attests under penalty of perjury that the offered wage equals or exceeds the prevailing wage and that it has funds to pay.⁶ Getting the job description and requirements right here matters. Inconsistencies between the prevailing wage request and the later PERM filing are one of the most common audit triggers.

Step Two: Labor Market Recruitment

The point of PERM recruitment is to test the labor market and show that no qualified, willing, and available U.S. worker exists for the position.⁷ The regulations spell out exactly which steps must be completed and when.

The Mandatory Steps

Every PERM application requires two baseline recruitment steps. The employer must place a job order with the State Workforce Agency serving the area of intended employment for at least 30 days, and must run print advertisements on two different Sundays in a newspaper of general circulation appropriate to the occupation and the local labor market.⁸ A notice of filing must also be posted at the worksite for ten consecutive business days so that current employees see the position.

All mandatory recruitment must occur at least 30 days but no more than 180 days before the PERM application is filed. That 30-day gap between the end of recruitment and filing, sometimes called the quiet period, gives any interested U.S. workers time to submit their credentials.

Additional Steps for Professional Positions

Professional occupations require three additional recruitment steps chosen from a list of ten in the regulations: the employer’s own website, a third-party job search website, job fairs, on-campus recruiting, professional or trade organizations, private employment firms, an employee referral program with incentives, campus placement offices, local or ethnic newspapers, and radio or television advertising.⁸ Only one of these three may consist entirely of activity within 30 days of filing; the other two must fall in the 30-to-180-day window.

Evaluating U.S. Applicants

The employer must consider every U.S. worker who responds. An applicant can be rejected only for lawful, job-related reasons: the applicant misrepresented qualifications, expressed no interest in the job or the offered wage, or genuinely cannot perform the duties. Rejecting someone because the sponsored foreign worker has more experience or more internal company knowledge is not valid. The evaluation must reflect the minimum requirements the employer would accept for any new hire, not skills the foreign worker has picked up since starting the role.

After recruitment closes, the employer compiles a report documenting every applicant and the specific reason each was rejected. Recruitment records must be kept for five years from the date the PERM application is filed.⁹

Step Three: Filing the PERM Application

Once the quiet period passes, the employer files Form ETA-9089 electronically through the DOL’s Foreign Labor Application Gateway.¹⁰ No supporting documents get uploaded at filing, but the employer must have every record ready to produce immediately if the DOL asks.

Processing has stretched well beyond historical norms. As of early 2026, the DOL reports an average of about 503 calendar days for analyst review of non-audited cases. Audited cases take longer still; the DOL is currently reviewing audit cases with priority dates from mid-2025.¹ Planning as though PERM alone will take 18 months or more is realistic in the current environment.

A certified labor certification is valid for only 180 days. If the employer doesn’t file the I-140 with USCIS within that window, the certification expires and the entire PERM process starts over.⁷

Audits and Supervised Recruitment

The DOL selects a significant share of PERM applications for audit, sometimes at random and sometimes because of red flags in the filing. Common triggers include mismatches between the prevailing wage request and the PERM application, incorrect occupational classification codes, job requirements that exceed what’s standard for the occupation, a foreign language requirement without clear business justification, and recent layoffs in the same occupation. The FLAG system flags certain combinations automatically.

An audit notice requires the employer to submit all recruitment documentation, the recruitment report, and any other records the DOL specifies, typically within 30 days. Clean records let the case move toward certification. Problems can produce denial, or something worse: supervised recruitment. If the DOL determines the employer substantially failed to produce required documentation, submitted inadequate records, or made a material misrepresentation, the certifying officer can require supervised recruitment for all future PERM filings for up to two years, with the DOL directing every aspect of the process.

Step Four: Filing the I-140 Immigrant Petition

With an approved labor certification, the employer files Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers) with USCIS inside the 180-day validity window.¹¹ The petition proves two things: the foreign worker meets the qualifications listed on the PERM application, and the employer can afford to pay the offered wage.

Supporting evidence typically includes diplomas, degree evaluations confirming that foreign credentials are equivalent to U.S. standards, and detailed experience letters from current or former employers describing specific duties, job titles, and dates of employment.¹²

Ability to Pay the Offered Wage

USCIS requires proof that the employer can pay the offered salary from the priority date (the date the PERM application was filed) through the date the green card is granted. The employer must satisfy at least one of three tests for each year in the relevant period:¹³

Paying the beneficiary: W-2s or wage records showing the employer already pays the worker at or above the offered wage.
Net income: company net income from federal tax returns equal to or greater than the offered wage.
Net current assets: current assets minus current liabilities equal to or greater than the offered wage.

