What changed
The Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) labor certification process is the front door to most EB-2 and EB-3 immigrant visa petitions. The program is governed by 20 CFR Part 656, the regulations the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized in the 2004 PERM rule and that took effect on March 28, 2005.
The biggest recent change is operational rather than substantive. On June 1, 2023, DOL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) retired the legacy PERM Online system and moved Form ETA-9089 onto the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG). Employers now build the application field-by-field in FLAG, attach the prevailing-wage determination by its tracking number, and electronically sign at submission. The form’s underlying questions track the regulatory requirements of §656.10 (general filing instructions), §656.17 (basic recruitment), and §656.18 (professional occupations) — DOL did not loosen the rules. It tightened the audit trail by digitizing every recruitment field.
Why it matters
PERM certification is rarely the headline of an immigration case, but it is almost always the bottleneck. A clean PERM is the precondition for a Form I-140 immigrant petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Procedural foot-faults — advertising language that does not match the ETA-9089, recruitment steps that fall outside the regulatory window, missing internal notice — drive most denials and audits. Because FLAG forces structured input, mistakes that used to be invisible until DOL pulled an audit are now surfaced (or auto-rejected) at filing.
For the employer, PERM is the moment the company commits, on a signed federal form, to the job opportunity, the wage, the worksite, and the minimum requirements. For the foreign worker, it is the moment the priority date locks in for visa-bulletin purposes once the I-140 is later filed.
Way forward
A correctly run PERM in 2024–2026 typically follows this sequence.
1. Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD). File Form ETA-9141 with the National Prevailing Wage Center via FLAG. The NPWC issues a PWD tied to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code, the worksite metro area, and the position’s wage level (I–IV). Under 20 CFR 656.40, the PWD is valid for not less than 90 days and not more than one year from the determination date. Recruitment must begin within the PWD validity window and the ETA-9089 must be filed before the PWD expires.
2. Recruitment. For professional occupations, the employer must complete the §656.17(e)(1) mandatory steps plus three additional §656.17(e)(1)(ii) steps:
- A 30-day job order with the State Workforce Agency where the worksite is located.
- Two Sunday newspaper advertisements in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of intended employment.
- A notice of filing posted at the worksite for at least 10 consecutive business days under §656.10(d).
- Three additional recruitment steps from the menu at §656.17(e)(1)(ii) — for example, the employer’s website, a job-search website, an on-campus recruitment event, a trade or professional organization, a private employment firm, an employee referral program, a campus placement office, a local or ethnic newspaper, or a radio/TV ad.
All recruitment steps must take place during the 180-day window that ends on the date the ETA-9089 is filed, and no recruitment step may be conducted within 30 days of filing (§656.17(e)).
3. Apply minimum requirements honestly. The job’s minimum education, experience, and skills must reflect the actual minimum the employer would accept — not a wish list built around the foreign worker. Resumes received during recruitment must be reviewed against those minimums, with documented, lawful reasons for rejecting any U.S. worker who appears qualified.
4. File ETA-9089 in FLAG. Submit electronically, sign with the FLAG account credentials, and download the case-confirmation receipt. The priority date for the eventual I-140 is the filing date of the ETA-9089.
5. Retain the recruitment file for five years. Under §656.10(f), employers must keep the recruitment file, including resumes, contact logs, copies of ads, the prevailing-wage determination, and proof of notice of filing for five years from the date of filing — whether or not DOL audits the case.
Disclaimer
Fola is a software company, not a law firm, and nothing in this article is legal advice. PERM procedure is regulation-driven and fact-specific; small variations in timing, advertising language, or job requirements can change the outcome. Verify everything against the primary source — 20 CFR Part 656 and DOL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification — and consult a qualified U.S. immigration attorney before relying on any of it.