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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsPERM is not currently suspended. The Department of Labor (DOL) temporarily stopped processing labor-certification applications and took its FLAG filing system offline during the federal funding lapse beginning October 1, 2025. DOL announced resumed processing and restored FLAG access on October 31, 2025. On October 5, 2026, DOL was reporting active PERM adjudication, although the queue remained lengthy: analyst-review and audit-review cases were at a December 2025 priority date, and the reported average analyst-review determination time was 336 calendar days for August 2026.
Is PERM suspended right now?
No. The evidence supports a temporary operational interruption in October 2025, not a continuing suspension in 2026. The DOL’s current processing-times snapshot, dated October 5, 2026, lists PERM cases in analyst review, audit review and reconsideration-to-the-Certifying-Officer stages. That active queue means the labor-certification system is processing cases again.
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The continuing problem is delay. A queue date tells you which priority dates DOL says it is currently adjudicating nationally; it is not a promise that every case filed by that date has been decided. Individual timing can differ because of case facts, audits, correspondence, corrections and other circumstances.
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What happened during the 2025 shutdown?
The interruption was tied to the lapse in federal appropriations, not to a permanent change in the PERM program. In a November 5, 2025 notice, the DOL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) said that, beginning October 1, it had ceased application-processing activities and suspended public access to the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system. FLAG is the online system used for many prevailing-wage and labor-certification filings and case actions.
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“Due to the government shutdown, beginning October 1, OFLC ceased all application processing activities and suspended public access to its Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system and SeasonalJobs.dol.gov registry of H-2A and H-2B temporary job opportunities.”
During the affected period, employers could not use FLAG to prepare or submit prevailing-wage requests or labor certifications, and some could not upload responses to pre-shutdown correspondence. OFLC also published temporary procedures for mailed applications and correspondence covered by the notice. For submissions within that notice’s scope, DOL said the postmark date would be treated as the filing date; its example used an October 1 postmark for a PERM application.
That postmark treatment was a narrow, shutdown-related accommodation. It should not be extended to filings or correspondence outside the categories and dates described in OFLC’s notice. If a case depended on a mailing, the employer or its immigration representative should verify that the submission qualified under the applicable temporary procedure.
When did DOL resume PERM processing?
On October 31, 2025, OFLC announced that it had resumed processing employer requests for prevailing wages and labor-certification determinations for both temporary and permanent employment in the United States. The same announcement said FLAG was accessible for new applications and actions on pending cases.
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“The Department of Labor has resumed processing of employer requests for prevailing wages and labor certification determinations for temporary and permanent employment in the United States.”
OFLC warned that processing and response times could be longer than normal while the system and workload transitioned after the shutdown. That warning explains why a case could remain delayed after FLAG became available again: restoration of access did not instantly eliminate the accumulated work.
What PERM does in the employment-based green card process
PERM is the DOL labor-certification step for many employer-sponsored permanent jobs. FLAG describes the certification as allowing an employer to hire a foreign worker for permanent work in the United States. The employer, rather than the worker acting alone, sponsors the labor-certification filing and must complete the required recruitment and application steps.
A PERM delay therefore affects one stage of a larger employment-based immigration process. The DOL processing pages establish what is happening to labor-certification adjudication; they do not establish that a shutdown automatically changed an applicant’s immigration status, visa eligibility, priority date, or ultimate green-card eligibility. Those questions depend on the individual petition, category, country-of-chargeability rules, deadlines and later immigration steps.
Did the government shutdown stop my PERM case?
The answer depends on the case’s stage when FLAG and OFLC operations were interrupted. The shutdown did not mean that every case received the same treatment.
A case not yet filed
If the employer had not submitted the PERM application before October 1, 2025, the employer could not use FLAG during the period when public access was suspended. Recruitment, prevailing-wage work and internal preparation could still require attention, but the electronic filing channel was unavailable for the affected interval. The employer should document what was completed and confirm the filing method and date used after operations resumed.
A case already filed and awaiting review
A pending application could sit without ordinary processing while OFLC was closed. That is an operational delay, not proof that the application was denied or that its priority date was erased. Once processing resumed, the case joined a workload that OFLC itself said could take longer than normal during the transition.
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A case with a request for information or other correspondence
Some uploads and responses to pre-shutdown correspondence could not be submitted through FLAG while access was suspended. The employer’s representative should check the original deadline, any temporary instructions issued by OFLC and the method ultimately used to deliver the response. Do not assume that a missed online deadline was excused unless the case falls within the agency’s stated temporary procedures.
A case affected by the mailing rule
For mailed applications and correspondence covered by OFLC’s shutdown notice, the postmark could serve as the filing date. That rule is not a general way to backdate every PERM submission. Keep the envelope, tracking record, copy of the filing and any proof showing the postmark if the employer relied on the accommodation.
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How long is PERM taking now?
