What changed
On December 27, 2004, the Department of Labor published the PERM final rule, “Labor Certification for the Permanent Employment of Aliens in the United States; Implementation of New System,” at 69 Fed. Reg. 77326. The rule, which became effective March 28, 2005, replaced the prior recruitment-and-supervised-recruitment process for labor certification with the modern PERM electronic filing system and re-codified — without substantive change — the Schedule A pre-certification mechanism that had existed in some form since the 1965 Hart-Celler Act’s labor-certification regime.
Schedule A now lives at 20 CFR 656.5. It is a short, two-group list of occupations for which the Department of Labor has determined, on an across-the-board basis, that there are not sufficient U.S. workers available and that wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers will not be adversely affected by the employment of the alien.
The list is:
- Group I. Registered nurses (RNs) and physical therapists.
- Group II. Aliens (except those in the performing arts) of exceptional ability in the sciences or arts, including college and university teachers; and aliens of exceptional ability in the performing arts.
The procedural shortcut is at 20 CFR 656.15. For Schedule A occupations, the employer does not file an ETA Form 9089 with the Department of Labor at all. Instead, the employer files the I-140 directly with USCIS and includes (a) an uncertified Form ETA 9089 signed by the employer and the alien, (b) evidence that the alien meets the Group I or Group II qualifications, (c) evidence of the prevailing-wage determination from the National Prevailing Wage Center, and (d) proof of the notice-of-filing posting at the employer’s worksite for ten consecutive business days within the 30 to 180 days preceding filing.
For Group I, the regulation specifies the qualifying credentials. Registered nurses must hold a full and unrestricted state license to practice professional nursing in the state of intended employment, or have passed the NCLEX-RN examination, or hold a Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) certificate. Physical therapists must possess all the qualifications necessary to take the physical-therapist licensing examination in the state of intended employment.
The CGFNS pathway interacts with the separate VisaScreen requirement at INA § 212(a)(5)(C), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(5)(C), which conditions immigrant-visa issuance for most healthcare workers on a certification from CGFNS or an equivalent body that the alien’s foreign education, training, license, and experience meet U.S. standards. The implementing regulation sits at 8 CFR 212.15. Schedule A pre-certifies the labor; VisaScreen separately certifies the credentials.
Why it matters
Schedule A is a meaningful shortcut. A PERM labor certification typically takes 9 to 18 months from prevailing-wage request through ETA 9089 filing, recruitment, and DOL processing — and that is before factoring in audit. Schedule A removes the entire DOL step, which on a healthcare employer’s pipeline means an I-140 can be filed essentially the day the position is offered and the prevailing-wage determination is in hand.
Three operational points drive how Schedule A is used in practice.
Group I is the workhorse. The healthcare staffing industry has built its EB-3 (and occasional EB-2) pipelines around Schedule A. Most RN filings sit in EB-3 because the position requires a bachelor’s degree or a diploma but not an advanced degree. Physical-therapist filings often qualify for EB-2 because the entry-level credential — a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) — is an advanced degree under 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2). The classification choice matters for visa-bulletin movement: EB-3 worldwide and EB-3 Philippines (a major source country for nurses) have been closer to current than EB-2 worldwide in some recent years, so the EB-3 RN pipeline has run faster than the EB-2 PT pipeline in those windows. Check current relative final-action dates in the DOS Visa Bulletin.
Notice-of-filing posting is audited. USCIS routinely issues RFEs when the notice-of-filing posting evidence is thin. The regulation at 20 CFR 656.10(d) requires the posting to state the rate of pay, the duties, the location, that the position is open to U.S. workers, and that any person may provide documentary evidence bearing on the application to the Certifying Officer. The posting must run for ten consecutive business days, and the I-140 must be filed within 180 days of the posting end. Practitioners who treat this as a formality lose cases.
The prevailing-wage determination is required, not optional. Even though Schedule A bypasses the DOL recruitment process, the employer must still obtain a prevailing-wage determination from the National Prevailing Wage Center using Form ETA-9141. The employer must offer at least the prevailing wage. Filings that include only an internal pay-band reference will draw RFEs, and PERM-style under-offering of wage will draw denial.
Schedule A Group II — exceptional-ability scientists, artists, and performing artists — is largely dormant. In practice, those petitioners file EB-1A, EB-1B, or EB-2 NIW instead, where the evidentiary standards, while higher, are better suited to academic and artistic careers. Group II’s primary current use is occasional university-faculty filings where the institution prefers the pre-certification shortcut.
A note on the periodic Schedule A expansion debate. In December 2023, DOL issued a Request for Information seeking public comment on whether to revise the Schedule A list to include additional occupations, particularly in STEM and critical-and-emerging-technology fields. As of this writing, no expansion has been finalized; the operative list remains the Group I and Group II occupations above. Practitioners should track 20 CFR 656.5 directly and monitor the Federal Register for any subsequent notice of proposed rulemaking.
Way forward
For employers and practitioners using Schedule A in 2026:
- Confirm the credential at filing. For RNs, attach the state license, the NCLEX-RN passing certificate, or the CGFNS certificate. For PTs, attach evidence that the alien possesses the credentials required to sit for the state licensing examination — a foreign DPT-equivalent degree evaluation, in most cases, plus state-board correspondence.
- Order the prevailing-wage determination early. NPWC processing has run anywhere from 30 to 120 days. The prevailing wage is required at filing, and an out-of-date determination cannot be used.
- Run the notice-of-filing posting cleanly. Ten consecutive business days, posted at the actual worksite, with full content per 20 CFR 656.10(d). Photograph the posting at start and end; keep the dated photographs in the file. File the I-140 within the 180-day window.
- Pick EB-2 vs EB-3 deliberately. For RNs, the position description controls — a bachelor’s-degree-required nursing role can support EB-2 only if the role itself requires an advanced degree or a bachelor’s plus five years of progressive experience under 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2). Most staff-RN positions are EB-3. For PTs, the DPT credential supports EB-2 in most cases; document the entry-level requirement clearly.
- Layer in VisaScreen. Schedule A handles the labor-market side; INA § 212(a)(5)(C) and 8 CFR 212.15 handle the credential side. The alien needs a VisaScreen certificate from CGFNS (for RNs and PTs) before visa issuance or adjustment of status. Start the VisaScreen process in parallel with the I-140 filing; it routinely takes 90 to 180 days.
- Monitor the Schedule A list. If DOL proceeds with any expansion under the 2023 RFI or a successor rulemaking, the operative occupations could change. Watch the Federal Register for any proposed or final rule amending 20 CFR 656.5.
Two related authorities anchor practice. The PERM final-rule preamble at 69 Fed. Reg. 77326 explains DOL’s reasoning for retaining Schedule A and the procedural shortcut. The USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part E treats the Schedule A filing mechanics on the immigration side.
Disclaimer
We’re a software company, not a law firm. Nothing here is legal advice. Schedule A filings turn on case-specific facts — the alien’s credentials, the position description, the prevailing-wage determination, the posting documentation — and DOL or USCIS may issue further guidance that affects the operative requirements. Consult a licensed immigration attorney before relying on any of the above, and verify against the primary source — 20 CFR 656.5 and 20 CFR 656.15 at the eCFR, the PERM final-rule preamble at 69 Fed. Reg. 77326, INA § 212(a)(5)(C) and 8 CFR 212.15 on VisaScreen, and the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6.