PERM Moves to January 2026, but 49,000 Wage Requests Are Waiting: The Full DOL Picture
By Mitchell Saum, Founder & EB-3 Specialist ·
Summary: PERM Analyst Review advanced to January 2026, but the bigger story is at the start of the line: DOL is processing June 2026 prevailing wage requests with about 49,000 PERM wage requests still pending. PERM decisions averaged 336 days in August 2026.
Key Takeaways
- PERM Analyst Review now on January 2026 filings (was December 2025); Audit Review on December 2025
- PERM PWD processing June 2026 requests, with about 49,000 PERM wage requests pending from April to September 2026
- PERM averaged 336 calendar days for cases decided in August 2026
- Next scheduled PERM/PWD refresh: end of first work week of November
This morning's headline was simple: the Department of Labor's PERM Analyst Review line moved to January 2026. But the full FLAG processing times page tells a bigger story about where EB-3 cases are actually waiting right now. The short answer: PERM is moving, and the real bottleneck is building at the prevailing wage step.
The Full Picture From DOL
| Queue | Now processing | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| PERM Analyst Review | January 2026 filings | Up from December 2025 |
| PERM Audit Review | December 2025 filings | Audited cases trail by about a month |
| PERM Reconsideration | May 2026 (month appealed) | Requests to the Certifying Officer |
| PWD for PERM (OEWS and Non-OEWS) | June 2026 requests | As of September 30, 2026 |
| PERM average processing time | 336 calendar days | For cases decided in August 2026 |
The PERM table on the DOL site is still labeled "as of 10/05/2026," but the Analyst Review month changed between October 21 and October 22. Archived copies of the page from October 21 show December 2025. The live page now shows January 2026.
Where the Wait Really Is: Prevailing Wage
Every EB-3 case starts with a Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) before recruitment and PERM. DOL publishes how many PERM wage requests are still waiting, by the month they were received:
| Month received | PERM PWD requests still pending |
|---|---|
| April 2026 | 8 |
| May 2026 | 36 |
| June 2026 | 3,532 |
| July 2026 | 15,959 |
| August 2026 | 14,980 |
| September 2026 | 14,519 |
That is about 49,000 wage requests still waiting, and DOL is only now working through June. Roughly 15,000 new requests arrived in each of July, August and September. Unless DOL speeds up, the PWD stage is likely to stay at around three to four months behind for a while.
Putting It Together: A Realistic Front-End Timeline
- PWD: requests from June 2026 are being worked on now, so a request filed today joins a line of about 49,000.
- Recruitment: after the PWD comes back, the employer runs the required U.S. recruitment.
- PERM: DOL reports an average of 336 days in August 2026, and analysts are on January 2026 filings, roughly nine to ten months behind.
None of this changes the Visa Bulletin, which controls the last stage. But it explains why getting the PWD request in early, with a clean job description, matters so much.
What To Do Now
- PERM filed in January 2026 or earlier? Your case should be in active review or close to it. Have your I-140 documents ready.
- Waiting on PWD? Check your request month against the June 2026 line. Avoid changes to the job duties or worksite that could restart the wage request.
- Not started yet? The line only gets longer. The sooner a sponsoring employer files the PWD, the sooner your priority date clock can follow.
What To Watch
- DOL says PERM and PWD figures are updated at the end of the first work week of each month, so the next scheduled refresh is early November.
- Whether the PWD line moves past June 2026, and whether the pending count starts falling.
- Whether Analyst Review keeps moving about a month at a time.
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Important: Not legal advice. Immilink is not a law firm. This article is general information only. For guidance on your specific case, talk to a licensed immigration attorney.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor — FLAG Processing Times (fetched October 22, 2026); prior version: Wayback Machine capture, October 21, 2026.