USCIS does not allow net income and net current assets to be added together. If the employer already pays the worker but below the offered wage, only the difference needs to be covered by net income or net current assets. Employers with 100 or more workers may submit a statement from a financial officer in place of tax returns. Companies with multiple pending I-140 petitions must show the ability to pay the combined total across their immigration portfolio.

Fees and Premium Processing

The I-140 base filing fee is on the current USCIS fee schedule. For employers who need a faster decision, premium processing guarantees a response within 15 business days for an additional fee of $2,965 as of 2026.¹⁴ A response isn’t always an approval; it may be a request for evidence. Either way the case moves on a guaranteed timeline.

Priority Dates and the Visa Backlog

An approved I-140 does not mean a green card is coming soon. Every employment-based petition receives a priority date, typically the date the PERM application was filed. The foreign worker cannot complete the final step (adjusting status to permanent resident) until that priority date becomes current on the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin.

For most countries of birth, the EB-2 backlog is relatively short. The November 2025 Visa Bulletin listed the EB-2 final action date for the “all other countries” category as December 2023.¹⁵ For applicants born in mainland China it was April 2021; for applicants born in India, April 2013, a backlog over a decade long. These dates shift month to month and can move forward or backward with demand.

The practical impact is stark. An Indian-born professional whose PERM is filed in 2026 may wait well over a decade before their priority date becomes current. During that wait, the person generally remains on a nonimmigrant work visa (often H-1B) tied to their employer, with real constraints on career mobility.

Step Five: Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

Once the priority date is current, the foreign worker applies for permanent residence in one of two ways. Someone already in the United States typically files Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence) with USCIS. The I-485 can be filed concurrently with the I-140 if a visa number is immediately available at the time of filing.¹⁶ Someone abroad, or someone who prefers to process outside the country, goes through consular processing at a U.S. embassy.

Filing the I-485 unlocks several benefits before the green card is approved. The applicant can apply for an Employment Authorization Document to work and Advance Parole to travel internationally without abandoning the application. For workers in long backlogs, filing the I-485 as early as possible is a strategic priority because it triggers portability rights and provides some independence from the sponsoring employer.

Changing Jobs During the Process

The green card process can run for years, and people naturally want to change employers along the way. The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21) provides a portability mechanism: if the I-485 has been pending for 180 days or more, the applicant can move to a new employer as long as the new position is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the job on the original petition.¹⁷

USCIS evaluates “same or similar” by comparing DOL occupational codes, job duties, required skills and education, and the offered wage between the old and new positions. The original I-140 must have been approved, or at minimum approvable, for portability to work. If the original employer withdraws the I-140 or goes out of business before the 180-day mark, portability isn’t available and the application fails. After 180 days, even a withdrawal by the original employer generally does not kill the case.

Who Pays for PERM

Federal regulations are explicit: the employer cannot require the foreign worker to pay any costs of obtaining the labor certification. That prohibition covers attorney fees when the same attorney represents both employer and worker, recruitment advertising costs, the prevailing wage filing fee, and any other expense connected to the PERM application. It also reaches indirect payments like wage deductions, kickbacks, and free labor.¹⁸

A foreign worker may pay for a separate immigration attorney, but only if that attorney does not also represent the employer on the PERM case. When the same attorney handles both sides, the employer covers the full cost. Violations can result in denial or revocation of the labor certification and debarment from the PERM program for up to three years. The worker can pay for costs tied to later stages, such as the I-485 filing fee, but anything connected to the labor certification itself is the employer’s financial responsibility.

1
U.S. Department of Labor. PERM Processing Times
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
3
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5 – Petitions for Employment-Based Immigrants
4
U.S. Department of Justice. Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016)
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Application for Prevailing Wage Determination Form ETA-9141
6
eCFR. 20 CFR 656.10 – General Instructions
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification
8
eCFR. 20 CFR 656.17 – Basic Labor Certification Process
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification Program FAQs
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Foreign Labor Certification
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Checklist of Required Initial Evidence for Form I-140
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part E, Chapter 4 – Ability to Pay
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
15
U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for November 2025
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part E, Chapter 5 – Job Portability
18
eCFR. 20 CFR Part 656 – Labor Certification Process for Permanent Employment