DOL Plans First PERM Recruitment Overhaul Since 2004

What Happened

On July 3, 2026, Bloomberg Law [reported](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/labor-department-eyes-immigration-changes-in-broad-rule-plan) that the Department of Labor's latest unified regulatory agenda includes a planned rulemaking to overhaul the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) recruitment process. The regulatory agenda — the administration's formal rulemaking blueprint published on [reginfo.gov](https://www.reginfo.gov) — lists the PERM modernization among dozens of proposed actions across the DOL.

The PERM labor certification is the foundational step for most employer-sponsored EB-2 and EB-3 green cards. Before a U.S. employer can file an I-140 immigrant petition for a foreign worker, DOL must certify that no qualified, willing, and able U.S. worker is available for the position. The process for proving that — the labor market test — is governed by regulations at [20 CFR Part 656](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/chapter-V/part-656), which were last comprehensively overhauled when the current PERM electronic filing system replaced the older labor certification process in March 2005.

That means the recruitment requirements employers follow today — from the types of advertisements required to the criteria for rejecting U.S. applicants — are built on a framework that predates smartphones, LinkedIn, and modern digital hiring platforms.

What the Overhaul Targets

According to Bloomberg Law, the DOL described advances in technology as having changed recruitment practices across industries, making an update to the PERM system necessary. The planned rule focuses on three areas:

• Modernized recruitment mandates: The current PERM recruitment requirements (20 CFR § 656.17) prescribe specific advertising steps — newspaper ads, job orders, and three additional recruitment methods from a fixed list. The overhaul is expected to revise these requirements to reflect how employers actually recruit in 2026, potentially mandating digital channels and broader distribution.
• Tighter labor market test: The DOL plans to strengthen how it reviews employers' PERM applications, with a focus on ensuring businesses make more robust efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers. This could include tightening the "lawful rejection" criteria employers use to disqualify U.S. applicants during supervised recruitment.
• Layoff safeguards: New protections will specifically address American workers affected by layoffs. Under current rules, an employer that has had a layoff within six months of filing must notify and consider laid-off U.S. workers for the PERM position. The planned rule may expand the scope, duration, or documentation requirements of these layoff provisions.

How This Differs from the Wage Rule

The PERM recruitment overhaul is a separate regulatory action from the [prevailing wage rule](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/27/2026-06017/improving-wage-protections-for-the-temporary-and-permanent-employment-of-certain-foreign-nationals) the DOL published as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on March 27, 2026. That wage rule would raise the OEWS percentile floors for the four prevailing wage levels — from 17th to 34th for Level I, up to 67th to 88th for Level IV — increasing required wages by an estimated $14,000 per worker annually. Its comment period closed May 26, 2026, and a final rule has not yet been published.

The recruitment overhaul, by contrast, targets the procedural side of PERM: how employers advertise positions, test the labor market, and document their recruitment efforts. Together, the two actions represent the most sweeping restructuring of the employer-sponsored green card process in more than 20 years.

Who Is Affected

The planned overhaul directly affects every employer that sponsors foreign workers through the PERM labor certification process:

• EB-2 employers sponsoring workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability through employer-sponsored petitions (not self-petition NIW cases, which bypass PERM).
• EB-3 employers sponsoring skilled workers, professionals, and other workers (including Schedule A occupations like registered nurses and physical therapists, though Schedule A cases have a pre-certified path).
• Staffing and consulting companies that file high volumes of PERM applications — these firms are likely to face heightened scrutiny under tightened recruitment and layoff rules.
• Foreign workers in H-1B status approaching the six-year limit who depend on a pending or approved PERM to extend their stay under AC21 § 106(a).

Current PERM Processing Context

The overhaul announcement comes as PERM processing backlogs remain substantial. According to the DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification [processing times page](https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes), as of June 30, 2026, the agency is processing PERM ETA-9089 applications at the Analyst Review stage that were submitted on or before June 2025 — a backlog of approximately 12 months. Prevailing Wage Determinations for PERM cases are processing OEWS-based requests from April 2026 and non-OEWS requests from March 2026.

The processing delays compound the impact of any rule change. Employers who begin PERM recruitment today under current rules may not receive a determination for a year or more — and if new recruitment requirements take effect before their case is adjudicated, they could face requests to redo recruitment steps.

The Broader DOL Agenda Under Sonderling

The PERM overhaul is part of an aggressive regulatory push under the DOL. On June 29, 2026, President Trump [nominated](https://www.fisherphillips.com/en/insights/insights/trump-taps-sonderling-as-labor-secretary-what-employers-need-to-know) Keith Sonderling — who has served as acting labor secretary since April 2026 — to officially lead the department. Sonderling has overseen DOL's rebranding under the second Trump administration, including a crackdown on what the administration characterizes as abuses of the H-1B and PERM programs.

Beyond immigration, the DOL regulatory agenda includes a final rule on independent contractor classification (targeted for October 2026), a supplemental proposal on federal heat injury and illness prevention standards (December 2026), and proposed updates to Fair Labor Standards Act provisions on tipped employees and work-hour rules for 14- and 15-year-old workers.

What Attorneys Should Know

The regulatory agenda entry signals DOL's intent but does not yet carry the force of law. No Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been published, and the agenda does not specify a target date for one. Practitioners should track:

• The Federal Register and reginfo.gov for the formal NPRM, which will contain the actual proposed regulatory text, preamble analysis, and a new public comment period.
• Whether the overhaul will apply only to new PERM filings or also to pending applications — the prevailing wage NPRM specified prospective application only, but the recruitment rule may take a different approach.
• The interaction between the recruitment overhaul and the pending prevailing wage final rule. If both take effect in close succession, employers will need to recalibrate PERM strategy on two fronts simultaneously.
• Potential litigation risk. Previous DOL attempts to raise prevailing wages (the 2020 Interim Final Rule under RIN 1205-AC00) were vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A recruitment overhaul could face similar APA challenges if the DOL does not adequately justify the changes or provide sufficient notice and comment.

What Applicants Should Do

If you are a foreign worker whose employer is sponsoring — or planning to sponsor — you for a PERM-based green card, here is what this development means for you:

• If your employer has not yet started PERM, discuss the timeline now. Filing under current recruitment rules is advantageous while they remain in effect. The window before an NPRM is published could be months — but it could also close quickly.
• If your PERM is already filed and pending, this agenda entry does not change your case today. But monitor whether the eventual rule applies to pending cases or only to new filings.
• If you are on H-1B approaching the six-year limit, a pending PERM remains your lifeline for an extension under AC21 § 106(a). Any disruption to PERM timelines matters to your status planning.
• If you qualify for EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver), this pathway bypasses PERM entirely. Workers who can make a strong NIW case may want to evaluate that option as a parallel or alternative track.