DOL’s October 5, 2026 processing-times page provided the following national snapshot:
| PERM stage | Published queue information | What the figure means |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst review | December 2025 priority date | DOL reported that cases with this queue position were currently being adjudicated; it is not a guarantee that all earlier filings were completed. |
| Audit review | December 2025 priority date | The audit queue was also shown at December 2025, with individual cases potentially varying by facts and correspondence. |
| Reconsideration request to the Certifying Officer | May 2026 priority date | This is a separate post-decision queue for reconsideration requests, not the ordinary analyst-review line. |
| Average analyst-review determination | 336 calendar days, for August 2026 | A published average for that month’s determinations, not a personal forecast or guaranteed maximum. |
| Average audit-review determination | N/A for August 2026 | DOL did not report an average audit-review time for that month. |
The dates and average are published DOL figures, not estimates calculated for a particular applicant. DOL explains that queue dates reflect cases currently being adjudicated and that it may complete older cases for various reasons. A case can therefore move sooner or later than a simple comparison between its filing date and the displayed month would suggest.
How should an applicant interpret a December 2025 queue date?
First, identify the case’s official priority date with the employer or immigration representative. Then compare that date with the “as of” date and stage on DOL’s processing page. The October 5, 2026 snapshot’s December 2025 entry does not mean that every PERM application filed on or before December 31, 2025 had already been decided. It means DOL was reporting active adjudication around that priority-date point.
Second, distinguish the stage. Analyst review, audit review and reconsideration are not interchangeable queues. A case selected for audit can take a different path from a case in ordinary analyst review, and a reconsideration request occurs after an earlier determination. Using the wrong row can create a misleading expectation.
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Third, treat the 336-day average as a historical national statistic for August 2026. It includes calendar days, not business days, and does not predict the date a specific case will be decided. DOL expressly says actual processing varies with the facts and circumstances of each case.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does the suspension mean for a green card timeline?
A PERM pause can push back the employer’s ability to proceed to later employment-based green card steps that depend on an approved labor certification. The size of that effect cannot be calculated from the national queue alone. It depends on when the employer filed, whether the case entered audit, whether a response was required, the worker’s immigration category and country of chargeability, and what later filings are available.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Nothing in the cited DOL operational notices says that the shutdown automatically changed every worker’s immigration status or invalidated every priority date. Nor do the processing-time figures decide whether an individual remains eligible for a particular immigrant-visa or adjustment-of-status strategy. Those are case-specific legal determinations.
Applicants should also separate a PERM priority date from dates published for visa availability. A DOL queue date describes the labor-certification workload; it is not, by itself, a visa-number availability date or a prediction of when a green card can be issued.
What should I do if my PERM case is delayed?
- Ask for the case record. Request the employer or immigration representative’s filing date, priority date, current stage, audit status and copies of any outstanding DOL correspondence.
- Check the official processing-times page. Record the page’s “as of” date and compare your case with the correct row—analyst review, audit review or reconsideration.
- Check every deadline. If DOL or the representative sent a request, confirm the response deadline and the accepted delivery method. Do not rely on the shutdown history as a blanket extension.
- Preserve evidence. Keep the filing confirmation, FLAG receipt, mailed package, postmark, delivery proof and copies of responses. These records matter if the filing date or a temporary shutdown procedure is later questioned.
- Escalate an unusually old case through the employer. DOL says an employer may contact the OFLC PERM Helpdesk when its application was filed more than three months before the month shown on the processing-times page.
- Get individualized legal advice when the issue is consequential. For status, eligibility, expiring work authorization, a missed deadline or a strategy involving later green card filings, consult the employer’s immigration counsel or a qualified immigration attorney.
The DOL page lists [email protected] and [email protected] for the PERM Helpdesk contact information. The employer or authorized representative should make the inquiry and include the case details requested by the agency.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Calling PERM permanently suspended. The documented interruption began October 1, 2025, and OFLC announced resumed processing on October 31, 2025. The October 2026 queue confirms active adjudication.
- Treating the queue month as a decision deadline. December 2025 is a current-adjudication reference point, not a guarantee that all cases through that month are finished.
- Turning 336 days into a personal countdown. It is an average for analyst-review determinations reported for August 2026, not an estimate for your file.
- Assuming the shutdown changed immigration status. DOL’s notices describe agency operations; they do not make a universal ruling on each applicant’s status or eligibility.
- Applying the postmark accommodation too broadly. The special filing-date treatment applied only to mailed submissions within the shutdown notice’s scope.
- Contacting DOL without the employer’s information. PERM is an employer-sponsored process, so the employer or authorized immigration representative usually has the filing details needed for a meaningful status inquiry.
The practical bottom line for applicants in 2026
The 2025 event was a temporary shutdown-related pause, not an ongoing PERM suspension. Processing resumed October 31, 2025, and DOL was actively adjudicating PERM cases as of October 5, 2026. The realistic concern is a substantial and variable backlog: analyst-review and audit-review queues were at December 2025 priority dates, while the reported analyst-review average was 336 calendar days for August 2026. Use those figures to understand the national workload, not to predict an individual result. Obtain the case stage and deadlines from the sponsoring employer or representative, preserve filing evidence, use the Helpdesk guidance for sufficiently old cases and seek case-specific legal advice for immigration consequences.
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