PERM labor certification is usually the first major step in an employment-based green card. The employer shows the Department of Labor that it could not find a qualified U.S. worker for the job. This report covers cases decided through June 30, 2026, using the department's latest disclosure data. A certified PERM case is not a green card: more steps and visa availability follow.
Status at a glance
| Decided in | Cases decided | Median days, filing to decision |
|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | 12,827 | 510 |
| February 2026 | 14,311 | 502 |
| March 2026 | 14,648 | 497 |
| April 2026 | 14,871 | 484 |
| May 2026 | 17,786 | 441 |
| June 2026 | 19,764 | 398 |
What changed
The wait has started to fall. The median case decided in June took about 13 months, down from almost 17 in January, while the department decided more than twice as many cases as it did in November. Most June decisions were for cases filed around April and May of 2025. One quarter of data does not settle it.
The longer history shows how much the process slowed first. A typical case decided in FY2021 or FY2022 took about six months, and by FY2025 that had reached 482 days.
| Decided in | Cases | Median days | Denied | Withdrawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | 108,085 | 194 | 3.7% | 3.3% |
| FY2022 | 104,468 | 189 | 4.3% | 5.3% |
| FY2023 | 116,186 | 287 | 5.4% | 6.6% |
| FY2025 | 146,846 | 482 | 1.7% | 4.5% |
| FY2026, through June | 112,290 | 487 | 3.3% | 4.1% |
Denials are at 3.3% so far this year. That is above the unusually low 1.7% of FY2025 and below the 3.7% to 5.4% range of the three years before.
Who is being sponsored
Looking at cases filed in FY2025 and certified so far, software developers lead at 15,674, or 23% of the group. Fast food workers (1,964) and meat and poultry cutters (1,576) are also among the top occupations, because PERM covers roles with no degree requirement. The median offered wage in this group is $107,305.
| Occupation | Certified so far |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 15,674 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 3,024 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,964 |
| Project Management Specialists | 1,728 |
| Data Scientists | 1,674 |
| Meat, Poultry and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | 1,576 |
California (11,932), Texas (6,969) and New York (4,861) are the top work locations. Microsoft is the largest single sponsor in this group, with 1,170 certified cases.
What to watch next
The Q4 file will show whether the monthly median stays below 400 days, and whether the faster pace is holding the denial rate steady.
How to read this report
Timing and outcomes here use the decision date. Elsewhere on the site, green card pages group cases by the year they were filed, which keeps wages comparable with H-1B data, so the newest filing years look nearly empty until those cases are decided. A median wait describes cases that have finished, so it can only estimate how long a case filed today will take. We leave FY2024 out of the table because our data for it looks incomplete, with far fewer decisions than usual from July through September 2024.